Why do we start counting beats in a measure with "one" and not "zero"?

[VJOFan]

Like I said the man was actively dying so many of his thoughts weren’t entirely clear that term. However, I don’t think he was entirely wrong. Dance and similar arts depend on music so really they are music? As for any dramatic art, yes they occur over a period of time and then stop. However, the effect is generally that of seeing a section of life which leads the mind to ponder the before and after. A good drama can create almost a feeling of infinity with that imagined origin and destiny of the characters. The point, I think, is that music is subdivided time and to play it one must actively count the beats even as the musician’s heart and breath rhythmically continue to an inevitable ceasing. There is a certain profundity to the end of a live performance of a great piece of music.

[LeTromboniste]

Isn't it interesting that in many (most?) countries outside the United States, multi-story buildings have a "zero" level (ground floor); you have to climb up to the "first" floor. Counting from zero is alive and well!

I think that's more of a linguistic thing than a math thing. In English, you use the words "floor" and count the number of floors, as in literally the thing you walk on, and the ground level obviously has a floor, and therefore is counted as a number. In most other languages that's not the case, we give names to the levels first, not numbers, and the ground level is not called "floor 0“, but simply "ground level", and the floors above or below the ground level are called exactly that. For example, take a building that has 3 levels, one at ground level, one above and one below is often not numbered at all. In German it's not - 1, 0 and 1. Ground level is called Erdgeschoss, that literally translates to "the earth level". The floor below is Untergeschoss, "the level under". And the floor above is Obergeschoss, the "overlevel". Or in French, rez-de-chaussée, translates as "level with the street". The basement is sous-sol, meaning "the underground" and the uper level is simply l'étage, originally meaning "the dwelling", as people living in two-story buildings tended originally to live on the upper level, the lower being used for storage, or shops. We only number them when there are more than one. I.e. just as nobody would call the basement of a simple house the "first basement" (it's just "the basement"), we don't call the level above the ground level "first overlevel" either, it's just "the overlevel". If there are two or more , then yes, first overlevel, second overlevel, etc. It makes complete sense linguistically. More sense, I would dare say, than calling the middle floor of a 2-storied house with a basement (three floors in total) the "first floor" when there indeed is one below it. Bit weird to call the middle of three items "the first", no?

The one case where I find it does make total sense to number floors the American way, using numbers and starting from 1, is when buildings are built on uneven elevation and different floors are at ground level in different parts of the building. Then you often see 1 assigned to the very lowest floor. Ground level can be 3 or 5 or whatever, and it doesn't matter. That I like.

[AtomicClock]

The American building I'm in right now is built on uneven land, and the top ground floor is 1. Below it, leading to the parking lot is not zero, it is T for "Terrace".

[LeTromboniste]

The American building I'm in right now is built on uneven land, and the top ground floor is 1. Below it, leading to the parking lot is not zero, it is T for "Terrace".

Well that's just plain silly

[Posaunus]

Isn't it interesting that in many (most?) countries outside the United States, multi-story buildings have a "zero" level (ground floor); you have to climb up to the "first" floor. Counting from zero is alive and well!

I think that's more of a linguistic thing than a math thing.

But my point was indeed about "the math thing." You can name the building levels - at ground, above ground, or below ground - anything you want. But when the levels above the street are numbered 1, 2, 3, ... and the lower levels are noted as B1, B2, ... or PI, P2, ... or -1, -2, ... - then the street level (rez-de-chaussée or Erdgeschoss) is effectively Level Zero. Look at the elevator (lift) buttons. Named that way or not, the concept of zero lives on.

[AtomicClock]

Does anyone have the 0th trombone part to Bruckener's Die Nullte Symphony?

[BGuttman]

Does anyone have the 0th trombone part to Bruckener's Die Nullte Symphony?

No, but I'm sure PDQ Bach would have written one