Making a Möbius Strip With Music Tape for the 15 Note Music Box

A Möbius Strip for a 15 Note Music Box

A Möbius strip is a strip of paper with a twist in it.  The strip of paper is twisted and then taped together to form a continuous loop.  After creating 30 songs in my last blog post https://papercraftetc.blogspot.com/2020/05/30-songs-for-15-note-music-box.html, I made a Möbius strip with one of the songs, Mozart Sonata No. 16 in C. The result was a pleasant sounding song when both sides are played continuously.  The song starts and ends with the same note - C, also known as the key, which allows the song to transition easily between sides.  The key of  C specifies the collection of pitches in the song. When playing the opposite side, it inverts the music playing the same pitches but in a different order so it still sounds good on the opposite side.

The reason why this Möbius strip works is because:

    1. The key is the same.
    2. The pitches are the same. 
    3. The tempo and rhythm are the same.
    4. The chord progression is reversed but still sounds good because of the same key of C and use the same pitches.
    5. There is some symmetry in the original score because there is a sequence of notes that repeats itself on the opposite side. 

Mozart Sonata No. 16 being played on a 15 note music box as a Möbius strip

This Möbius strip is the essence of music improvisation which is the art of creating new music from the original score.  When you write music, you start in a chord progression which sounds good. To the human ear, there are certain tension chords and release chords. The music builds tension and then releases the tension. When you reverse the song, the music is still in the same key. The tension and release might be different on the second side but they still sound good because they are in the correct key. When music is played in the correct key, the correct chords need to be played.  Otherwise, there is dissonance.  Dissonance is the lack of harmony in musical notes.  When the music is played in the correct key, there is no dissonance.

To make the Möbius strip, you can use your own cardstock as indicated in my last blog post. It is song #24 in this post, https://papercraftetc.blogspot.com/2020/05/30-songs-for-15-note-music-box.html

I used the paper tape that came with the music box to create this music. In order to use the paper tape, you need a 24 inch mat.

Here is the .Studio file for the 12 x 24 inch mat so that you can use the original paper tape.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13hITgEXTOdKdnroBxnE6IcFMt7Om9nF1/view?usp=sharing

Tape two 12 x 12 pieces of cardstock together.

Cut out the two strips from my .Studio file using the Cut by Line feature; it is the red line.  Remove the two strips as shown above and adhere the two original paper tapes that comes with the music box to the location of the removed strips (not shown). Cut out the music using the Cut by Line feature; it is the black line. 

To make the Möbius strip, tape the song together to make one strip.  Insert the song into your music box and twist the end.   Take this end and tape it to the start of the song.  The holes need to be punched out where the tape was used or else these notes will not play.