DISCOURSE and MUSIC
Recent research indicates that language and music are likely not
processed independently by the brain, that memory functions with respect to
language and music are also interrelated, and the speakers of tone languages
may be much more likely to exhibit “perfect pitch”. This course explores some of the research directly relating
language and music, and it also investigates the relationship between musical
"discourse" and verbal / kinesic discourse (including dance), seeking
to extract rules that are common to both, to place both in a common performance
frame, and to describe the ways in which music on occasion attempts to emulate
spoken communication and speech on occasion attempts to emulate music, as well
as the ways that people speak about music in their verbal discourse, or
"play" speech musically.
Crucial to the perspective taken here is the notion of performance,
corollaries to which are interpretation in context and culture construction
through performance.
Text: Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy Robert Jourdain
Week 1 What is
speech? What is Music? To which category does chanting
belong? Drumming?
How
does dance fit in musically, communicatively?
Creativity and
Novelty in Speech and in Music
Week 2 Gender and Sex in speech and in music, in
dance
Week 3 Social segmentation – (caste, class,
race) in speech and in music
Week 4 Classification in Speech and Music: genres, instruments, situations,
Oratory,
Recitation, Joking, …..
Jazz,
Classical, Pop, R&B, R&R, Alternative, Rock, Acid Rock, World, Grunge
Week 5 Instruments
of speech (vocal auditory channel, telephonic, computer, writing)
Musical
instruments (piano, guitar, bass, ….)
Dance
instruments (body, other accoutrements)
Week 6 The different natures of communication
through speech and music
Music
and speech in space and time
Trance,
dance, and possession in music and speech
(cf. Kapchan)
Week 7 Speaking of Music, and Musical renditions
of speech
Week 8 Analyzing speech and music structurally
Week 9 Speech and Music in Religion
Week 10 Acquisition
of competence in speaking and musicianship
Week 11 Preferences and Taboos in Speech and Music
Week 12 Identity
Issues w/ speech and music (cf. Shannon)
Week 13 Power and persuasion in speech and in
music
Week 14 Curing
with speech, curing with music
(Bribri, Kuna)
Week 15
Bibliography
Stance: Ideas about Emotion, Style, and Meaning for the Study of Expressive
Culture Harris M. Berger
Among
the Jasmine Trees: Music and Modernity in Contemporary Syria Jonathan H. Shannon
Traveling
Spirit Masters: Moroccan Gnawa Trance and Music in the Global Marketplace Deborah Kapchan
The
Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of
Music, Language, Mind, and Body
- Steven Mithen
The
World in Six Songs Daniel J. Levitin
Review - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/books/review/Itzkoff-t.html
This
is your brain on Music
Daniel
J. Levitin
Music, Language, and the Brain Aniruddh Patel, Oxford University Press.
01/12/2010