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Week 14 – on The Cognition of Basic Musical Structures by David Temperly
I have to admit to finding it simultaneously alienating and comforting to read of mathematical mappings of music, (which seems to be the stuff of Temperly’s work – though of course that’s a gross oversimplification to his efforts). The ambiguity of response is in large part because of the usual classification of music as within ‘the arts,’ which are acknowledged (and in education, certainly funded) very separately from science, technology and mathematics. Of course, we’re all familiar with math in art (like Leonardo da Vinci’s Virtuvian Man), and even the most oblivious is at least generally aware of a correlation between math and music, but culturally we seem to very firmly distinguish the fine arts from mathematics and technology. This merge of what I would have otherwise considered distinct subjects—music and mathematics, or music and computer modeling based on math—is the crux of what is both alienating and comforting, as mathematics means quantification, and measurement is intended to make something knowable. To that end, I derive comfort from the work of Temperly in attempting to map how we perceive aspects of music. The same input, math + music, also results in a strong feeling of skepticism and alienation, though, probably for exactly that same reason: having always perceived something mystical or unknowable about music, this dissection through measurement and analysis leads to a fear of too intimate of knowledge of the mystical. Although it’s a sloppy comparison, I feel the same tension in reading of Temperly’s work as in reading Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, both acknowledging the compulsion to shine light all dark spaces and feeling an instinctive pull away from that action because perhaps some spaces are better left unknown (or uncolonized, whether by Western colonial powers or by mathematics!). Temperly (2001) himself acknowledges the primacy of focus on cognition when doing research on music cognition, (pp. 4-6), and also acknowledges the limits or difficulties on computer modeling of music (pp. 44-47) – both of which elements provide some reassurance about what remains my humanistic interpretation of music. While I can understand an impetus to explore music via music cognition, and to attempt to reach conclusions about the structure of music and its relationship to varied human understandings or reactions, I admit to a long-standing bias against this sort of knowledge and application. Throughout the few chapters I read of Temperly’s work—and its final section—I repeatedly asked myself of the ultimate effect of, or purpose for, this research, and could think of only (1) a want for an increased assumption of knowledge about something, (in this case, how we perceive music as correlated to identified structural elements), (2) perhaps a will to either connect apparently dissimilar musical compositions, or to construct/predict responses to all new musical compositions as based on identified structures and correlating responses. While of course this is interesting, I admit to worry over the final product – in short, I love and react to music on mostly an instinctive, visceral level, so when I hear Skip James’ blues, I feel the life, pain, and sadness that lives behind his music; I’m not at all enthusiastic about the possibility of modeling and deconstructing a song or type of music as a means to make musical production both modular and predictably manipulative of audiences, (any more than it already is, I suppose).
References
Temperly, D. (2001). The Cognition of Basic Musical Structures. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Week 13 – on Simon’s “Jamming in the Stacks,” Hakanen’s “Counting Down to Number One,” and Oliver’s “Music, History, Democracy”
One particular nugget I took away from Oliver’s rather scathing critique of the 1989 IASPM conference was his note that “meanings associated with music (by academics, at any rate) are not intrinsic to it, but are symbolically interpreted according to ideological positions,” (p. 134). While this jab may even be just an offhand comment, it is worth translating it as a complimentary position to Simon’s (2008) “Jamming in the Stacks,” especially as regards his assertion of the significance of the library as both space for performance (and all that may be bound to them, such as the education Simon mentioned, (p. 42)), and institution of fair and deep cultural memory through its collections. If, as Simon suggested, music can be understood as an extension of freedom of expression, thus understood as beneath the umbrella of basic human rights, the library (as an institution with a commitment to protection of such rights) can exist as a place free of the symbolic interpretation of the ‘meaning’ of music. Instead, the library might be regarded as a space protective of performance and instruction as well as a locus of cultural record in the form of its musical collections, (whether in digital or tangible form). Or, as Simon (2008) wrote, “Libraries can and should promote these freedoms by developing stylistically broad, well stocked music collections utilizing popular formats and technologies, as well as promoting music performances and events that highlight the cultural life of local or regional communities, ethnicities, or historical eras. In this way, libraries can promote the cultural life of local communities and identities that make up our global village” (p. 39). This idea is particularly strengthened by framing music within Habermas’ idea of communicative action, as expressed within the institution of the library – which, as mentioned previously, may have the potential to stand apart from any type of partisan interpretation and rather exist simply as an open, welcome space founded on freedom of access and freedom of expression.
On an almost contradictory note, I find Hakanen’s reading of any sorts of charts as significant to be highly questionable, most likely because of models for access and distribution that have substantially changed over the past decade in ways that author likely could not have imagined. While I’m familiar with Saussure, Barthes, Eco, Althusser, and Baudrillard, I don’t see exceptional relevance of Hakanen’s interpretation of charts-as-sign to the current existence (and, I might argue, diminished significance) of any chart. Hananen, to update his writing, might gain traction through a connection between the chart and more contemporary digital measures of popularity, (rankings and ‘liking’ things on social networking sites, tweeting/retweeting, and generally being involved in a continuing chain of approval that includes assuming some sense of ownership as well – such as posting a story to one’s Facebook ‘Wall’).
