Introduction

Music. The very word conjures up a different mental image for every individual it encounters. Music, like language, is not confined to a single mental picture. It is instead very possible for one to imagine music in a number of different forms. Whether it is from blues, to jazz, to flamenco, to electronic pop, to heavy metal, to Gregorian chant, or any other of the many genres of music there exists an innate ability to process sound in such a way that we as humans dub it “Music”.

Just as humans have the ability string together sounds, words, and sentences and create a coherent means of communicating their current state of Mentalese, humans also are able to “improvise” and create “music”. To speak, one barely needs to think at all to apply the many grammatical structures, various pitch changes, and other components that make language a functioning entity. However one simply cannot write like William Shakespeare from birth. The ability for language is a developed skill. Similarly, the majority of individuals cannot create the works of music that rival those Mozart without exposure to music and likely high musical education. Even with that exposure, the fact that every human mind is different means many individuals simply won't share the same musical opinions and abilities.

As a novice musician I had many questions. How then does improvisation work? How do I know what to play over certain chord progressions? How do you stay in time some well? The answer I always got was the same - Just don't think about it and feel the music.

Transcription: Intro (Instrumental and improvised of course)

Thought Me: With that past little passage you playing, what was going through your head when you were just improvising? Blane: Well I was thinking I had like 2 main things I wanted to focus on. I had this chord (plays chord). And I wanted it to fade back. That one's like not necessarily a dis-chord, but it's not exactly fitting in to what a natural chord would be. And I wanted this one (plays chord) which was more like that. I guess what I was thinking in my head was I had this idea that wasn't perfectly in with what a natural chord sounds like this… (plays chord) But I wanted it to somewhat resolve itself with something more common. I guess what I was really thinking was something that didn't exactly fit slowly transitioning into something that fit, into this clean sound that was a lot more clear and there was more movement on that part. And it just kind of goes to this nice clean sound.

Phrasing Me: Have you heard the term musical phrasing, and how would you define it if you have heard of it? Blane: Well, In high school I played in the Jazz band and we used to talk about phrasing all the time. Well not all the time but it was definitely an important idea. And I guess the best way I could probably sum it up is just grouping a series of notes together I mean they have to be in succession, with kind of a defined, well semi-defined beginning and ending point. And essentially the purpose was like whether that was the main point of the song or just a key line in a certain area for a certain group of instruments. Like the whole goal would be to make that group stand out and kind of sum up the idea of what that area in the song, or even the whole song was supposed to be about. Like for instance if I had this key line they would make it build up and die back down but it would still be a main piece.

Voicing Me: Have you ever heard of musical phrasing considered almost as talking but with an instrument? Blane: I think that I mean those two ideas can be correlated in the sense that they're both obviously trying to express some sort of idea, so obviously the two are linked there. I think in order to be like an effective speaker or effective musician you kind of need to have the same things in mind. In a way you don't want to be overly repetitive otherwise what you're saying, or playing has no meaning. You want it to be in the forefront and you don't want too many things in the way otherwise you can't effectively convey what you're trying to say. And obviously you're trying to convey something, that's the purpose of playing a song, or a speech, or whatever it is. So I'd say in a sense that you're both presenting ideas in a certain amount of time in a certain manner so I think they definitely relate.

Ability Me: Do you think everyone has the ability to improvise with music? Blane: I think that because everybody, well um almost everybody I mean obviously if a person has a coma or something, but I think anybody who can conjure up a thought can develop it and express it and that in itself is a form of improvisation or anything like that. I think that because people can conjure up thoughts and develop them and express them it is an innate ability that I guess well everybody would have. I mean of course there are varying success rates, well I mean levels of success you reach depending on your ability. But I feel like it is almost inherent in every human to be able to conjure up some sort of inkling of thought and express it in a manner in which someone else who didn't conjure it up can understand.

Aspects Me: What are some aspects of improvisation that you think are key to improvising? Blane: Well I mean first and foremost you need to know what you're trying to convey, and it doesn't have to be this highly intellectual thought that supposed to revolutionize or change the world, you need to know what you're pretty much trying to get at. Which I guess is necessary in any project. Like if you were painting, and you didn't know what the hell you were going to paint it'd be pretty hard to start much less finish. And here's another think that's important to consider and understand is you have to know what tools you have at your disposal. You know I guess what notes might fit in key, what styles of playing might necessarily help. It'd be like if you're trying to convey this somber idea and you're thrashing away, it wouldn't effectively do that. So you need to know what you're going to do and how you're going to do it.

