Music–Inate Grammar For Humans

November 2019

Whether it’s a love song, dance song or lullaby, music shares similar underlying structural elements, according to a ground-breaking study. In fact, we even use the same simple building blocks to make melodies, suggesting humans might have an innate “grammar” for music.

While music seems to be everywhere, scientists haven’t previously found much evidence to suggest it has any universal features. The prevailing view is that music is so diverse that few, if any, universals exist.

Settling the matter empirically has been difficult, because research often focuses on individual cultures and musical contexts, says Samuel Mehr of Harvard University.

So Mehr and his colleagues decided to use data science to try to understand what was universal and what varied in music across the world.

To do this, they developed a database containing around 5000 detailed descriptions of songs and their performances in 60 human societies. They created another database to analyse recordings taken of four types of music from 30 different regions, which included dance songs, healing songs, love songs and lullabies.

Base tone

But the most striking discovery was that all cultures had melodies centred around a base tone. For example, starting the song Twinkle, twinkle little star on the note C means that notes in a C major scale are used. In a tonal song like this, the note C offers listeners a sense of stability and feels like “home” – and is often the note on which the song ends.

When Mehr and his colleagues asked music scholars to listen to the songs, they overwhelmingly classified them as tonal, and an algorithm fed transcriptions of the songs accurately predicted the same tonal centre that the experts judged the song as having.

“In the way that all languages in the world have a set of phonemes – all words in the world are made up of small sets of speech sounds – so it is with melodies. All melodies can be built up from a small set of notes,” says W. Tecumseh Fitch at the University of Vienna, Austria.

The authors suggest this might be a sign that humans have a universal “musical grammar”, much like the universal linguistic grammar we are thought to have.

“This suggests there is a biological basis that is constant across all humans, but interpreted differently in different human cultures,” says Fitch.

The Natural History of Song–The Music Lab

What are the universal features of music?

We collect ethnographic text and audio recordings from all over the world.
We use them to determine the behavioural, social, acoustical, and musical
features that characterize the world's songs.

This provides a public resource to advance the scientific and humanistic
study of music.

Music is a signature of the human experience. A ubiquitous, ancient, and
uniquely human activity, music, and especially song, appears in most human
cultures with staggering diversity. But two fundamental questions — whether
there is underlying structure to the world’s music and how that structure
varies across human cultures — have been perennially difficult to address.

A key roadblock has been the lack of systematic, cross-cultural information
about music.

The Natural History of Song addresses this gap.

NHS Ethnography contains nearly 5,000 descriptions of songs and song
performances from 60 human societies. It includes some 500,000 words of
ethnographic text, including translations of over 2,000 songs' lyrics.
A team of researchers obtained texts from the Human Relations Area
Files and coded them into more than 60 variables.

These include the demographics of singers and audience members; the time of
day and duration of singing; the presence of instruments, objects, and special
attire; and more.

Research assistants also used keywords to describe the events leading up to
a song performance, as well as its behavioural context, function, and lyrical
content. These data reveal the behavioural and social structure underlying
the world's songs.

see ---- https://www.themusiclab.org/nhs

The Clash–London Calling

London Calling at 40: How The Clash shattered punk orthodoxy and created a masterpiece

Martin Scorsese once described “Janie Jones” by The Clash as the greatest British rock’n’roll song. One of the many wonderful things about that statement, not lost on Clash fans, is that however charged-up-and-ready-to-blow the opening track of the band’s eponymous 1977 debut album is, it’s not even the greatest Clash song; hell, it’s not even the greatest opening track on a Clash album. There’s serious competition for that accolade on each of their studio albums, but the title track of London Calling fights off all comers. Its ringing apocalyptic alarm announced the most extraordinary album of the late Seventies, which, almost unbelievably, was released 40 years ago next month on 14 December. It’s even being celebrated in its own exhibition at the Museum of London.