References
Hakanen, E.A. (1998). Counting down to Number One: The evolution of the meaning of popular music charts. Popular Music, 17(1), 95-111. Retrieved from http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0261-1430%28199801%2917%3A1%3C95%3ACDTNOT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W
Oliver, P. (1990). Music, history, democracy. Popular Music, 9(1), 133-134. Retrieved from http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0261-1430%28199001%299%3A1%3C133%3AMHD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7
Simon, S.J. (2008). Jamming in the stacks: Music as a progressive librarian ideal. Progressive Librarian, 31, 37-45. Retrieved from http://libr.org/pl/
Week 13 – on Amnesty International’s Music for Human Rights site
Both the Music for Human Rights subsite and the Music for Human Rights blog, http://blog.amnestyusa.org/tag/music-for-human-rights/, are interesting in their focus on music as a method to deliver or promote information about human rights; perhaps they could learn, though, from the connection developed in “Jamming in the Stacks,” though, in thinking of musical expression as an actual human right! It is no surprise that popular musicians who have promoted peace and equality, (Bono and U2, as well as John Lennon) are substantially featured on the blog and the site – but again, it’s a shame that Amnesty International seems to view music as a tool for promoting all human rights, rather than recognizing that musical expression might be considered a human right, (although I expect that if music is censored, Amnesty International might take up the cause to fight this censorship/restriction of expression).
Week 12 – On Music Is Your Business, chapter 1 and chapter 6
The value of this work as a primer to the music business is obvious – even the initial charts showing the variety of faces of the ‘fronts’ of music marketing are of value in acquainting musicians with the landscape, as well as providing a full map to choose from (in terms of specific direction – for instance, to go the self- and mom & pop- route through each ‘front’ rather than the more corporate and expensive route). One particular issue that concerned me about the first chapter, though, was the focus on traditional media as outlets for exposure – for instance, within the ‘promotion’ front, the heavy emphasis is still on radio play; my expectation is that most musicians who are fumbling through understanding the landscape of the music business are not yet at a point where they might legitimately be rallying for airplay (since they likely lack a record deal, thus lack the necessary funding and exposure to generate radio play beyond that which they might garner on solely the power of their recordings at small, independent and/or college radio stations). In fact, upon further reflection, I can’t quite pinpoint the target audience for this book – it doesn’t seem likely that those who would find it most useful are absolute amateurs, but at the same time, I don’t quite know how much value the semi-professionals and new professionals would find in some of this information.
Another question that arises about this work is the relevance of some of the historical survey – it’s not that information about consolidation of media outlets is wrong, (it’s obviously correct), but rather if it’s relevant to the audience of this book. An author who mentions Fugazi must have some understanding of the development of that band and the label all of its releases have come out on – a band and label that eschew commercialism and celebrate independence from corporate conglomeration. The author seems to be attempting to survey the world of ‘the music business,’ including much of what exists as outside of the ‘business’ part, and perhaps focuses too much on historical fact and awkward/incomplete attempts at parallels (especially apparent in the table within the ‘changes in the way music is sold over the last 35 years’ section of chapter 6), rather than on capturing linear developments and admitting to disjunctures (which the Web, and the disconnect between popularity traditional promotional methods/outlets, seem to be).
Week 12 – On the Music Markup Language site, http://www.musicmarkup.info
As the question already indicates by asking ‘what do they leave out?’ the Music Markup Language site seems to be a substantial step forward for music informatics as regards universal readability and easy format switching and description of music, but with gaps in what might be considered the more human side of the informatics dyad, (human and machine/technology). What they leave out, then, includes much of what we’ve been preoccupied with during the length of this course, such as the social and economic issues bound to music production, distribution, and consumption. Indeed, though the technology (put most simply, representation of music in an XML-based language), if functional, could form a significant foundation (via a common language) for mapping music through its human-machine paths, the language alone is not an analysis, nor even a theoretical tool upon which to build analysis.
Week 11 – on Soundtracks: Popular Music, Identity and Place, chapters 1 and 11
The exploration within the first chapter of Soundtracks of popular music as “providing a platform for the expression of marginalised [sic] voices,” was compelling, especially the notion that popular music might even capture some type of “resistance to the homogenizing forces of the culture industry,” (Connell & Gibson, 2004, p. 15). Particularly with widespread (global) availability of ICTs as well as to all manner of software for listening to, distributing, and recording & editing music, the potential for ‘marginal’ voices to be heard seems significant—more substantial, certainly, than in the days of nothing more than the field recordings of the Lomaxes for the Library of Congress, for example. This is particularly interesting as it shows the potential for the musician to express a challenging voice, and with global distribution expands the potential audience between the geographically local, (though problems of virtual distribution and access are still relevant, of course). What seems to have been given short shrift—at least within the first and eleventh chapters—of the book, though, is the tension that exists between this current (what one might identify as a subversive or countercultural force of expression) and the powerful force of absorption/appropriation and commodification, (see Dick Hebdige’s Subculture: The Meaning of Style for further explanation of this idea). Notions of consumption are particularly relevant: despite a nod toward Michel de Certeau’s idea, in writing “music is one way through which ordinary acts of consumption and movement throughout daily life could constitute ‘tactics’ of subtle opposition,” (Soundtracks, p. 16), the idea of the consumer as representing or echoing challenge aren’t given substantial attention. Despite that detraction, the notion that there is an elastic but certain relationship between geography and music, (as regards the place itself, the people of a given location, and every face of globalization), is interesting and worthy of serious exploration—especially using the iterative and interpretive approach of Connell and Gibson in developing critical analysis/analyses.
