Why is it that the association between math and music is generally supposed to relate to classical music?

I was asked this today, and I think it's a reasonable question, and while I had some thoughts, I don't think I have an actual answer. (One thought was that for cultural reasons the people inclined to think about this association tended to be more likely to have an interest in classical music).

Out of interest, what other musics might you be thinking about other than classical?

Pretty much anything else! Personally I feel (without perhaps much justification) that the link between techno and maths is stronger than that between indie and maths, for instance.

math rock tho innit

I guess the idea that there can be a deaf composer, or more generally a strong disconnection between composing and playing, tends to make people think of classical music as something based on abstraction.

On a very simple level, when I see music written on the page it fires the same neurons that I use when I look at maths. Something about having an abstract concept represented symbolically and that part of your brain that looks for to make order out of it through rules and patterns on it.

Though I feel it far less when hearing music, it's not a large stretch to imagine I could think more that way, especially if I had to write more of the stuff.

This isn't pretty regardless of genre. I mean, just from djing, I unconsciously count, more than hear, 8 bars before the change, as that's how a lot of dance music is structured.