London Calling landed at the close of an extraordinary year in Britain. In 1979, Margaret Thatcher won her first Tory majority, ending the era of post-war consensus politics, and replacing it with a no-compromise, anti-protectionist, monetarist regime that would preside over denationalisation and the decimation of Britain’s traditional industries. The class warfare that had simmered below the surface of British society since 1945 would be openly waged by the Thatcher government, which would mobilise the state against its people and let free-market economics do what it would. The echo of its mantra – “a price to be paid” (three million unemployed) – can still be heard today in talk of “short-term pain” (watch this space). In 1977, The Clash had demanded “a riot of our own”; Thatcher was ready to respond with mounted police, truncheons, and the army if necessary. “Where there is discord, may we bring harmony” indeed.

But all that was still to come (as was The Clash’s musical response to it): 1979 was aberrant in other ways. A sitting MP – Airey Neave – was blown up and killed by an Irish republican bomb as he drove out of the Houses of Parliament; another, the former leader of the Liberal Party, Jeremy Thorpe, was on trial for incitement to murder. The Yorkshire Ripper was at large. Sid Vicious, on bail awaiting trial for the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, died of a heroin overdose. Had punk’s promise come to this?

Noel Counihan-Self Portrait

Counihan, born in Melbourne, began his career as a press caricaturist, freelancing in Australia, New Zealand and Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. In the early 1950s, between four and six-year stints as a staff artist for the Melbourne Guardian, he worked for the World Trade Union Movement in London. In Melbourne, throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he exhibited pictures of miners, construction workers, demonstrations and other scenes of working-class life.

Between 1951 and 1960, his work was shown in London, Warsaw, Copenhagen, Moscow and Leningrad; during this period he won the Crouch Prize twice, the McCaughey Prize and the VS drawing prize as well as a bronze medal at the International Graphics exhibition in Leipzig.

In 1969, he exhibited in Poland and the USSR. The NGV held a survey of his work in 1973, in which year he also had a survey show at the Commonwealth Gallery in London; Marshall’s portrait was included in both. In 1974, he had a residency at the Cité in Paris. In 1982, he lived in France, based in the village of Opoul, southwest of Paris, and produced a body of work depicting French village life.

Erin's Isle (1861)

Erin's Isle (1861)

Yes I'm weary 'mid the revel
In the stranger's land to-day
Not one dear voice of those I lov'd
All hushe -all pass'd away.

The aching breath of sadness wakes
With its deep yearning spell
The hour I breathed to Erin's isle
The whisper of farewell.

I strive to teach the longing heart
To rest in scenes I've met,
To press its weary throbbings down
And learn the word forget.

But softly some familiar air
Steals with it's soothing strain
I turn to dream of Erin's Isle
Of boyhood's days again.

Thou'rt distant now but still I cling
To thee my place of birth,
I've sought but ah-l've never found
A second home on earth.

The hopes which gave to life its worth
And brought the soul-lit smile
Now calmly sleep beneath the turf
Of Erin's sunny Isle. 

A.D.S.

Notes

From the Tasmanian Newpaper the Cornwall Chronicle 19 Jan 1861 p. 2.

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Eight Shillings a Week (1830s)

Come all you bold Britons wherever you be,
I pray give attention, and listen to me,
There once were good times, bur they're gone by complete,
For a poor man lives now on eight shillings a week.

Such times in Old England there never was seen,
As the present one now-but much better have been,
A poor man's condemn'd and look on like a thief,
And compelled to work for eight shillings a week.

Our venerable father remembers the year,
When a man could earn three shillings a day and his beer,
He then could live well, keep his family neat,
But now he must work for eight shillings a week.

The nobs of Old England of shameful renown,
Are striving to crush a poor man to the ground,
They'll beat down the wages and starve them complete,
And compel them to work for eight shillings a week.

A poor man to labour, believe me 'tis so,
To maintain his family is willing to go
Fither edging or ditching, to plough and to reap,
But how does he live on eight shillings a week ?

In the reign of Old George, as you understand,
There was contentment throughout the whole land,
Each poor man could live, and get plenty to eat,
But now he must pine on eight shillings a week.

So now to conclude, and finish my song,
May the times be much better before it is long,
May every poor labourer be able to keep
His children and wife on Twelve shillings a week.

Notes

See Tolpuddle Martyres Article in the Victorian Newspaper The Age 25 Feb 1939 Page 12. 