The significance of geography, especially as regards boundary-crossing collaboration made possible (or at least easier) by networked technologies, is apparent within much contemporary musical production, though I’d argue this is prevalent in subversive or at least sorts of outsider products that live beyond the packaged delivery of a global culture industry. A few examples include: (1) the band Money Can’t Buy Music, built on the collaboration of a Scottish musician and Swedish musician (using technology to bridge a geographic gap); (2) technology blurring relocation, like that of Antony Harding (Ant), formerly of England and now of Sweden, whose music is almost dislocated as it echoes of his earlier music, expressing his English roots while situated (in terms of both labels and collaborators) in his Scandinavian adopted home; and (3) of technology facilitating transcendence of genre and time, like that between Vashti Bunyan (forgotten late 1960s British folk artist) and new ‘freak folk’/’new folk’ musicians like Animal Collective and Devendra Banhart, (whose re-finding of Bunyan and further collaboration stepped over boundaries of strict genre, geography, and time).
Another interesting aspect of globalization, or considering geography and music in the contemporary world, is very much related to what Connell and Gibson note of businesses in the culture industry pursuing investments (and perhaps legal and/or legislative lobbying) in countries/regions that may be amenable to more western (read: ‘business-friendly’) understandings of copyright control. Although I haven’t yet identified an actual cause-and-effect, it is surely worth noting that the most substantial violators of copyright in terms of illegal file sharing are Western countries – the same countries that have the most substantial controls of copyright. While this may be read as something as simple as the effect of having more copyright control, (perhaps a parallel: you can only ‘speed’ in a place where there is a speed limit, and where there are vehicles capable of travelling faster than that limit), I would suggest this issue worthy of further investigation as a method to examine the effects of copyright control.
One final thought about the apparent boundarylessness when it comes to globalization – while certainly access can be head that transcends geography, it is worth attending to the price of this access. For instance, in a world based on tangibility, an added cost based on physical distribution and transfer from one country to another can be understood; in a world of instantaneity and absolute permeability (such as the virtual world), though, it may be argued that the boundaries of traditional geography lose relevance. I would simply point to the reinforcement of traditional boundaries in the form of things such as international transaction fees applied to purchases regardless of their tangibility. Such an example (humorous because Radiohead seems to often be the go-to model for digital delivery of content) is my recent online purchase of the latest Radiohead album, The King of Limbs, prior to its physical release. Although digital delivery made the process immediate—and even though the Radiohead billing site billed in US dollars—I was assessed an international transaction fee (despite this being transacted online). Perhaps this is an indication of how traditional institutions that have outmoded revenue streams seek to reinforce their existing models, (in this case, notions of geography and boundaries), no matter the situation.
References
Connell, J. & Gibson, C. (2003). Soundtracks: Popular music, identity and place. New York: Routledge.
Week 10 – on The Future of the Music Business, chapters 19-20
The final chapters of Gordon’s book finally catch up to the present, with both the likely demise of the traditional music industry (revealed in an interview with the former president of Grokster, Wayne Rosso – at least as regards a substantial drop in revenue generation), and the spread of music into the virtual world. Gordon’s conclusions about the current state of the digital music marketplace are interesting, and show an historical trajectory that actually deflates some of the speculation in the previous chapters: Gordon not only points to the failure of the subscription model for music access, but also to the decreasing space of competitors in the virtual ‘box store’ environment dominated by iTunes and Amazon. The exploration of Second Life as a revenue-generating performance space seems like it may have some promise as a niche opportunity—when the entire world can show up virtually to ‘watch’ a ‘live’ performance in Second Life, it seems reasonable to assume that packing a virtual concert hall is quite a bit easier than trying to fill an actual concert hall.
Week 10 – on the Visual Complexity site, http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/index.cfm?domain=Music
Although this commentary will be similar to some of what I wrote in class last semester, I have doubts about the effectiveness of visualization of networks as a tool. I do believe this sort of project can be effective as a tool for discovery—for instance, illustrating connections between related artists—but I don’t quite understand the value (other than aesthetic) of this form of representation of connection rather than simple text lists. Interestingly, many of the projects linked to from the Visual Complexity site (at least music-related links) are based on data collected from various streaming sources, like Last.FM. It would be interesting to see this tool represented across multiple sites, especially if the resulting graphics could proportionally represent popularity, (like focus on a certain band across their Facebook and MySpace pages, as well as through Pandora, Last.FM, and other services – although this is sloppy, and FB or MySpace wouldn’t provide any data that would be really comparable to that collected from streaming audio sources ).
