The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature (40 page)
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p. 159
“. . . literal recall is seldom important.”
Bartlett, F. C. (1932).
Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology.
London: Cambridge University Press.
“. . . literal recall is seldom important.”
Bartlett, F. C. (1932).
Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology.
London: Cambridge University Press.
p. 160
“It may also seem . . . that your brain is
not
generating all the possible rhymes for a forgotten word, but research has shown that this is in fact what’s happening . . .”
Kintsch, W. (1988). The role of knowledge in discourse comprehension: A construction-integration model.
Psychological Review
95(2): 163-182. Schwanenflugel, P. J., and K. L. LaCount. (1988). Semantic related-ness and the scope of facilitation for upcoming words in sentences.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,
14: 344-354.
“It may also seem . . . that your brain is
not
generating all the possible rhymes for a forgotten word, but research has shown that this is in fact what’s happening . . .”
Kintsch, W. (1988). The role of knowledge in discourse comprehension: A construction-integration model.
Psychological Review
95(2): 163-182. Schwanenflugel, P. J., and K. L. LaCount. (1988). Semantic related-ness and the scope of facilitation for upcoming words in sentences.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,
14: 344-354.
p. 163
“. . . when singers of a given tradition are asked to write a
new
ballad . . . they tend to employ all of the same tools . . .”
Wallace, W. T, and D. C. Rubin. (1991). Characteristics and constraints in ballads and their effects on memory.
Discourse Processes
14: 181-202.
“. . . they changed twenty-four words in ‘The Wreck’ to eliminate assonance, alliteration, and rhyme.”
Wallace, W. T., and D. C. Rubin. (1988). “The wreck of the old 97”: A real event remembered in song. In
Remembering Reconsidered: Ecological and Traditional Approaches to the Study of Memory,
edited by U. Neisser and E. Winograd. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 283-310.
“. . . when singers of a given tradition are asked to write a
new
ballad . . . they tend to employ all of the same tools . . .”
Wallace, W. T, and D. C. Rubin. (1991). Characteristics and constraints in ballads and their effects on memory.
Discourse Processes
14: 181-202.
“. . . they changed twenty-four words in ‘The Wreck’ to eliminate assonance, alliteration, and rhyme.”
Wallace, W. T., and D. C. Rubin. (1988). “The wreck of the old 97”: A real event remembered in song. In
Remembering Reconsidered: Ecological and Traditional Approaches to the Study of Memory,
edited by U. Neisser and E. Winograd. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 283-310.
p. 165
“. . . there are strong cultural pressures to recall such material accurately or not at all.”
Rubin, D. C. (1995).
Memory in Oral Traditions: The Cognitive Psychology of Epic, Ballads, and Counting-out Rhymes.
New York: Oxford University Press, p 179.
“. . . there are strong cultural pressures to recall such material accurately or not at all.”
Rubin, D. C. (1995).
Memory in Oral Traditions: The Cognitive Psychology of Epic, Ballads, and Counting-out Rhymes.
New York: Oxford University Press, p 179.
p. 166
“Insight into the matter [theory of multiple, reinforcing constraints] comes from another very clever experiment by Rubin.”
Rubin D. C. (1977). Very long-term memory for prose and verse.
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior
16(5): 611-621.
“Rubin asked fifty people to recall the words of the Preamble to the United States Constitution . . . ”
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
“This of course does not have music . . . ”
My graduate student, Mike Rud (considered one of the best jazz guitarists in Canada) tells me: “As a very young Canadian, my first exposure to the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution was the fantastic
Schoolhouse Rock
version from ABC’s Saturday morning cartoons. A recent resurgence of interest in
Schoolhouse Rock
lead to its reissue on DVD. I find for memorizing this passage, this funky melody is of more help than the beautiful but rather convoluted syntax of the original. The listener is kept waiting for well over thirty words after the sentence’s subject before hearing the verb! But the melody’s unique constraints really help a kid remember some otherwise difficult-to-parse prose.”
“Insight into the matter [theory of multiple, reinforcing constraints] comes from another very clever experiment by Rubin.”
Rubin D. C. (1977). Very long-term memory for prose and verse.
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior
16(5): 611-621.
