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).