Week 9 – on The Future of the Music Business, chapters 14 – 16
Following on the practical applicability of the preceding few chapters, Gordon’s book shifts back to considerations of legal practicality and licensing for music distribution and copying through chapters 14 and 15, (especially 15 with the exploration of Creative Commons licensing). One of the few specific points I found most compelling within this section of Gordon’s book was the follow-up interview with John Buckman about Magnatune, in which Buckman noted that although the site had surged in popularity it had maintained flat sales since2005. This obviously leads into speculation that within a world based on a new distribution model for music, perhaps the margin is actually smaller (than in the previous ultra-manufactured music industry model). That doesn’t mean that the potential profit margin for artists is smaller—as Gordon sufficiently demonstrates, a shortened and better-controlled supply chain from musician to fan means more likelihood of increased profit from music distributed through digital channels for the actual musicians; it does suggest, though, that much of the unnecessary infrastructure centered on old tangible distribution is a thing of the past, (despite how stridently each link in that chain defends an outmoded production and profit-making model). Similarly, Gordon makes an excellent point about the potential of Creative Commons licensing – through his interview with Lawrence Lessig as well as the blog posts that follow – and how it doesn’t actually pose a challenge to copyright but rather functions as a supplement to traditional copyright’s ‘all rights reserved’ restrictions. Referring back for a second to tangible distribution models, Gordon’s interview with Derek Sivers (founder of CD Baby) does suggest that tangible distribution with altered and shortened channels for distribution may still be profitable (or at least not outmoded) – although, again, the bloated models of the past seem to no longer generate enough revenue to produce ample profits for every link in the supply chain.
Week 9 – on 10 sites taken from the Harvard College Library Online Resources for Music Scholars
http://hcl.harvard.edu/research/guides/onmusic/
- Alan Lomax archive, http://www.culturalequity.org/ – This is a tremendous resource for accessing not only Alan Lomax’s field recordings, but also his (and other ethnomusicologist) commentary of the recordings. These sorts of primary sources are still widely unavailable on the commercial market, making the efforts at digitizing and sharing the content (for free) worthy of celebration. The content, delivered mainly in audio, is indexed and searchable by a number of data elements, (keyword, geographic location, culture, instrument, artist, song title, collection, and even original tape number). This is truly a digital treasure.
- California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afccchtml/cowhome.html – Although very specific in its focus, this collection within the Library of Congress’ American Folklife Collection provides a tremendous variety of digitized primary source material dealing with a specific moment and location significant in American history. This collection is noteworthy because it properly represents the cultural variety rarely recognized, (in this case, the variety of immigrant communities that made up the residents of northern California, most notably the Portuguese), and presents this variety (and commentary) across a variety of media.
- Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier – The Henry Reed Collection, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/reed/ – Also part of the Library of Congress’ curated collections is this, the Henry Reed fiddle music collection. The collection encapsulates Appalachia of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, (despite the music recording dates of 1966-1967), represented in the fiddle playing of Henry Reed. This impressive online collection includes many audio files as well as field notes and tune-transcription images.
- Now What a Time: Blues, Gospel, and the Fort Valley Music Festivals, 1938-1943, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ftvhtml/ftvhome.html – Yet another Library of Congress collection of audio files and supporting documentation, this particular collection specifically relates to music from the Fort Valley State College folk festivals of the late 1930s and early 1940s. While many of the recordings are of traditional blues and gospel songs, the Library of Congress editorial content on the page mentions the particular significance of rewording some of these songs (within the recordings) to represent ‘wartime concerns of the performers.’ As with all of these collections, the content within the Fort Valley Music Festivals recordings is densely packed with meaning – in terms of race, class, geography, and specific moment in time.
- Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/lohtml/lohome.html – Another Lomax archive, this one capturing a trip through a wide swath of southern America with his wife, captures all manner of folk songs (from cowboy songs of Texas through folk music through Appalachia and beyond) in field recordings made during a lengthy trip in 1939. As with the other Lomax recordings, these resources are of inestimable value in capturing a place and a moment in American history, (and musical history).
- Yiddish Sheet Music (part of Brown University’s collections in the John Hay Library), http://dl.lib.brown.edu/sheetmusic/yiddish/about.html – This is a particularly well-done digitization effort from the Center for Digital Initiatives at Brown University Libraries, partnering with the John Hay Library at Brown. This sheet music content is freely accessible and provides high resolution scans, both browsable by creator and/or title, and searchable by keyword (with title, creator, and publication fields as the indexes the keyword search runs against). This collection is substantial, totaling about 2000 items.
- Kurt Weill Newsletter, http://www.kwf.org/publications/kurt-weill-newsletter.html – A link to a newsletter published by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music about things related to the famous theater composer’s work.
- Louisiana State Museum Jazz Collection, http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/cdm4/index_JAZ.php?CISOROOT=%2FJAZ – Similar in approach to the Library of Congress collections, this digital collection maintained by the Louisiana Digital Library focuses primarily on New Orleans jazz as represented across audio recordings and photographs. This collection is still under development, (digitization is in progress according to the site).
- Medieval Music Database, http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/MMDB/index.htm – Although this site has not been updated since 2004, (and the Music Department associated with maintaining this database at La Trobe University closed in 1998), the metadata records in the database are still accessible, but it seems that many of the links are not currently working. Some are, though, such as those accessible through the Liturgical Feast link. One hopes that the intention to update and maintain this database (proposed for 2008, though not updated) is eventually carried out.