“Rubin asked fifty people to recall the words of the Preamble to the United States Constitution . . . ”
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
“This of course does not have music . . . ”
My graduate student, Mike Rud (considered one of the best jazz guitarists in Canada) tells me: “As a very young Canadian, my first exposure to the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution was the fantastic
Schoolhouse Rock
version from ABC’s Saturday morning cartoons. A recent resurgence of interest in
Schoolhouse Rock
lead to its reissue on DVD. I find for memorizing this passage, this funky melody is of more help than the beautiful but rather convoluted syntax of the original. The listener is kept waiting for well over thirty words after the sentence’s subject before hearing the verb! But the melody’s unique constraints really help a kid remember some otherwise difficult-to-parse prose.”
p. 167
“. . . these rhythmic units usually coincide with the units of meaning in oral traditions.”
Rubin, D. C. (1995).
Memory in Oral Traditions: The Cognitive Psychology of Epic, Ballads, and Counting-out Rhymes.
New York: Oxford University Press, p. 179. Rubin also cites: Bakker, E. J. (1990). Homeric discourse and enjambement: A cognitive approach.
Transactions of the American Philolological Association
120: 1-21. Lord, A. B. (1960).
The Singer of Tales
. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Parry, M. (1971a). Homeric formulae and Homeric metre. In
The making of Homeric Verse: The Collected Papers of Milman Parry,
edited and translated by A. Parry. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, pp. 191-239. (Original work published 1928.) Parry, M. (1971b). The traditional epithet in Homer. In
The making of Homeric verse: The Collected papers of Milman Parry,
edited and translated by A. Parry. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-190. (Original work published 1928.)
“. . . these rhythmic units usually coincide with the units of meaning in oral traditions.”
Rubin, D. C. (1995).
Memory in Oral Traditions: The Cognitive Psychology of Epic, Ballads, and Counting-out Rhymes.
New York: Oxford University Press, p. 179. Rubin also cites: Bakker, E. J. (1990). Homeric discourse and enjambement: A cognitive approach.
Transactions of the American Philolological Association
120: 1-21. Lord, A. B. (1960).
The Singer of Tales
. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Parry, M. (1971a). Homeric formulae and Homeric metre. In
The making of Homeric Verse: The Collected Papers of Milman Parry,
edited and translated by A. Parry. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, pp. 191-239. (Original work published 1928.) Parry, M. (1971b). The traditional epithet in Homer. In
The making of Homeric verse: The Collected papers of Milman Parry,
edited and translated by A. Parry. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-190. (Original work published 1928.)
p. 170
“The reality of these chunks has been demonstrated many times . . .”
Another good example of using poetics to remember was provided to me by Jamshed Bharucha. An Indian man, Rajan Mahadevan, was at one point listed in the
Guinness Book of World Records
for being able to recite thirty thousand plus digits of Pi from memory. He showed Bharucha how he uses chunking, meter, and rhythm. His digit span and spatial memory are not much different from average, but through chunking, poetics, and lots and lots of practice, he got to this huge number.
“The reality of these chunks has been demonstrated many times . . .”
Another good example of using poetics to remember was provided to me by Jamshed Bharucha. An Indian man, Rajan Mahadevan, was at one point listed in the
Guinness Book of World Records
for being able to recite thirty thousand plus digits of Pi from memory. He showed Bharucha how he uses chunking, meter, and rhythm. His digit span and spatial memory are not much different from average, but through chunking, poetics, and lots and lots of practice, he got to this huge number.
p. 171
“. . . it takes college undergraduates much longer to say what letter comes just before
h, l, q,
or
w
than before
g, k, p,
and
v.”
Klahr, D., W. G. Chase, and E. A. Lovelace. (1983). Structure and process in alphabetic retrieval.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
9(3): 462-477.
“. . . some professional musicians and Shakespearean actors do indeed have perfect recall for a memorized string and can begin anywhere . . .”
Oliver, W. L., and K. A. Ericsson. (1986). Repertory actors’ memory for their parts. In
Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society
. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 399-406.
“. . . it takes college undergraduates much longer to say what letter comes just before
h, l, q,
or
w
than before
g, k, p,
and
v.”
Klahr, D., W. G. Chase, and E. A. Lovelace. (1983). Structure and process in alphabetic retrieval.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
9(3): 462-477.
“. . . some professional musicians and Shakespearean actors do indeed have perfect recall for a memorized string and can begin anywhere . . .”
