how many years will it be before every single melody/music composed will run out and start being repeated?

Question

since time began people have been making music. at some point in life surely no more original music/melodies can be composed because it's already been done. in which year will this be?

Answer 1

Me and a friend discussed this several years ago. There has to be a complex math equation involved to figure it up, of which I'm nowhere near qualified to do. But consider that most songs are originated on a piano (or at least roughly thought out while pecking on a piano) there are only so many combinations of notes that can be played. Yes, eventually, it will be mathematically impossible to write anything new. As to when that will be............you'll need bigger calculator.

Answer 2

That's a good question. In the 1950s when I was a kid in Britain, there was a TV show called the Charlie Chester show. One part consisted of three notes being played and Charlie had to sing the rest of the song. He almost always thought of a melody beginning with those 3 notes. There are 13 notes in a scale like we use in western music; 8 + 5 sharps and flats=13. So there are 13x13x13=2197 possible 3 note beginnings. So Charlie Chester's memory didn't have to be that good. Most of us probably know that many melodies. His skill lay in being able to recall the melody quickly. If like me you're woefully ignorant of all but western music, you're restricted by some rules about notes, rhythm, repetition and beat. Ignoring variations, like jazz improvisation, I'd say there's room for a few billion different melodies before anybody has to accuse you of plagiarism of part of theirs. We're already reaching that limit. On NZ National Radio last week they played pairs of songs where one composer was accused of plagiarism. I'd heard most of them before and never recognised any similarities. But when they were pointed out, you had to agree. There were suspicious similarities.

Answer 3

I too wondered if this would/could happen...But I think there are too many variables when it comes to music, each individual will bring their own influences and imagination to bear when creating a piece of music, and team that with several other individuals in the same mindset and I think you can always come up with something new, even if you can also hear the influences.

I myself have been experimenting with a 5/5 beat, its so against the music you are accustomed to that its very hard to maintain, but definately a challenge! Of course, I think this has been done, but certainly not to death...

As the world gets smaller, and technology greater, many influences are taken from tribal music whereas they were not before; People use synthesisers, samples of natural sounds, take influences from traffic noise or people, even other songs; and this can be arranged in new ways forever I think. I dont think the end is nigh for music, I think there is so much more to be done.

:)

Answer 4

We've got all the bases covered when it comes to the big picture, but I still think that there is a lot of nuance left to explore. When comes to the variation in sound capable of being reproduced these days, we are just scratching the tip of the iceburg when it comes to how different music can be from what we had before.

That being said, however, I'm pretty sure that we've nailed down most of the melodies/themes that we will use for ever and ever.

Answer 5

i used to ask myself this same question many years ago, i don't know the answer but the great thing is that music just seems to keep going on and on.
MIDI has gone a long way to writing tunes but replacing the traditional note of, say a piano, with that of a dolphin or a brick landing on concrete, the smashing of a glass etc. Coupled with reverb, noise gates and huge array of other effects it looks like a long time yet until we've run out of songs.

Answer 6

this answer wasnt an easy one to find but its right. the following is the only publication, anywhere, on the subject in question. THE ORIGIN OF MUSIC,(updated in 2003, Greenwich publishing, Saskatoon Canada)was written by bob fink in 1996. using a wide variety of subjects in his research, statistical probability, archeology, biology, psychology, anthropology, ethnomusicology, physics, acoustics and physiology, he was able to calculate as to the number of possible compo sable melodies available... known as, calculating154. the book is written in laymans terms as long as Albert Einstein&Isaac Newton considered layman. so if you'll bare with me and my rusty physics, i think i can explain.
- using just white keys - 14notes(2octaves)
- no rythmic variations&no notes repeated

----------- calculating154 -----------

- 154(14th power)or 154 times itself 14 times...
= 87billion possible14-note melodies.
- now if you were to repeat notes...
= 11,000trillion possible14-note melodies.
- now include note durations(min amount -11)
- a googillian(astronomy)is largest named number
- but this answer is so large it is not named
= 4,220,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
- or 4,220+27 zeros - godzillian(fink's term)
- if you include everything(harmonies, large, small,
short, long, rhythms, sharps, flats, etc), you will
find that the number of possible composable
melodies available to be written, probably
exceeds the number of atoms in the universe
(+/-6or7on) or...
= 801,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
000,000
- im sorry, but calculating the year was beyond
the relm of my mathmatical capabilities.

Answer 7

History will always repeat itself the same with music unless we learn from the mistakes of the past we will make them again

Answer 8

look a little further afield than the conventional and you'll see that we're a long, long way off if we even ever get to that point at all. Examples would be free improvisation and other 'modern' musics

Answer 9

It has already happened....
rock music has copied classical music since its inception and hip hop doesn't even try to copy other music...it just steals other music and plays it behind thier rhymes.

Answer 10

It ran out a long time ago...everything is just modified and cut to fit!