- Traditions: Research Guide for Folklore and Folklorists, http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k25081 – This research guide produced by the Harvard’s Widener Library provides substantial links to Library resources within different categories, including Stories, Dance, Craft and Art, Ethnography, Ethnomusicology, as well as guides to specific courses.
Week 8 – on Steve Gordon’s The Future of the Music Business, chapters 11 – 13
Last semester’s course, Information Architecture, was a true eye-opener in the midst of a program that has otherwise been useful but predictable; to put it simply, academic libraries have been my life for the past six years (and continue to be), so although I’ve certainly learned from my coursework, nothing was remarkably new – until Information Architecture. Sure, I had a vague sense of the value of good web design, and I knew the frustration (as a user) that came from attempting to navigate poorly constructed, badly indexed, and unsearchable sites, but I had neither the language to describe the problems nor an appreciation for the complexity that underpins the most elegant and usable web presence. Information Architecture gave me those things—the language and the understanding of the breadth and depth of IA—and ever since, I’ve looked at the web environment through a completely different lens. It is interesting to see, then, the applicability once again of so many of the basic principles covered in Information Architecture referenced in chapters 11 through 13 of The Future of Music Business (especially chapter 11). Based on that background, much of what Gordon writes—and much of what those he interviews say—makes perfect sense. A few notions I found tremendously interesting is an apparent shift in perception of the internet; whereas internet sources have long suffered from a snobbish reduction to ‘invalid’ or ‘questionable’ by virtue of simply being available through the web rather than in a print form, Gordon (2008) comes out of the gates strong in defense of the internet, even going so far as to say that “a strong Web presence can lend credibility to a new artist’s profile” (p. 207). Apparently, in other words, sometimes the internet can actually provide credibility rather than its opposite, (depending on how professional the presence, I suppose). Also of tremendous use to the novice, I assume, is the list of what Gordon terms ‘jargon’ as well as the links to other relevant terms for any web presence. Much as we might read Girsberger’s Manual for the Performance Library as a manual, a quick-start guide to becoming a performance librarian, these later chapters of Gordon’s work have moved beyond explanation of the legal complexities and have actually taken the form of a how-to manual for musicians attempting to create, market and distribute their own product (their music and themselves). The range of options presented by Gordon—through his writing and interviews—provide choices for the lowest to highest budget (the range mapping neatly to how professionally outsourced a musician wants to make any or all components of music production, publicity, promotion, product manufacturing, sales, booking, and more), including a few do-it-for-you types of DIY options, (like the combination of services that might even be referred to as a suite through CD Baby/HostBaby).
References
Gordon, S. (2008). The future of the music business: How to succeed with the new digital technologies (2nd ed.). New York: Hal Leonard.
Week 8 – on Wikipedia’s Improvisation article, Musicovery site
Wikipedia – article on improvisation, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvisation : the most significant result from visiting this Wikipedia article was thinking of different forms of improvisation as fundamentally related, and often being premised on not only technical skill but also on a knowledge of the ‘idiom’ – whether this is applied to comedy, music, or other forms of production, it still suggests a baseline knowledge of both how to do something as well as a knowledge about something (knowledge of the common language, whatever form that may take).
Musicovery – http://musicover.com : although the selection of music played through Musicovery is severely limited, I have to admit that this is a dream product, (at least the ‘Mood Radio’ feature is). I’ve always considered music to be deeply tied to my feelings and moods – though I’ve never known if music was reflecting my own moods or influencing them, (perhaps both), I really love the simplicity of marking axes of happy/gloomy mood and energentic/calmness, and allowing some determination of coordinates to tie into the appropriate music. It may be telling that I played most with the ‘Dark’ side of the coordinate system, and was delighted (though in slight disagreement about the ‘darkness’) of the first pick being Soft Cell’s ‘Tainted Love,’ followed by many of my own (I thought) gloomiest picks, (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Nick Cave, Bryan Ferry, Nina Simone – this is my own miserable soundtrack!). I plan on sharing this widely with friends – thanks very much for sharing this with the class!
Week 8 – on Russ Girsberger’s A Manual for the Performance Library, (appendix, glossary, bibliography)
These three sections – an appendix filled with useful forms and references, a glossary filled with all relevant terminology for interacting with both the musicians being served by the library and fellow music (or performance) librarians, and a bibliography containing titles relevant to each key area in setting up and running a performance library—are an appropriate enough encapsulation of the value of this book. In short, if I were to walk into the responsibility of running a performance library with little to no specialized training, I absolutely believe I could follow this book chapter by chapter, step by step, and have a functional end product made from scratch. I doubt this manual—a more appropriate title would be an impossibility—will make an outstanding performance librarian, but my guess about that is that such excellence only comes with experience. It would, though, help any new performance librarian move through all of the necessary steps to do the actual work of the performance library and librarian, to get through the daily requirements without necessarily having any special knowledge up front. That it is part of the Music Library Association’s ‘Basic Manual Series’ makes perfect sense—I expect it is a required resource for any new performance librarian, (as it should be).