A remarkable number of Broadside Ballads from Britain, Scotland and Ireland found their way into Australian newspapers. The above ballad sold on the streets in the 1830s offers a clear example of a ballad with a strong condemnation of hard times and starvation wages visited on working men and women and their families as the British Empire was being built.

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John Berger– some quotes

“The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Each evening we see the sun set. We know that the earth is turning away from it. Yet the knowledge, the explanation, never quite fits the sight.” 

“The past is the one thing we are not prisoners of. We can do with the past exactly what we wish. What we can't do is to change its consequences.”

“What any true painting touches is an absence - an absence of which without the painting, we might be unaware. And that would be our loss.”

“I was scared of one thing after another. I still am.
Naturally. How could it be otherwise? You can either be fearless or you can be free, you can’t be both.” 

“Everything in life, is a question of drawing a life, John, and you have to decide for yourself where to draw it. You cant draw it for others. You can try, of course, but it doesn't work. People obeying rules laid down my somebody else is not the same thing as respecting life. And if you want to respect life, you have to draw a line.”

“Capitalism survives by forcing the majority, whom it exploits, to define their interests as narrowly as possible. 

This was once achieved by extensive deprivation. Today in the developed countries it is being achieved by imposing a false standard of what is and is not desirable.”

Election Song (1843)

Election Song (1843) 

Composed upon the Occasion of the Visit of W. Bowman, Esq., J. P., to address the electors of Liverpool.

This day we are met the wreath to entwine
Of shamrock, and thistle, and rose so divine,--
Blest emblem of nations renowned in the cause
Of freedom, religion, our country, and laws.

We are sons of a land uncradled as yet ;
Our nonage has been a dark page of regret.
No Grattan had we our rights to demand,
And Freedom had sigh'd in the midst of the land. 

But to-day does the tocsin of liberty sound,
We no longer tread upon interdict ground ;
The climate of freedom we nobly have won,
And freely confide it to Australia's son.

Up Bowman ! take courage and fight;
Around you are gather'd electors of might :
Be true to your colours, and true to the cause
Of your country, its freedom, religion, and laws. 

A VOTER FOR "TRUE BLUE."

Liverpool, February 15, 1843. 

Notes

Published in the NSW newspaper the Sydney Morning Herald Wednesday 22 February 1843 p. 2.

Is this the earliest Australian election Song? 

And is W. Bowman related to the one immortalised by Frank the Poet in his masterpiece 

'A Convict's Tour to Hell'? 

Bold Lucifer bade me to stay

Saying Frank by no means go man
Till you see your old friend Dr Bowman
Yonder he tumbles groans and gnashes
He gave you many a thousand lashes
And for the same he does bewail
For Osker with an iron flail
Thrashes him well you may depend

And will till the world comes to an end.

An Odd Ode (1961)

An Odd Ode (1961)

A publican stood at the Golden Gate,
His head was bent and low,
He meekly asked the Man in White,
"Which way, mate, do I go?

"What have you done?" St. Peter said,
"That you should come up here?"
"I kept a public house below
For many and many a year."

St. Peter opened wide the gates,
And gently pressed the bell.
"Come right inside and choose a harp,
You've had your share of Hell."

Notes

From the NSW Australian Newspaper The Western Herald 19 May 1961 p. 1.

Railroad Song (1862)

Railroad Song (1862)

There's the bell ! listen well !
"All aboard," is the cry ;
We are going, going-gone :
We'll be back, by-and-bye.
No we are jumping with a thumping
And a bumping o'er the rails ;
But our horse has taken something,"
And his strength never fails.

Hear the bell ; listen well ;
"Clear the track" is the cry ;
We are flying, flying-flown,
Like a "streak o" lightning by.
What a racket ! how we clack it,
As we track it, o'er the rails ;
But our pony needn't slack it,
For his strength never fails,

Blow it loud to the crowd.

Who our coming wait to spy ;
Who are coming, coming-come.
Rub the cinders from your eye,
As were sliding, and are gliding,
And are riding into town.
Never horseless need of "hiding,"
Or less need of rubbing down.

Notes

From the NSW Newspaper The Sydney Mail  Sat 22 Feb 1862 p. 3.