Oliver, W. L., and K. A. Ericsson. (1986). Repertory actors’ memory for their parts. In
Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society
. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, pp. 399-406.
p. 172
“ ‘I will sing it and you tell me when the demon you want has his name mentioned.’ ”
This is reported as a personal communication (occurring in November 1991) from Kapferer to David Rubin. Rubin, D. C. (1995).
Memory in Oral Traditions.
New York: Oxford University Press, p. 190.
“ ‘I will sing it and you tell me when the demon you want has his name mentioned.’ ”
This is reported as a personal communication (occurring in November 1991) from Kapferer to David Rubin. Rubin, D. C. (1995).
Memory in Oral Traditions.
New York: Oxford University Press, p. 190.
p. 173
“. . . words containing a long-short-long or short-short-short syllabic structure can’t be used in Homeric epic . . .”
Rubin, D. C. (1995).
Memory in Oral Traditions.
New York: Oxford University Press, p. 198.
“. . . in the Zoroastrian tradition . . .”
I thank Jamshed Bharucha for contributing the passage about Zoroastrian prayers.
“. . . words containing a long-short-long or short-short-short syllabic structure can’t be used in Homeric epic . . .”
Rubin, D. C. (1995).
Memory in Oral Traditions.
New York: Oxford University Press, p. 198.
“. . . in the Zoroastrian tradition . . .”
I thank Jamshed Bharucha for contributing the passage about Zoroastrian prayers.
p. 174
“. . . ‘music and singing carrying obscene content . . .’ ”
On the Correspondence of Music, Musical Instruments and Singing to the Norms of Islam
. (2005). Retrieved March 6, 2008, from
http://umma.ws/Fatwa/music/
.
“. . . ‘music and singing carrying obscene content . . .’ ”
On the Correspondence of Music, Musical Instruments and Singing to the Norms of Islam
. (2005). Retrieved March 6, 2008, from
http://umma.ws/Fatwa/music/
.
p. 175
“. . . the Talmud
is—
a record of what were essentially judicial proceedings and deliberations about what precisely the oral teachings were . . .”
I’ve somewhat simplified the story here, because I’m not so concerned in this book with details of the Torah and its transmission, but rather, with the fact that it was set to music and forms a nice example of a knowledge song. But I’ll expand a bit here. According to traditional rabbinic sources, the entire Torah was given to Moses by God, and it was given in two parts: the Torah proper (which was allowed to be written down) and a system of commentaries and emendations (known as the “Oral Torah”). The Oral Torah—according to the rabbis—was the part that was not written down for one thousand years, and about which there were many debates. It is possible, however, that the so-called “Written Torah”—what we call the Five Books of Moses (the first five chapters of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Chronicles, and Deuteronomy)—was not actually written down
either
during hundreds of years; we have only the rabbis’ teachings on this. The earliest known/preserved written documents, the Dead Sea Scrolls, have been carbon dated to be no older than the second century B.C.E., so we don’t have any independent confirmation that the Written Torah was written down any earlier than the Oral Torah. There are debates on both sides, and at this point, the debates have not been resolved by any physical evidence.
“. . . the Talmud
is—
a record of what were essentially judicial proceedings and deliberations about what precisely the oral teachings were . . .”
I’ve somewhat simplified the story here, because I’m not so concerned in this book with details of the Torah and its transmission, but rather, with the fact that it was set to music and forms a nice example of a knowledge song. But I’ll expand a bit here. According to traditional rabbinic sources, the entire Torah was given to Moses by God, and it was given in two parts: the Torah proper (which was allowed to be written down) and a system of commentaries and emendations (known as the “Oral Torah”). The Oral Torah—according to the rabbis—was the part that was not written down for one thousand years, and about which there were many debates. It is possible, however, that the so-called “Written Torah”—what we call the Five Books of Moses (the first five chapters of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Chronicles, and Deuteronomy)—was not actually written down
either
during hundreds of years; we have only the rabbis’ teachings on this. The earliest known/preserved written documents, the Dead Sea Scrolls, have been carbon dated to be no older than the second century B.C.E., so we don’t have any independent confirmation that the Written Torah was written down any earlier than the Oral Torah. There are debates on both sides, and at this point, the debates have not been resolved by any physical evidence.
p. 176
“. . . if melodies can change, so can words.”