Week 7 – on Musicophilia, chapters 15 and 23; Manual for the Performance Library, chapters 6 and 7
As much as I would like to find hope in the apparent palliative effects of music on Clive in the case written about in chapter 15, I cannot help finding Clive’s story tremendously sad. Yes, of course it’s interesting and encouraging to know that Clive’s interaction with music seems to aid or improve his memory—although I am very curious to know whether such a strong connection to some other form of expression, (painting? something else altogether?), could stimulate the same sort of slight memory corrective in the face of such absolute memory loss. Much as I do appreciate Sacks’ style and stories, after reading some – such as that of his dream of Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder at the beginning of chapter 23—I cannot help feel that they occasionally ring a little false, a little too perfectly illustrative. Dealing with the topic of the chapter, though, I admit a distance between my experience and those of the people Sacks’ mentions. I have certainly had my dreams continue into my waking day, but I cannot recall music in my dreams; I definitely can’t recall music from my dreams continuing after waking. If this is a widespread phenomenon, I would be interested to know if it especially happens to musicians (by which I mean those of more than the amateurish persuasion, like myself), and further, if there seem to be special causes they have noticed.
As for Girsberger’s work, chapters 6 and 7 provide the specific instructions necessary to distribute music, collect it after its use, and preserve it (in order, and in usable condition over time). Again and again, I repeat that this work is absolutely a valuable tool for the performance librarian, since it provides a very practical, detailed checklist to ensure adequate support for musicians and conscientious handling of library contents for use and reuse.
Week 7 – on various websites
Freepress site, http://www.freepress.net/resources/ownership
This was particularly instructive, especially the section about radio ownership (http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/radio) – I’d known of Clear Channel, but had no idea that Disney was such a presence, and hadn’t even heard of the majority (Bertelsmann, Citadel, Entercom, Cumulus). Perhaps most impressive of all was the addition of 2009 revenues for these 9 companies (in excess of $100 billion); while I don’t expect this represents their revenues from radio alone (with companies like Disney, Viacom, and CBS represented, diversification across all media delivery seems more likely to account for those numbers), it doesn’t change the overall point that some very large corporate players have a hold on terrestrial radio, (which previous readings already suggested). I found “The Case Against Media Consolidation” (http://www.stopbigmedia.com/=compendium) especially compelling – although it mostly revisited familiar arguments that are (rightly) used against consolidation and (more) centralized control of many forms of production (cultural and otherwise).
Berklee & Full Sail, http://www.berklee.edu/, http://www.fullsail.edu/
For years, Full Sail has been a destination for my musician friends – a real way to turn a passion for music into a means to earn a living, (a more reliable living than just playing gigs and selling records). Since I’d always known of Full Sail as the place to go to learn how to record, it came as a bit of a surprise to me to see that they offer a range of degrees dealing with some form of cultural product – animation, video game design, film, ‘show production’ – but, of course, it makes sense. This seems very much technical training, but I assume that in the related careers accreditation through a degree from a more traditional university probably is much less relevant than the experience gained here. I had difficulty accessing the Berklee College site, but know of its reputation: it has a substantial legacy for providing a significant musical education – in fact, I thought of it as the Juilliard for the more contemporary-minded. Since I couldn’t get the live page to work, I relied on a cached version and some secondary sources, (including Wikipedia, in the spirit of full disclosure) to fill in the gaps. I wasn’t surprised, following on visiting the Full Sail site, to find that understanding the music business could be part of the curriculum; if The Future of the Music Business has reinforced anything, it is that music is indeed a (big) business, so it makes perfect sense that aspiring (professional) musicians learn this before venturing too far into the professional world. While I remain skeptical of the value of many schools with a celebrated technical side, like the Devrys and ITT Techs of the world, I can see real value in professional (and at least in the case of Berklee, theoretical!) training of such schools as Full Sail and Berklee.
Taxi, http://www.taxi.com/about.html
I have to admit skepticism when I see sites like this. I realize the importance of such intermediaries (or advocates, maybe) within such a large business as music or film, but this site exudes semi-professionalism with its awkward sidebar of self-promoting ads and expressions of customer appreciation. It certainly doesn’t compete with sites from the largest labels with whom Taxi might interact on a musician’s behalf – which brings to mind the poor underdog represented by the attorney with ads on a bus station bench fighting against the mega-corporation. Perhaps this is just a bit of hasty judgment on my part, though, and Taxi is remarkably successful at helping their clients find success with record, film, or TV deals…
Music Biz Academy, http://www.musicbizacademy.com/
While I’m nearly as suspicious of this site as I am of Taxi, I admit to liking the purpose substantially more. Sure, the look reminds me of an infomercial gone web-based, (it looks remarkably similar to the full-page snake-oil ads in newspaper-insert magazines), but it seems crammed with useful information for the aspiring professional musician. It should be noted, though, that there is a marketing angle to this site, (the link from ‘Music Promotion’ redirected me to a page within the bookstore, http://www.musicbizacademy.com/bookstore/htpromotemusic.htm), some valuable information might be gleaned from the free content.
