Re: [Fis] Music Session, kickoff text

Dear FIS colleagues,

Let me arbitrarily choose a couple of aspects among the exciting 'musical
landscapes' just popped out from our Pandora discussion box.

The connection of music with DNA --by Sergei-- is really intriguing. It
anticipates themes of the molecular patterns discussion that we will have
after the current one. I think that the proposal of a genomic music has
already been explored by several researchers and composers ---unfortunately
in a more superficial way than the binary sub-codes he proposes (although I
have never heard that new DNA music, seemingly there is a commercial CD
just available). About the overall harmony connecting that genomic music
with physiological and archetypal aspects, it looks rather baseless for my
taste... Well, I am these days re-reading Thomas Mann (his 'Mountain'), and
have found several disgressions on life, science, humanities, music, etc.,
that look pertinent to our present discussions: particularly our reverence
for the 'formal' aesthetic aspects. That criticism is addressed --at least
so I interpret it-- towards the Pythagorean-Anthropocentric veneer so much
dominating entire territories of Western science and humanities. Pinch of
salt added, I would apply that criticism, in different ways, to the second
half of Sergei's mesage (pythagorean) and to several paragraphs of Juan's
response to me days ago (anthropocentric)...

Is music an exclusively human phenomenon? First language, then music would
accompany to support in emotional manifestations... However the apparent
coherence of this anthropocentric view (I do not deny that, together with
the ad hoc definition of attributes Juan proposes, it looks consistent)
there is a new emergent field known as 'biomusicology' or 'evolutionary
musicology' where a bunch of interdisciplinary scholars are trying to make
biological sense of the 'human' phenomenon of music. Indeed I take their
part: see "The Origins of Music" by Wallin, Merker & Brown (eds.) MIT Press
2000. (among other illustrious contributors: Freeman, Jerison, Bickerton,
Falk, etc.)

The discussion on avian singing --and brains--- is too complex for being
addressed here. However, there would be intriguing parallels in the
mammalian groups and genera were genuine forms of music or quasi-music
exist: dolphins, whales, orangutans, chimps --Bonovo--, homo (highest
encephalization rate, big social groups, niche communicational strictures,
courtship sophisticated behavior). Recently it has been found, for
instance, that whales indulge on fashions and fads about their cultural
repertoire of songs... foreign males introducing new songs are 'adored'
and rewarded by females (courtship is a crucial playground for all musical
manifestations, in the human case too).

In the above book, Dean Falk was suggesting a 'truce' to the evolutionary
and to the anthropocentric champions on the origins of music. The idea is
that in the neurological evolution of Anthropoids a vast information
processing system is progressively configured about the analysis of
sonorous landscapes, implying the interplay of two dominant modes
(lateralization): a 'Learning Channnel' dealing with protolinguistics, and
a 'MTV Channel' dealing with the emotional holistics (music). As he says,
it finally revolves on the information processing of "sequences versus
simultaneity"... (clearly one is reminded about Karl's motto).

Although I accept that at FIS we may 'seat' on the above consensus place
about the origins of music, I am still uncomfortable. It is about the
treatment of emotions. In the neurosciences they are almost universally
conceived as a 'leftover' of the phenomenon of learning and particularly of
the conceptual human capabilities. (Reverence to language--but it also
relates to the strict conception of 'logic' that was mentioned by Ted).
Most classifications of emotions are just pathetic and even an offense to
scientific intelligence... hopefully there is some revival and progress in
the theme, mostly related to consciousness (Damasio, Ledoux, Edelman). My
own interest on music, and particularly on laughter, is that these holistic
sonorous phenomena provide an intriguing place to handle emotions in a new,
neatly 'informational' way, were abstract patterns and deep emotional
reactions directly shake hands (without 'meaning' intermediation), trying
to go beyond the rather frustrating approach initiated by Rosalin Picard in
her 'Affective Computing' book.

So having clarified my evolutionary discrepancies with Juan (and perhaps
also with Michael) concerning the Origins of Music, I am much excited
waiting for their discussions on the formal aspects of music. Cleanly
identifying the abstract patterns of music (the 'essentic forms'?--M.
Clynes) that call into action our emotional powers I think is crucial for
the new relation intelligence-emotions that we have to promote at FIS.

best regards

Pedro

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Received on Wed May 14 14:45:12 2003