The Long March-Play by Chen Chi-Tung

• Foreign Language Press. Used - Good. Hardcover w / dustjacket. Good, average condition for its age. Book has been read but remains straight, clean, and tight. No internal markings. DJ is Very Good. Spine is starting. Stored in sealed plastic protection. In the event of a problem we guarantee full refund. 1956. Hardcover w / dustjacket. 

Aboriginals on Strike (1892)

M.M. BAKTHIN– Speech genres and other late essays

This collection of late essays is essential for any student of Bakhtin in order to achieve a fuller understanding of the totality of his work. 

While the essays are varied, ranging from a discussion of the Bildungsroman & Goethe's sense of time to questions of approaching text from a foundation of cultural dialog, perhaps the most important essay here is the one lending its name to the title. 

Describing as never before Bakhtin's sense of speech genre as a post-Formalist critique of speech as monad, it is a crucial essay in understanding Bakhtin's entire paradigm of dialogic communication. 

Along with his earlier works, this collection of essays is a must for any student of linguistics, semantics, semiotics, literature, or any particular school of philosophy.

ABC– in search of Paul Robeson

The Coal Owners' Song (1875)

Bicycle Song (1896)

Bicycle Song (1896)

Light upon the pedal,
Firm upon the seat.
Fortune's wheel in fetters
Fast beneath our feet,
Leave the clouds behind us,
Split the wind we meet,
Swift, oh, swift and silent,
Roiling down the street !

When the dark comes, twinkling
Like fire flies in the wheat,
Bells before us tinkling
Fairily and feat,
By the gate of gardens,
Where the dusk is sweet,
Slide like apparitions
Through the startled street !

Spearmen in the desert
Maybe fly as fleet,
Northern lights in heaven,
Sparkle on the sleet !
Swift, oh, swift and silent,
Just before we greet
The outer edge of nothing
Turn rolling up the street !

--Harriet Prescott Spofford, in August "St Nicholas."

Notes

From the Victorian Newspaper The Geelong Advertiser 17 Oct 1896 p. 1.

Wanda Jackson–Hard Headed Woman 1958

ONE OF THE FIRST WOMEN TO BREAK 
INTO ROCK AND ROLL’S BOYS CLUB.

A rockabilly, rock and roll and country 
artist who sings with wild, reckless abandon. 

At Elvis Presley’s behest, she crossed over 
from county to rock, making such riotous hits as 
“Let’s Have a Party.”

Eric Rolls– A Million Wild Acres

Thirty years ago, a bomb landed in the field of Australian consciousness of itself and its land in the form of Eric Rolls' A MILLION WILD ACRES. The ensuing explosion has caused extensive and heated debate ever since amongst historians, ecologists, environmentalists, poets and writers. 

Now reprinted in a commemorative 30th Anniversary Edition for a new generation of readers and against the backdrop of renewed and urgent concern about climate change, it includes Tom Griffiths' seminal essay, The Writing of A Million Wild Acres, and a foreword by Les Murray drawn from his work Eric Rolls and the Golden Disobedience. Here is a contentious story of men and their passion for land; of occupation and settlement; of destruction and growth. 

By following the tracks of these pioneers who crossed the Blue Mountains into northern New South Wales, Eric Rolls - poet, farmer and self-taught naturalist - has written the history of European settlement in Australia. He evokes the ruthlessness and determination of the first settlers who worked the land -- a land they knew little about. 

Rolls has re-written the history of settlement and destroyed the argument that Australia's present dense eucalypt forests are the remnants of 200 years of energetic clearing. Neither education nor social advantage decided the success of the first settlers, or those squatters, selectors, stockmen and timber getters who helped grow the Pilliga forest. Few men were more violent than John Macarthur, few rogues more vigorous than William Cox, few statesmen more self-seeking than William Wentworth. 

Rolls' environment teems with wildlife, with plants and trees, with feral pigs; with the marvellous interaction of insects and plants, rare animals and birds. The lovely tangle which is the modern forest comes to life as Rolls reflects on soils, living conditions, breeding and ecology. Winner of the prestigious Age Book of the Year Award, A Million Wild Acres is also an important account of the long-term effect man - both black and white - has had upon the forest.