“The Long Tail,” http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html
Only a few words on the long tail – this is a pressing concern in libraries, too, so I’d recommend all get used to the notion of ‘the long tail.’ In some ways, I’ve been especially fond of the concept rearing its head within the marketplace for music – I find it responsible for my favorite Elvis Costello reissues, as well as remastered/reissued records to replace very poor copies I’d spent years hunting down, (all of the Dolly Mixture records, all of the Shoes records). I think we’re all benefiting immensely from an online distribution model (or at least online distribution as one of a number of models), and we can see this through the apparently endless choices we now enjoy: Hulu just began offering (for a price, of course) all of the Criterion content, which itself leveraged a belief in the value of the ‘long tail’ in cleaning up and rereleasing film classics; many, many record labels have begun rereleasing music from the past that has clearly influenced contemporary popular musicians, (I’d look here to David Byrne’s former label, Luaka Bop, as an example, having rediscovered/reissued famous tropicalia (and other) artists like Os Mutantes and Tom Zé, (which, I would argue, also influenced labels like Light in the Attic, http://lightintheattic.net/, to pursue the same agenda … obvious in their reissues, which have been all over the place for the past decade or more – Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin, Karen Dalton, the Monks, the Free Design, and many more!) . Hooray for the long tail!
Google Audio Processing, Music XML, and Gnod
I wonder if the Google Audio Processing projects informed the future apps that can identify a song playing in the background, (as in a store – there’s an iPhone app for this, though not sure if there are comparable other apps). If so, a nice view of research being brought to market. I’m not quite sure I understand MusicXML products, but it seems that MusicXML might produce software that can translate audio files into notation, and perhaps might also be sound editing software so that, for instance, one could use it to create karaoke (vocal-less) tracks – or maybe just pull out a single instrument for play-along practice? Gnod doesn’t seem remarkably different from associating products, (Google Sets, TuneGlue, or the databases that all of these new illustrative applications of associations are based on, like All Music Guide), and I’m just as underwhelmed by my one sample, (I picked three bands and every suggested similar band was either an affiliated band because of a shared member or was on the same label as one of my entered three). I can certainly suggest more relevant suggestions, (even Amazon does a better job, based on what others have viewed/purchased).
Week 6 – on Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, ch. 7 & 11
These two chapters followed an interesting trajectory, first in stripping away some of the mystery of musical performance and appreciation by rooting it in biological factors, then in reinflating the mystery through reflection on mechanisms for compensation that might develop in those who lose hearing on one side. As far as the basics of physiological explanations for ‘musicality’, Sacks’ nod toward the variety of physical structures in the brain that could correlate to different aspects of ‘musicality’—while demystifying some of what we might think of as the natural talent for music—is enlightening, especially as it correlates to a musical angle of the nature/nurture argument. While it seems that Sacks finds something compelling in naturally-occurring talent (such as in Rebecca West’s novel), his citation of Rauscher’s study and those it inspired help to show value of musical training early in life, as well as (though the example of Gerry Marks) the ability to develop musicality even later in youth (and beyond).
The reemergence of mystery can be found, I think, in what Sacks notices in the perception of people who have lost their ability to hear in stereo—specifically, their change in emotional response to music with a loss of stereophony. This definitely relies on the physical fact, evident in mechanisms to compensate for loss of hearing in one ear–such as possible brain development (new connections in the brain) and/or behavioral changes, (like a seeming ‘tic’ of regularly readjusting the orientation of a working ear to develop a ‘pseudostereo’ effect). Ultimately, it seems that ability for humans to adapt is itself a bit mysterious, (especially since it isn’t a given, considering the variety of outcomes Sacks cites, nor is it exactly understood in simple, cause-and-effect way).
Week 6 – on Russ Girsberger’s A Manual for the Performance Library, chapters 4 and 5
Continuing on with the idea that Girsberger’s book is very much a handbook giving a shorthand for music librarianship within a small, specialized library (the ‘performance library’), chapter 4 does well to present worthwhile examples of shelving/arranging material, as well a quick overview of binding and preservation functions. This continues on into chapter 5, with gestures toward a level of service that goes beyond even paging within some libraries (esp. law libraries). The preparation of materials for use in performances goes well beyond the traditional boundaries of what we might think of as appropriate for a librarian – into what one might describe as an annotator, through such examples as bow and divisi markers. Finally, the end of chapter checklists would certainly be helpful to the new performance librarian, as they seem to cover the essentials without any superfluous information. Again, this book is clearly intended to be a practical primer for performance librarians, (whether or not they have any traditional librarian training).
Week 6 – on various websites
Sociology of Rock Music, MusicMap, more
While many of the links from this page are familiar to me, like Lester Bangs’ writing, or the article already posted to the discussion board of David Byrne’s, or Steve Albini’s, this site has many interesting, varied links about the margins of popular music and music of what might be called a counterculture. MusicMap reminds me very much of TuneGlue (down to the specific graphic representation), though it seems slightly expanded from what appears with TuneGlue. As mentioned in last semester’s Information Architecture, I’m very aware of attempts to represent relationships graphically, but am not always sold on how valuable they are. I’m especially intrigued by Kelly’s writing about folk music, like that of the Indonesia at the turn of the century; in some ways, I wonder if new musicians aren’t reflecting this always-changing aesthetic, (particularly, I think of some musicians or bands like Jandek or Sunburned Hand of the Man who issued a seemingly endless series of recordings, usually in very limited runs, and often of unrehearsed performances). Regardless of how many of Kelly’s prognostications come into being, this article’s speculation is interesting. While I haven’t yet read Jacque Attali’s Noise, I am intrigued by the connection this outline draws out (without explicitly stating it) between some of Bakhtin’s ideas in reading Rabelais, and an application of Brueghel’s painting to interpreting music. As far as David Byrne is concerned, I think it fair to consider him an elder statesman of popular music, one whose commentary on the recording industry is invaluable, (but follow this with my posts across the weeks, which all attempt to pay tribute to Byrne’s work, musical and otherwise).
