Appreciate this. Well written and insightful. I did research on this topic as part of my doctoral dissertation. Brings back memories!
--- In arrahmanfans@yahoogroups.com, Madhavan Rajan <rsamadhu2...@...> wrote: > > Has anyone wondered why and what makes music so powerful that has an ability > to control human senses? How music touches our emotions? > > I just wanted to share this brilliant piece of scientific research article > which I found on music. Though, it's lengthy, it is an excellent read and I > would recommend this to every one. Somehow it relates to so many arguments > that happen here and I hope every one will find their answers by reading > this. > > http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/papers/MusicMindMeaning.html > > I'm just pasting a part of it below (taken randomly) as the entire article > is too long!! > > *Composing and Conducting: > * > > In seeing, we can move our eyes; lookers can choose where they shall look, > and when. In music we must listen *here*; that is, to the part that's being > played now. It is simply no use asking Music-Finder to look *there* because > it's not then, now. > > If composer and conductor choose what part we hear, does not this ruin our > analogy? When Music-Analyzer asks its questions, how can Music-Finder answer > them unless, miraculously, the music happens to be playing what music-finder > wants at just that very instant? If so, then how can music paint its scenes > unless composers know exactly what the listeners will ask at every moment? > How to ensurewhen Music-Analyzer wants it nowthat precisely that > "something" will be playing now? > > That is the secret of musicof writing, playing, and conducting it! Music > need not, of course, confirm each listener's every expectation; each plot > demands some novelty. Whatever the intent, control is required or novelty > will turn to nonsense. If allowed to think too much themselves, the > listeners will find unanswered questions in any scoreabout accidents of > form and figure, voice and line, temperament and difference-tone. > > Composers can have different goals: to calm and soothe, surprise and shock, > tell tales, stage scenes, teach new things, or tear down prior arts. For > some such purposes composers must use the known forms and frames or else > expect misunderstanding. Of course, when expectations are confirmed too > often the style may seem dull; this is our concern in the next section. Yet, > just as in language, one often best explains a new idea by using older ones, > avoiding jargon or too much lexical innovation. If readers cannot understand > the words themselves, the sentences may "be Greek to them." > > This is not a matter of a simple hierarchy, in which each meaning stands on > lower-level ones, for example, word, phrase, sentence, paragraph, and > chapter. Things never really work that way, and jabberwocky shows how sense > comes through though many words are new. In every era some contemporary > music changes basic elements yet exploits established larger forms, but > innovations that violate too drastically the expectations of the culture > cannot meet certain kinds of goals. Of course this will not apply to works > whose goals include confusion and revolt, or when composers try to create > things that hide or expurgate their own intentionality, but in these > instances it may be hard to hold the audience. > > Each musical artist must forecast and pre-direct the listener's fixations to > draw attention here and distract it from thereto force the hearer (again, > like a magician does) to ask only the questions that the composition is > about to answer. Only by establishing such pre-established harmony can music > make it seem that something is there. > **-- > Cheers, > Madhavan.R > Be a Music Fan; not a Music Pirate! >
