 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2009-01-05 22:35
Why Music? is the title of an article in the December 20th 2008 issue of "The Economist," p.41. It is very thought provoking and (probably) insightful.
Among mentions:
Musicality may be genetic.
Making music is sexy!
There is a strong interaction between language, music and dance.
Music may be more fundamental than language; and is learned by an entirely different process.
Competent playing and composing takes a lot of work. It is a costly way to get sexy.
Human kind is not the only species that is musical; female birds are fastidious music critics!
I think most of us would enjoy reading this article.
Bob Phillips
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2009-01-05 22:50
Thanks, Ben,
I was just coming back here to offer that link (just found it).
Bob Phillips
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Author: cigleris
Date: 2009-01-05 23:26
Very interesting article. All excellent points, especially the one regarding the selection of potential mates. You see this so often on tours as orchestra members pair off. Makes me wonder what the figures are for musical marriages/reletionships as aposed to being in a relationship/marriage with a non musician.
Peter Cigleris
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Author: allencole
Date: 2009-01-06 02:02
There's a book out there I'm trying to find called "This is Your Brain on Music." Anybody read it?
Allen Cole
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Author: weberfan
Date: 2009-01-06 02:28
Am enjoying the Levitin book now. I got it as a stocking stuffer along with a gruesome whodunit (centered on child abduction in Haiti) called "Mr. Clarinet."
Parts of "This is Your Brain on Music" reminded me of one of my favorites: Leonard Bernstein's compilation of TV scripts and essays, "The Infinite Variety of Music." I began to read that around the time I started playing again.
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Author: cigleris
Date: 2009-01-06 13:02
But what about your thoughts on the article?? I'd rather read those than random books that are not really related to the topic in question.
Peter Cigleris
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Author: chipper
Date: 2009-01-06 15:33
Interesting concepts. I'd once read that the basic rhythm in music is the human heartbeat. So there is probably some biological connection. But... I work all day as a scientist, an environmental hydro geologist, and I very much enjoy the making of music without conscious regard for it's mathematical and scientific roots. I understand the mathematical symmetry and assume there is a biological connection but I think of logical relationships all day so it gives me much pleasure to simply cut loose and enjoy making music in the evenings. I love the human connection of playing with others, the precision and coordination required, and I love simply sitting in my practice room and blowing my emotions through my horn. I love the sound and the concept that we can paint our own soundscape as a backdrop to our everyday experience. Wow, is that a whacked out return to the 1960s? So I'll just enjoy the music and beyond the major, minor, pentatonic and blues scales I'll leave the deep science of music to the rest of you theorists. And I thank all the composers and theorists out there for the written note as it gives me a place to start with my artistic interpretation of soundscapes.
C
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Author: TonkaToy
Date: 2009-01-06 17:16
You might also enjoy Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks.
http://musicophilia.com
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Author: weberfan
Date: 2009-01-06 17:28
As I suggested earlier, the article put me in mind of other writings on music, the Levitin book and Bernstein's essays/scripts.
The piece in the Economist was a good job of synthesis on subjects that have, to one degree or another been touched on before---the role of music in choosing a mate, for example. But there were some fresh, thought-provoking details to chew on: The notion of grooming and the investment in commitment to the group.
But how does that square, for example, with chipper's description of the pleasure he gets not only from playing music with others but also with sitting alone in his practice room and "blowing my emotions through my horn."
We've all had that experience. Is that merely auditory masturbation, as the article suggests at one point?
Is playing music or eating cheesecake till you burst a substitute for sex---or a way to sate a craving not found in nature?
That seems to be implied. But that implication, I would guess, rests in part on generations of Freudian analysis.
Maybe a good clarinet is just a good clarinet.
Post Edited (2009-01-06 19:41)
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