Week 5 – on Russ Girsberger’s A Manual for the Performance Library, chapters 2 and 3 – 2/07/2011
Girsberger’s intention across the second and third chapters of his book seems to be to support his assertion from the first chapter, that traditional training and even experience as a librarian is not necessary to work as a performance librarian. These two chapters in particular, while touching upon some of the basic concepts for acquisitions and cataloging, (using specialized vendors, use of AACR2R and MARC records), act as a crib sheet for those unfamiliar with the functions. One particularly striking difference presented by Girsberger was the use of rental as a method to acquire material rather than purchase, due to a number of possible circumstances. While this is a model that exists within certain libraries—for instance, a friend of mine who works at a Department of Defense library in Germany had mentioned this as how some of the material comes into his library—this is by no means the most popular approach to collection development for most libraries. Still, given the limited budget and specialized material being handled by a performance library, I suppose I can see the legitimacy of such a strategy. Following along that same path, it was interesting to note that while Girsberger did reference traditional methods of cataloging, including metadata standards and encoding standards, this chapter (as well as the chapter on acquisitions) really seemed to be a means to present the shorthand version of technical services.
Week 5 – on Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, part 1
Musical hallucination is an entirely new phenomenon to me. Since I have never (yet) experienced this, I found the litany of case studies fascinating, and was absorbed by Sacks’ common-language approach. While I feel certain that many will read part one of Musicophilia as a testament to the ability of humans to change and grow at any point in their lives—focusing especially on those, such as Dr. Cicoria, who were seemingly musically inspired, or the stories of the many patients who adapted and absorbed their ‘inner iPods’ into their lives—I found the variety of causes of musical hallucination (and their apparent relative untreatability) much more fascinating. That such a variety of problems can result in the same symptom (or effect), musical hallucinations, is surprising enough, (Sacks, 2008, p. 78); that this particular effect of some strokes, aneurysms, seizures, tumors, and more cannot be mitigated even with the more experimental side of modern medicine, though, leads me back to an assumption that even expert understanding of the brain’s functioning is severely limited. In Sacks’ (2008) defense, he does propose possible reasons, and seems especially supportive of Konorski’s hypothesis that “sensory input … normally inhibits any backflow of activity from the highest parts of the cortex to the periphery. But if there is a critical deficiency of input from the sense organs, this will facilitate a backflow,” (p. 83). Even if this generalized cause is correct, though, it begs the question of why the next step (of correcting this problem) hasn’t been successful. I appreciate Sacks’ mostly even-handed approach to musical hallucination, as it seems clear from the cases he cites that it can be considered a gift or a curse (and anywhere along the spectrum between those two poles). Before even picking up this book, I admit to skepticism based on my having read the work of R.D. Laing and his interpretation of schizophrenia and the place (or not) of antipsychotics as treatment. I am relieved, though, that Sacks takes no such extreme approach, but rather seems to focus on the best outcomes for those experiencing the hallucinations. I look forward to continuing through the book, especially as it focuses more on the correlation between music and emotion, and music and memory, (which I admit will have more personal resonance than explorations of musical hallucination, however fascinating that topic may be).
References
Sacks, O. (2008). Musicophilia: Tales of music and the brain (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: Vintage.
Week 5 – On music cognition at OSU, and the origins of music website
Without the links to the Ohio State Music Cognition Center, I wouldn’t have understood that music cognition could be considered a recognizable field of study, or perhaps more importantly, how multidisciplinary it is. While some of the questions that inform ‘music cognition’ (found on the OSU site, http://www.music-cog.ohio-state.edu/what_is_music_cognition.html) fit well within the boundaries of understanding music as a form of cultural production—which led me to consider much of music cognition within the realm of anthropology—the obvious significance of measurable scientific approaches, (including some of those outlined by Sacks in his book), gesture toward a much more wide-ranging field. I would be curious to know if those who pursue different specializations within the larger discipline of ‘music cognition’ wind up considering themselves experts in varying fields – for instance, I can easily imagine a neurologist, a moral philosopher, and a music educator all finding their focus within the field of music cognition despite their substantially different training and professional paths. I expect I will return more than once to the list of questions, at least, as a guide to more comprehensively consider music cognition. While I found the ‘origins of music’ website interesting, some of the logic expressed within the linked essays (such as in http://www.greenwych.ca/natbasis.htm) seemed questionable—for instance (at the danger of moving into the space of a subjective collapse), I would contend that the human structure for measurement is constructed rather than natural. The second, in other words, is not an objectively occurring and understood unit, but rather an arbitrary division of another arbitrary division (the minute) of another arbitrary division (the hour); as such, I am suspicious of essentializing arguments about the structure of music when they are premised on what I see as human constructed rather than naturally occurring measurements. That said, patterns within nature are well known, and, in a general way, I could see that patterns of musical composition (thinking here of non-human composition, like the vocalizing of songbirds or whales) might be discernible and even noticeable within human musical production.
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