--=====================_2955589==_.ALT
I shouldn't be responding to this merely because it's 11:48 p.m. and I'm
out on my feet - and because I teach a course in "Music and Mind" to
undergraduates - but really shouldn't be doing so because I don't publish
in the area - anyway here goes.
I think Japanese notation (Kinko Ryu) and European notation both represent
octaves (as in otsu and kan) and they also represent scale degree members -
in the form of "pitch class names associated with the symbols that
represent each note within the octave. The importance of the pitch-class
names will vary depending on the theoretical training of the person reading
the notation. Trust me, European notation can mean absolutely nothing to
uneducated people. Notation by itself conveys nothing! It's true that
Japanese notation contains more fingering instructions than does European
music for flute; but, European music for piano and guitar (just to name 2)
include more fingering instructions than does shakuhachi Kinko Ryu notation.
To my mind, all this talk of notation is an extremely small part of the
issue, a part that must be integrated into the huge project that is the
ongoing research in cognitive science. In order to make the leap from music
notation to language (even in European music) one has to argue convincingly
for the conventional metaphors used to equate music-analytic views of
European notation with lexical grammars and linguistics. For example, are
musical "notes/individual-sounds" functionally equivalent "words or
syllables" in terms of brain activity? Do musical "phrases" produce brain
activity in the same regions as do parts-of or complete lexical
sentence-perceptions? From what I've read - a simple answer is a qualified
no; however, lateral (cross knowledge-based) brain associations are excited
by both types of perceptions - so they do marginally overlap. An even
weirder question -- Could there be such a thing as a musical antonym or
synonym? Does a "Tsu-meri to Re" have a generally accepted antonym? The
harder one looks at questions such as these, the less one is convinced that
there are significant overlaps between "linguistic experience" and
music-reading, music-listening, or music-producing. So, to what extent does
speech/language-based analysis occur during playing and listening to music?
My guess is that it varies depending on the training (i.e. life experience)
of the person in question. The training will determine the extent to which
the brain fires off lateral associations (cross-knowledge-base brain
activity) during visual/lexical/symbolic/aural perception. Of course, the
intensity of these associations will enrich the meaning for the individual.
I'm going to bed!
Dan Gutwein, Associate Professor
Department of Music
College of William and Mary
Williamsburg, VA 23185-8795
office: (757) 221-1077, cell: (240) 481-2787
fax. (757) 221-3171, email: dfgutw@wm.edu or dfgutw@prodigy.net
homepage - http://www.wm.edu/CAS/music/gutwein
Introduction to Electro-acoustic Music (MUS181) -
http://www.wm.edu/CAS/music/gutwein/mus181.htm
Shakuhachi Links by Category -
http://www.wm.edu/CAS/music/gutwein/Shakuhachi/links.htm
Zen Flute for Beginners -
http://www.wm.edu/CAS/music/gutwein/Shakuhachi/WMshakuhachi.htm
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<html>
I shouldn't be responding to this merely because it's 11:48 p.m. and I'm
out on my feet - and because I teach a course in "Music and
Mind" to undergraduates - but really shouldn't be doing so because I
don't publish in the area - anyway here goes.<br><br>
I think Japanese notation (Kinko Ryu) and European notation both
represent octaves (as in otsu and kan) and they also represent scale
degree members - in the form of "pitch class names associated with
the symbols that represent each note within the octave. The importance of
the pitch-class names will vary depending on the theoretical training of
the person reading the notation. Trust me, European notation can mean
absolutely nothing to uneducated people. Notation by itself conveys
nothing! It's true that Japanese notation contains more fingering
instructions than does European music for flute; but, European music for
piano and guitar (just to name 2) include more fingering instructions
than does shakuhachi Kinko Ryu notation. <br><br>
To my mind, all this talk of notation is an extremely small part of the
issue, a part that must be integrated into the huge project that is the
ongoing research in cognitive science. In order to make the leap from
music notation to language (even in European music) one has to argue
convincingly for the conventional metaphors used to equate music-analytic
views of European notation with lexical grammars and linguistics. For
example, are musical "notes/individual-sounds" functionally
equivalent "words or syllables" in terms of brain activity? Do
musical "phrases" produce brain activity in the same regions as
do parts-of or complete lexical sentence-perceptions? From what I've read
- a simple answer is a qualified no; however, lateral (cross
knowledge-based) brain associations are excited by both types of
perceptions - so they do marginally overlap. An even weirder question --
Could there be such a thing as a musical antonym or synonym? Does a
"Tsu-meri to Re" have a generally accepted antonym? The harder
one looks at questions such as these, the less one is convinced that
there are significant overlaps between "linguistic experience"
and music-reading, music-listening, or music-producing. So, to what
extent does speech/language-based analysis occur during playing and
listening to music? My guess is that it varies depending on the training
(i.e. life experience) of the person in question. The training will
determine the extent to which the brain fires off lateral associations
(cross-knowledge-base brain activity) during
visual/lexical/symbolic/aural perception. Of course, the intensity of
these associations will enrich the meaning for the individual.<br><br>
I'm going to bed!<br><br>
<br><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Dan Gutwein,<b> </b><font size=3D2>Associate Professor<br>
</font><font face=3D"Times New Roman, Times" color=3D"#000084">Department of
Music <br>
College of William and Mary <br>
Williamsburg, VA 23185-8795 <br>
</font><font face=3D"Times New Roman, Times">office:</font><font face=3D"Tim=
es New Roman, Times" color=3D"#000084">
(757) 221-1077, cell: (240) 481-2787<br>
</font><font face=3D"Times New Roman, Times">fax.</font><font face=3D"Times=
New Roman, Times" color=3D"#000084">
(757) 221-3171,
</font><font face=3D"Times New Roman, Times">email:</font><font face=3D"Time=
s New Roman, Times" color=3D"#000084">
dfgutw@wm.edu or dfgutw@prodigy.net<br>
</font><font face=3D"Times New Roman, Times" size=3D2><i>homepage -
</i><a href=3D"http://www.wm.edu/CAS/music/gutwein" eudora=3D"autourl">http:=
//www.wm.edu/CAS/music/gutwein</a></font>
<br>
<font face=3D"Times New Roman, Times" size=3D2><i>Introduction to
Electro-acoustic Music (MUS181) -
</i><a href=3D"http://www.wm.edu/CAS/music/gutwein/mus181.htm"=
eudora=3D"autourl">http://www.wm.edu/CAS/music/gutwein/mus181.htm><br>
</font><font face=3D"Times New Roman, Times"><i>Shakuhachi Links by
Category</i> -
<a href=3D"http://www.wm.edu/CAS/music/gutwein/Shakuhachi/links.htm"=
eudora=3D"autourl">http://www.wm.edu/CAS/music/gutwein/Shakuhachi/links.htm=
</a></font><font face=3D"Times New Roman, Times" size=3D2><b><i>
<br>
Zen Flute for Beginners</b> - </i></font><a=
href=3D"http://www.wm.edu/CAS/music/gutwein/Shakuhachi/WMshakuhachi.htm"=
eudora=3D"autourl"><font face=3D"Times New Roman, Times">http://www.wm.edu/=
CAS/music/gutwein/Shakuhachi/WMshakuhachi.htm</a></font></html>
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