One day in Ancient Greece, as folklore has it, Pythagoras took a walk. And it wasn’t just any walk for the visionary Western philosopher, but one that would set in motion an entire field of study—music theory. Up until he took that fateful stroll, people knew they liked the way certain notes sounded together, but they didn’t know why.
But, as Pythagoras passed by blacksmiths at work, he began to figure out the answer. Their hammers were of different weights, and when they would strike them on various pieces of metal, some tones sounded good together, and some didn’t.
