Math and Music: UNO Student’s Passions Transcend Disciplines

From computer keyboards to piano keys – Natalie McNamara has been able to follow both of her passions at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO).

As a double major studying both mathematics and musical studies, McNamara doesn’t let the difference in disciplines divide her pursuits. In fact, to her, math and music fit together perfectly.

“Math and music together are conceptually similar, they have a lot in common,” McNamara said.

McNamara started her piano journey at just five and a half years old, after her parents noticed how much she enjoyed plinking the keys of a keyboard. As her piano skills grew, so did other interests — especially in mathematics.

“I learned just how naturally beats and rhythms and numbers fit together, and then perhaps that translated into math,” McNamara said.

After being accepted into the Downey Scholarship Program for Mathematics at UNO, her pursuits in the field of figures were even further cemented. Even with her academic path set, she knew she wasn’t quite ready to leave music completely behind.

Thanks to the flexibility of UNO’s programs and the college credits she carried in from high school, McNamara has been able to make both practices possible in her college path.

Her class schedule between the two majors keeps things interesting – making her move from labs littered with computers to silent practice rooms filled with grand pianos, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. To McNamara, math and music’s differences make the disciplines work together in complete harmony.

“First my math brain kind of dissects the music, and then I can play the music,” McNamara said. “It's basically kind of a fluid process of going from one subject to the other — one ends up benefiting the other in the end.”

McNamara’s love of mathematics and music is echoed by an upcoming UNO event — A Night of Mathematics and Music with author, mathematician, and pianist Dr. Eugenia Cheng. Writer of books like How to Bake Pi and Is Math Real?, Cheng seeks to dispel “math phobia” across the globe.

As a Downey Scholar, McNamara will be assisting with a pre-Cheng event community engagement activity that will invite in local Omaha middle school students and inspire them with fun math and music-inclined activities. That night, the public is invited to attend Cheng’s free lecture in the Strauss Performing Arts Center Concert Hall.

McNamara is excited to see another musician and mathematician grace the stage – and maybe one day, she could too.