Smithsonian Folkways World Music Collection

Levin, Theodore; Seeger, Anthony

doi:10.2307/3113910

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Audio: Borbangnadyr, Tuva. Vocal imitation of the sound of the brook (Levin, 1999 ). http://bit.ly/1D36LSJ…”

Section: Pre-modementioning

confidence: 99%

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Evolution of tonal organization in music mirrors symbolic representation of perceptual reality. Part-1: Prehistoric

Nikolsky¹

2015

Front. Psychol.

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This paper reveals the way in which musical pitch works as a peculiar form of cognition that reflects upon the organization of the surrounding world as perceived by majority of music users within a socio-cultural formation. The evidence from music theory, ethnography, archeology, organology, anthropology, psychoacoustics, and evolutionary biology is plotted against experimental evidence. Much of the methodology for this investigation comes from studies conducted within the territory of the former USSR. To date, this methodology has remained solely confined to Russian speaking scholars. A brief overview of pitch-set theory demonstrates the need to distinguish between vertical and horizontal harmony, laying out the framework for virtual music space that operates according to the perceptual laws of tonal gravity. Brought to life by bifurcation of music and speech, tonal gravity passed through eleven discrete stages of development until the onset of tonality in the seventeenth century. Each stage presents its own method of integration of separate musical tones into an auditory-cognitive unity. The theory of “melodic intonation” is set forth as a counterpart to harmonic theory of chords. Notions of tonality, modality, key, diatonicity, chromaticism, alteration, and modulation are defined in terms of their perception, and categorized according to the way in which they have developed historically. Tonal organization in music, and perspective organization in fine arts are explained as products of the same underlying mental process. Music seems to act as a unique medium of symbolic representation of reality through the concept of pitch. Tonal organization of pitch reflects the culture of thinking, adopted as a standard within a community of music users. Tonal organization might be a naturally formed system of optimizing individual perception of reality within a social group and its immediate environment, setting conventional standards of intellectual and emotional intelligence.

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“…Audio: Borbangnadyr, Tuva. Vocal imitation of the sound of the brook (Levin, 1999 ). http://bit.ly/1D36LSJ…”

Section: Pre-modementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Audio: Igil Fantasy, Tuva. Imitation of horse's neighing and trotting on igil, a 2-string fiddle (Levin, 1999 ). http://chirb.it/1NDkpE…”

Section: Genesis Of Pitchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of tonal organization in music mirrors symbolic representation of perceptual reality. Part-1: Prehistoric

Nikolsky¹

2015

Front. Psychol.

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“…Audio: Falak-I Badakshani, Pamir. Microtonal alterations of four “natural chromatic” degrees within the ambitus of F#4-A4, providing extra tension for a genre of funeral lamentation (Levin, 2007 ). http://goo.gl/SnUhO1…”

Section: Alteration and Modulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of Tonal Organization in Music Optimizes Neural Mechanisms in Symbolic Encoding of Perceptual Reality. Part-2: Ancient to Seventeenth Century

Nikolsky¹

2016

Front. Psychol.

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This paper reveals the way in which musical pitch works as a peculiar form of cognition that reflects upon the organization of the surrounding world as perceived by majority of music users within a socio-cultural formation. Part-1 of this paper described the origin of tonal organization from verbal speech, its progress from indefinite to definite pitch, and the emergence of two main harmonic orders: heptatonic and pentatonic, each characterized by its own method of handling tension at both domains, of tonal and social organization. Part-2, here, completes the line of historic development from Antiquity to seventeenth century. Vast archeological data is used to identify the perception of music structures that tells apart the temple/palace music of urban civilizations and the folk music of village cultures. The “mega-pitch-set” (MPS) organization is found to constitute the principal contribution of a math-based music theory to a new diatonic order. All ramifications for psychology of music are discussed in detail. “Non-octave hypermode” is identified as a peculiar homogenous type of MPS, typical for plainchant. The origin of chromaticism is thoroughly examined as an earmark of “art-music” that opposes earlier forms of folk music. The role of aesthetic emotions in formation of chromatic alteration is defined. The development of chromatic system is traced throughout history, highlighting its modern implementation in “hemiolic modes.” The connection between tonal organization in music and spatial organization in pictorial art is established in the Baroque culture, and then tracked back to prehistoric times. Both are shown to present a form of abstraction of environmental topographic schemes, and music is proposed as the primary medium for its cultivation through the concept of pitch. The comparison of stages of tonal organization and typologies of musical texture is used to define the overall course of tonal evolution. Tonal organization of pitch reflects the culture of thinking, adopted as a standard to optimize individual perception of reality within a social group in a way optimal for one's success, thereby setting the conventions of intellectual and emotional intelligence.

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Smithsonian Folkways World Music Collection

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Evolution of tonal organization in music mirrors symbolic representation of perceptual reality. Part-1: Prehistoric

Evolution of tonal organization in music mirrors symbolic representation of perceptual reality. Part-1: Prehistoric

Evolution of Tonal Organization in Music Optimizes Neural Mechanisms in Symbolic Encoding of Perceptual Reality. Part-2: Ancient to Seventeenth Century

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