What does knitting reveal about music?
Just as composition has a great deal to do with mathematical proportions and with variations within and upon patterns, so does knitting. At the moment I am working on a String Improvisation for which I decided to use a multiple of 4 stitches as the basic design unit.
After a very short time I realized why Beethoven prefers the plus one, minus one principle: 3 + 5 is so much more interesting! Even numbers quickly cloy. (Sounds like the text to one of those Elizabethan lute songs, or at least a Gilbert & Sullivan parody of same.)
So why do we still teach children rhythm in even numbers? When you figure that one out please let me know.
