Janet Smith spoke about the Golden Proportion at our June 25th meeting. Janet knows a good deal about the ratio of 618:382. She did her Doctoral Dissertation on it. It is a ratio that recurs in nature, art, music, and countless other places. It is sometimes represented by the Greek Letter Phi and has been known for a very long period of time. Janet says that Euclid talked about it in 300 B.C. but it was known well before that. She had a Power Point presentation and showed several examples of it in art, nature, and music. She said some composers seemed to have a predilection for it. She cited Debussey as one of her favorites and one that seemed to compose in a way that incorporated it. The beautiful design of the chambered Nautilus is a good example of it in nature. One of the comments that struck me was Janet's comment that they have found that breaks in a teaching session (such as a piano lesson that Janet does professionally) or in the intermission of a concert seem to go better if the break comes about 2/3's of the way in rather than at the center. Great job Janet and thanks for all the effort you put into such an excellent presentation.
