A lot of folks like to listen to music when they stargaze or even while they’re reading on a cloudy evening. In some of the discussion groups I monitor, opinions about what music is appropriate for an evening under the stars can get pretty heated. There are the people who insist that only classical music can suffice, while others think that various rock music pieces are the perfect accompaniment. I don’t listen to music when I’m stargazing. I do listen to music when I’m writing — which would send my old music appreciate teacher screaming into her studio if she knew I said that. Sometimes I kick back here and just listen and don’t do anything, which is what she would have liked.

So, what do I listen to when I’m not stargazing? Obviously being married to a space music composer puts me in the way of some really nice “music for the stars.” (You can listen to samples here.) My favorite album of his is Fourth Universe — followed by Anasazi and West of the Galaxy. But there are other albums and styles that also put me in a space frame of mind — music by Mark Dwane, for example, or Steve Roach, or any of a number of artists that I hear in the “space” bins online. There’s a lot of really thoughtful music out there, just waiting to be heard.

I’ve often wondered about the link between music and science. There is one — in fact that are many! Perhaps it’s the mathematical precision required in both — the logical flow of thought that leads to beautiful sonic experiences with one and wonderful discoveries about the cosmos with the other. How about this: the technological advances that have powered so many of the new instruments and digital recording studios are a direct result of science. Some of the new keyboards require the musician to be a programmer of sorts, something a violin player for example, would not worry about. Yet, there’s a science behind the creation of a beautiful stringed instrument that requires as much technical understanding as musicality.

There was a reason that the ancients described the universe as a series of nested spheres, ringing in a music all their own — it combined the best of science and music into a celestial harmony humans could only aspire to in their dreams. Once the nature of the universe was found to be nothing at all like those spheres, it must have shattered the old idealist’s hearts. Their idea of perfection was gone — but in its place was a robust and ever-changing cosmos. Sort of like the history of music, which began simply and grew as technology did, embracing form and function, but always ready to strike out in new directions.

Think about the ties between music and science the next time you’re out observing. There’s more there than meets the eye — or the ear!