Isha's blog

  Music, Communication and Affect   Music, like every other way of human communication, exists and depends upon culture (Bispham, 2009, p. 30). Even though the meaning of music is the result of a specific cultural and social context, all of us seem to be able to engage and to respond to some aspects of music outside our own culture (Bispham, 2009, p. 30). This kind of engagement works in different dimensions such as biological, social or cultural spaces (Bispham, 2009, p. 30).   Music is usually associated with emotions. People describing “shivers” or “chills” while listening to music are evidence of strong emotional experiences (Bispham, 2009, p. 30). However, there is still not enough evidence to prove that musical emotions are in any way different from other types of emotions (Bispham, 2009, p. 30). Maybe the most common example could be the use of music in society or even in psychology as a means of altering or creating particular moods in individuals or groups (Bisph...

I came across this paper while researching the acculturation of South Asian communities in North America. While this paper by Professor Viranjini Munasinghe of Cornell University covers a different topic creolization, I feel there are similarities and an attempt is to learn from patterns assuming there are. While I understand some of what is presented, there is a lot I don't understand and at the same time, I find the topic intriguing.  This paper is a critique of a critique of original research by the author.  Munasinghe frames her views and peers' views as relatively close on the fundamentals and at the same time emphasized that her basis of the research is beyond superficial cultural blending and also covers the influence and impact due to political, economic, and power relations. (Note here that Creolization is the process through which creole languages and cultures emerge ( ref ) and a Culturalist is someone who focuses on the importance of culture in determining behavi...

  Computation in ethnomusicology   Ethnomusicology as we know it, is focused on music in its social-cultural contexts. In recent years, with the arrival of more digital technology, ethnomusicology has tried to improve its relationship with computation, approaching and innovating with computational research in the field of Digital Humanities.     Today ethnomusicologists are working on projects that rely on processing and understanding large amounts of digital data, producing new research and focusing on the use of computing for extracting musical information, such as Music Information Retrieval (MIR) or Computational Ethnomusicology (Egan, 2021, p. 479). The application of computing and technology in ethnomusicology keeps growing, bringing benefits for both research and fieldwork. One of its greatest examples is the Seán Ó Riada Project at University College Cork in Ireland. The Seán Ó Riada Project, named after the famous Irish composer, had the goal of arrang...

From the perspective of cognitive science, music is one of the most bizarre and fascinating features of human culture. If we think about other human behaviors, such as eating or sleeping, music seems to have no obvious benefits. That's why the evolutionary origins of music have puzzled scientists for a long time (McDermott and Hauser, 2005, p. 29).   When we think that every culture in the world has some form of music and that most cultures developed music independently from each other, it can’t be helped to ask if there is some innate “machinery” motivating the production and appreciation of music (McDermott and Hauser, 2005, p. 30). Much of the 20th-century theories were based on the idea that musical preferences were mostly arbitrary, however, in 1984 composer and music theorist Arnold Schönberg argued that musical preferences were mostly part of one’s cultural upbringing (McDermott and Hauser, 2005, pp. 30 – 31).     Universal Features of Music: Pitch, lullabies, and ...

  Thanks to the work of psychologists of music during the 21st century, new concepts of biological evolution were introduced to musicology. This new interest raised questions related to biological evolution and the capacity to make and experience music. In the last few years, the “evolution of musicality” has returned as an important subject and opportunity for contemporary musicological research.   What is “evolution”?   When Charles Darwin formulated his theory of evolution, he did so without the concept of genes. Instead, Darwin based his theory on three requirements: (1) variation among individuals; (2) inheritance or transmission; and (3) selection of certain variants more likely to be inherited.  These principles have been applied equally to both biological and cultural evolution.   Recent advances in cultural evolution have led to the possibility of replacing the word “genes” with the word “variants”, leading to consider any inherited information, such...

  Music, Communication and Affect   Music, like every other way of human communication, exists in and depends upon the culture and its interactions. Outside the industrialized western world –where music is usually regarded as a commodity–, music is part of important active and interactive behaviors. (Bispham, 2009, p. 30). Even though the meaning of music is the result of a specific cultural and social context, we all seem to be able to engage with and/or respond appropriately to some aspects of music outside our own culture (Bispham, 2009, p. 30).   This paradox is easier to understand if we accept the notion that musical engagement works at different yet possibly overlapping dimensions: such as biological, social, and cultural dimensions (Bispham, 2009, p. 30).   Music is commonly associated with “emotion”. Sensations of “peak experience”, “shivers” or “chills” have all been reported as evidence of strong emotional experiences with music (Bispham, 2009, p. 30)- Ho...