One way we infer this is by the discovery of Jews in Ethiopia in the 1980s who had been cut off from contact with other Jews for two thousand years or so, and who are believed to be descended from a liaison between the queen of Sheba and King Solomon. DNA studies have failed to show a genetic descent, and the dominant scholarly view is that contemporary Ethopian Jews are descended from local converts. Regardless, when discovered, they believed that they were the only Jews in the world. They had Torah scrolls and observances similar to those of contemporary Jews, but they did not celebrate the post-biblical holidays of Purim or Hanukkah, having been cut off from the rest of world Jewry
after
the establishment of those holidays. Many of the melodies they sang for religious songs, Psalms, and Torah were different from any that are currently sung today. Some believe that these melodies may be closer to the original melodies sung by King Solomon himself and, hence, closer to the melodies sung by King David, Moses, and biblical-era Jews. The point is that the drift in melodies between these two groups, whose separation over two millenia seems difficult to dispute, is evidence that the melodies can and do change over time, and if melodies can, so can words.
“. . . if melodies can change, so can words.”
One way we infer this is by the discovery of Jews in Ethiopia in the 1980s who had been cut off from contact with other Jews for two thousand years or so, and who are believed to be descended from a liaison between the queen of Sheba and King Solomon. DNA studies have failed to show a genetic descent, and the dominant scholarly view is that contemporary Ethopian Jews are descended from local converts. Regardless, when discovered, they believed that they were the only Jews in the world. They had Torah scrolls and observances similar to those of contemporary Jews, but they did not celebrate the post-biblical holidays of Purim or Hanukkah, having been cut off from the rest of world Jewry
after
the establishment of those holidays. Many of the melodies they sang for religious songs, Psalms, and Torah were different from any that are currently sung today. Some believe that these melodies may be closer to the original melodies sung by King Solomon himself and, hence, closer to the melodies sung by King David, Moses, and biblical-era Jews. The point is that the drift in melodies between these two groups, whose separation over two millenia seems difficult to dispute, is evidence that the melodies can and do change over time, and if melodies can, so can words.
p. 178
“. . . [the writer] weaves into the message two well-known Old Testament references.”
Performed by Hank Williams, Aubrey Gass, Tex Ritter, and others. Gass, A. (1949). Dear John [Recorded by Hank Williams]. On
Dear John
[45rpm record]. MGM Records. (1951).
“. . . [the writer] weaves into the message two well-known Old Testament references.”
Performed by Hank Williams, Aubrey Gass, Tex Ritter, and others. Gass, A. (1949). Dear John [Recorded by Hank Williams]. On
Dear John
[45rpm record]. MGM Records. (1951).
p. 180
“. . . there are manifest cognitive benefits that are conferred to the group-as-a-whole . . . when people sing together.”
In addition to those references previously cited, for a computer science /artificial intelligence perspective, see also: Gill, S. P. (2007). Entrainment and musicality in the human system interface.
AI & Society
21(4): 567-605.
“. . . there are manifest cognitive benefits that are conferred to the group-as-a-whole . . . when people sing together.”
In addition to those references previously cited, for a computer science /artificial intelligence perspective, see also: Gill, S. P. (2007). Entrainment and musicality in the human system interface.
AI & Society
21(4): 567-605.
p. 181
“No single ant ‘knows’ that the hill needs to relocate . . . but the actions of tens of thousands of ants result in the hill being moved . . .”
See for example: Gordon, D. M. (1999).
Ants at Work: How an Insect Society Is Organized
. New York: The Free Press. Johnson, S. (2001).
Emergence
:
The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software.
New York: Scribner. Strogatz, S. H. (1994).
Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos: With Applications to Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Engineering
. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books. Strogatz, S. H. (2003).
Sync: How Order Emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life
. New York: Hyperion. Wiggins, S. (2003).
Introduction to Applied Nonlinear Dynamical Systems and Chaos
. New York: Springer-Verlag.
“. . .
nonlinear dynamical systems
. . . even the faddish propagation of hit songs . . .”
The art of
mixing
a popular song has nonlinear components, according to producer and pundit Sandy Pearlman, as instrumental parts interact with one another and with signal processing devices in ways that are too difficult to easily predict or characterize. The mathematics involved for calculating a single interaction is usually nothing more complicated than what Newton had available in his time, but he didn’t have the computational capacity we have now to model all the possible interactions. (Without a computer, Newton couldn’t cope with all the calculations necessary to characterize three planets, let alone fifty thousand ants—there are just too many computations and the calculation grows extremely fast with the number of constituents.)
