Foundations of musical grammar
By: Lawrence M. Zbikowski
Series: Oxford studies in music theory; Oxford studies in music theory
Publisher: Oxford University Press; Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 255
ISBN-13: 9780190653637; 9780190653651
Copyright date: 2017
Subjects: Music; Psychological aspects; Social aspects; Semiotics; Music and dance; Music and language
Description: "How is it that humans are able to organize seemingly random sounds into the captivating sonic structures we call music? In this volume, Lawrence M. Zbikowski aruges that humans' unique ability to correlate sounds with dynamic processes provides the basis for the construction of meaningful musical utterances - that is, a foundation for musical grammar. Building on a framework for grammar developed by cognitive linguists over the past three decades and the pathbreaking research set out in his earlier book, Conceptualizing Music, Zbikowski explains how the ability to draw analogies between widely differing domains allowing humans to connect sequences of musical sounds with emotion processes, physical gestures, and the steps of dance. He shows how these connections underpin an evocative movement from a cantata by J. S. Bach, guide our understanding of gestural choreographies by Fred Astaire and Charlie Chaplin, and frame connections between movement and music in French courtly dance and the Viennese waltz. Through thorough surveys of research in cognitive science and careful analyses of works by composers ranging from Bach, Brahms, and Schubert to Jerome Kern, Zbikowski explores the unique resources for communication offered by music and examines how these differ from those of language. Foundations of Musical Grammar is sure to be an instant - and enticingly controversial - classic within the evolving literature addressing the many complex intersections of music and language." -- Dust jacket flap.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-241) and index.
Table of contents: title: 1. Origins; title: Music and language in human cultures; title: Foundations of musical grammar; title: Musical grammar and music theory; title: 2. Music and analogy; title: Analogy; title: Perceptual symbol systems, embodied knowledge, and analogy; title: Sonic analogs and systems of reference; title: Sonic analogs for dynamic processes; title: Analogy and imagination; title: Conclusion; title: 3. Music and emotion; title: Recent research on emotion; title: Recent research on music and emotion; title: Music, emotions, and sonic analogs; title: Conclusion; title: 4. Music and gesture; title: Gesture and language; title: The infrastructure of human communication; title: Music and movement; title: Music and gesture; title: Conclusion; title: 5. Music and dance; title: Music and dance in the Ancien Régime; title: Of waltzes and waltz music; title: Conclusion: Music, social dance, and musical grammar; title: 6. Music and woods; title: "Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh"; title: Music, words, and song; title: Conclusion; title: 7. Questions, answers, questions; title: Sonic analogs for dynamic processes; title: The elements of musical grammar; title: Prospects for a cognitive grammar of music.