Re: [microsound] memory and melody

[vadim sprikut <blohhskj@xxxxxxxxx>]

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"Neither example is intended to suggest that human song evolved directly from either songbirds or gibbons; neither of these taxa constitute our direct ancestors. <SNIP>

>>fascinating material, thanks for passing it on. i would be interested in seeing how children from other cultures, esp. non-western ones, evolve their musical language. but i do agree that it serves a social function to facilitate communication and ultimately relatedness/belonging. and like spoken language, it serves an organizing function for the self as well.

>>i do have to throw a monkeywrench into the works here: what about people who are "tone-deaf"? that is, adults who have no mastery of pitch. is this a biological deficit, or simply a gap in development? maybe early in human history, when singing in some form was a much more crucial function to one's survival, a tone-deaf person would have a smaller chance to survive and consequently pass on one's genes.

>>but this is a little bit removed from microsound :)  one of the reasons i raised this (aside from understanding the actual mechanism) is my own pursuit of non-melodic music. assuming that a song is inherently good because of melody is a knee-jerk reaction, in the way that many people consider representational painting superior over abstract painting. abstraction may not (initially) bring out affective responses like something such as melody would; it takes more effort, more thought, into processing abstraction (and what 'abstraction' means is another can o worms).

>>for me, thats more satisfying that being a passive recipient of whatever message a song is trying to convey. i think about all of the ambient music i am subjected to. i use ambient in a non-genre way. that is, going into a store and hearing music piped through the PA, or car stereos, advertisements, etc. so something like microsound has become more satisfying intellectually AND emotionally. but thats a learned response. 

v'

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