“No single ant ‘knows’ that the hill needs to relocate . . . but the actions of tens of thousands of ants result in the hill being moved . . .”
See for example: Gordon, D. M. (1999).
Ants at Work: How an Insect Society Is Organized
. New York: The Free Press. Johnson, S. (2001).
Emergence
:
The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software.
New York: Scribner. Strogatz, S. H. (1994).
Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos: With Applications to Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Engineering
. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books. Strogatz, S. H. (2003).
Sync: How Order Emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life
. New York: Hyperion. Wiggins, S. (2003).
Introduction to Applied Nonlinear Dynamical Systems and Chaos
. New York: Springer-Verlag.
“. . .
nonlinear dynamical systems
. . . even the faddish propagation of hit songs . . .”
The art of
mixing
a popular song has nonlinear components, according to producer and pundit Sandy Pearlman, as instrumental parts interact with one another and with signal processing devices in ways that are too difficult to easily predict or characterize. The mathematics involved for calculating a single interaction is usually nothing more complicated than what Newton had available in his time, but he didn’t have the computational capacity we have now to model all the possible interactions. (Without a computer, Newton couldn’t cope with all the calculations necessary to characterize three planets, let alone fifty thousand ants—there are just too many computations and the calculation grows extremely fast with the number of constituents.)
p. 184
“This trade-off is itself nonlinear and dynamic, changing throughout the course of a performance . . .”
I thank my colleague Frederic Guichard for this formulation.
“ ‘Words are the children of reason and, therefore, can’t explain it [music].’ ”
Bill Evans Quotes.
(n.d.). Retrieved March 7, 2008, from
http://thinkex-ist.com/quotes/bill_evans/
.
“This trade-off is itself nonlinear and dynamic, changing throughout the course of a performance . . .”
I thank my colleague Frederic Guichard for this formulation.
“ ‘Words are the children of reason and, therefore, can’t explain it [music].’ ”
Bill Evans Quotes.
(n.d.). Retrieved March 7, 2008, from
http://thinkex-ist.com/quotes/bill_evans/
.
CHAPTER 6
p. 191
“. . . the archaeological record suggests that their [Neanderthal] burials were an accidentally adopted behavior for hygienic reasons . . .”
In spite of earlier misleading reports of Neanderthal “bear cults,” burials, and so on. there is in fact no substantial evidence that they had any symbolic behavior or produced any symbolic objects. The burials may simply have been a way of discouraging hyenas from invading their camps. The actual data are slightly more ambiguous than I suggest here, the interested reader might refer to: Mithen, S. (2001). The evolution of imagination: An archaeological perspective.
SubStance
30(1&2): 28-54.
“. . . the archaeological record suggests that their [Neanderthal] burials were an accidentally adopted behavior for hygienic reasons . . .”
In spite of earlier misleading reports of Neanderthal “bear cults,” burials, and so on. there is in fact no substantial evidence that they had any symbolic behavior or produced any symbolic objects. The burials may simply have been a way of discouraging hyenas from invading their camps. The actual data are slightly more ambiguous than I suggest here, the interested reader might refer to: Mithen, S. (2001). The evolution of imagination: An archaeological perspective.
SubStance
30(1&2): 28-54.
p. 192
“. . . no known human culture lacks religion.”
In contemporary society we see that not everyone subscribes to religious beliefs, but this is a relatively new state, as a consequence of greater freedoms of thought in democratic societies. In the old days, if you didn’t believe in the state- or community-sanctioned religion, you were typically killed.
“. . . religion is more than a meme . . .”
See Dawkins, R. (1976).
The Selfish Gene
. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
“. . . anything that is universal to human culture is likely to contribute to human survival.”
Durkheim, É. (1965).
The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life,
translated by J. W. Swain. New York: The Free Press, p. 87. (Original work published 1912.)
“. . . no known human culture lacks religion.”
In contemporary society we see that not everyone subscribes to religious beliefs, but this is a relatively new state, as a consequence of greater freedoms of thought in democratic societies. In the old days, if you didn’t believe in the state- or community-sanctioned religion, you were typically killed.
“. . . religion is more than a meme . . .”
See Dawkins, R. (1976).
The Selfish Gene
. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
“. . . anything that is universal to human culture is likely to contribute to human survival.”
Durkheim, É. (1965).
The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life,
translated by J. W. Swain. New York: The Free Press, p. 87. (Original work published 1912.)
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