Dear Carlos and Mohammad, I think we can all agree that theoretic knowledge in acoustics and mathematics might be useful for a musician or composer, but is it necessary? I would argue no. Also, I am not sure Pierre Schaeffer and other pioneers in musique concrete paid much attention to mathematics or physics when splicing up tapes with field recordings. Knowledge of physical phenomenon may be useful in arts but is it necessary? Does a painter need to know the light spectrum to paint? Does a dancer need to know anatomy to move? Or a singer to sing? Yes, it might be helpful, but necessary? To the second part of your question, Mohammad, if this knowledge can hinder inspiration, I believe if we get too absorbed in theory, yes it might.
Dear Dibakar Pal, I strongly disagree with your comment that a muscician is "talanted" and "gifted", and a person "gets it by birth". Do you have any studies to support such theories? And, although rhythm might be explained mathematically, rhythm and maths are not synonymous. I do agree that a musician doeas not need to know neither maths or acoustics (or physics) theoretically, but might apply learned knowledge whiles playing.
I agree with Carlos that depending on the type of music and nature of musical genre and the approach of the musician in his/her creation process one may benefits from math and physics; concrete music is an example of that.
Just as an example in the context of the phenomena associated with the perception of the sound /music, the musical consonance can be interpreted in the area of acoustics/mathematics.
The perfect musical intervals (octave, 2: 1, fifth, 3: 2, and fourth, 4: 3) correspond to frequency relations of small integers. These consonant intervals are among the first harmonics (frequency components) of a sound.
Dear Carlos and Mohammad, I think we can all agree that theoretic knowledge in acoustics and mathematics might be useful for a musician or composer, but is it necessary? I would argue no. Also, I am not sure Pierre Schaeffer and other pioneers in musique concrete paid much attention to mathematics or physics when splicing up tapes with field recordings. Knowledge of physical phenomenon may be useful in arts but is it necessary? Does a painter need to know the light spectrum to paint? Does a dancer need to know anatomy to move? Or a singer to sing? Yes, it might be helpful, but necessary? To the second part of your question, Mohammad, if this knowledge can hinder inspiration, I believe if we get too absorbed in theory, yes it might.
This is a great question. From what has already been observed, there are many possible responses. In addition to the helpful responses already given, there is a bit more to add.
Relationship between Mathematics and Music: Systematization of contents according to the Programs of Mathematics from 5th to 12th grades of Portuguese Education