Language Me: Do you think musical improvisation is similar to the tone of someone's voice, or their body language in that it can communicate and idea? Blane: Well I'd say that certainly the subtle nuances and some of the smallest things in any sort of situation can kind of shed greater light on the rest of the situation. Like you know if someone is being sarcastic, it's easy to tell how they feel. And in the same light you can tell if someone is playing something that starkly contrasts with the background of the music or whatever else it is. For example if there's like something incredibly happy over a very somber tone and what has already been conveyed is somber, it is obvious that it is a contrast setup to even more deeply convey how hurt or confused or whatever it is. I'd say yes it's the subtleties that convey the message.

Outro (Instrumental and improvised of course)

Analysis

The answer ‘Just don't think about it and feel the music' did not seem to be a definitive answer in my opinion. I interviewed singer/songwriter Blane Clark to help me answer just what music is and why it works. What I found was really the same answer essentially, but it had much more clarity by the end of the interview.

In the first question I asked Blane exactly what was going through his head when he was improvising a little segment used for a sort of intro the interview. What I found was there had to exist first some idea or some mental image. With language, we picture what we want to say with the “language of thought” or Mentalese. Blane fulfilled his mental image in that particular instance by mentally forming those two or so chords which gave him the sound he was looking for. His strumming pattern and chord progression were also mentally pieced together and then applied to his hands to communicate that image through the guitar.

With the second question I asked about musical phrasing which according to Blane in layman's terms is grouping successive notes together with a sense of definition and flow. In David Sudnow's “Ways of The Hand” he describes these phrases as patterns and pathways over a piece terrain that is used to understand just how music is made. These notes are group together because they achieve a phonetically pleasing (or unpleasing if so called for) effect. Thus these phrases create larger musical phrases, such as verses, choruses, bridges and the like in way similar to how syllables become words which in turn become sentences.

The third question expanded on the subject of phrasing and its relationship to speech. Johnny ‘Guitar' Watson made this parallel when he said “Man, talking has always been the name of the game. When I sing, I'm talking in melody. When I play, I'm talking with my guitar. I may be talking trash, baby, but I'm talking." The way in which you phrase your guitar playing will obviously affect the message you convey.

The ability to improvise musically seems apparent in nearly every person in on form or another. From humming, to whistling, clapping, or tapping with fingers, music nests itself in the human mind because it holds a number of advantages. Music exploits the pleasure channel of the human mind, thusly it has the ability to unite people and create social cohesion. Also practicing music is a good way to improve motor and perceptive skills. As humans we are naturally drawn to things that are pleasurable and prove advantageous. While almost everyone has the ability to improvise musically in some form or another, Musical savants are true examples to just far the human mind can pursue music. Mentally these individuals have a mind developed almost exclusively for creating and reproducing sounds.

Many have argued (especially in the case with the NAPs theory of music) that music holds no survival value and therefore cannot be an evolutionary adaptation, the fact that music has existed for thousands of years is a testament to the power of music. One thing is certain, while language and music are both essentially forms of communication that share many mental venues and differ in many ways, these two entities are truly some of the mind's most intriguing enigmas.

Clip of A Young Drummer

This clip demonstrates the prowess of a 4-year old on drums. His sense of rhythm and timing are incredibly developed. The young mind is full of possibilities and not inhibited by many environmental factors, such as simple mathematical fractions to describe timing or explain music literally.

Clip of Musical Savants

This showcases some of the highest cognitive ability for music. The ability to identify changing pitches in the environment is amazing, considered these savants have difficulty learning and communicating normally. Music is their means for communication.

Sources:

Clark, Blane. Personal interview. 5 Nov. 2006.

"Johny "Guitar" Watson." Wikipedia . 12 Nov. 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_%22Guitar%22_Watson

Peretz, Isabelle, and Robert J. Zatorre. The Cognitive Neuroscience of Music . New York , New York : Oxford UP, 2003. 57-75.

Pinker, Steven. The Language Instinct . New York , New York : William Morrow and Company, 1994.

Sudnow, David. Ways of the Hand . Cambridge , Massachusetts : Harvard UP, 1978.

About the Author

I was born and raised in Chino Hills, California. I moved to Charlotte around the time i was 7 years old. I stayed there up through the 3rd grade. Then my family moved to Thomasville for about a year. After that i lived in Greensboro before coming here.I took 5 levels of Spanish in High School (AP spanish). I plan to major on Spanish as well as Business, so i'm sure i'll be using it for a while. I have yet to travel outside the United States, but i do plan to do so within the next couple of years. I'm not hugely familiar with a broad range of cultures, however my good friend and roommate is Indian (but i have yet to receive much of a culture shock from him).

I like to think i'm pretty technology savvy. I like to think i'm not a computer geek or anything, but i know too much about computers to honestly resent that. I believe in carrying around pocketfuls of stuff is a lifestyle that i am an avid follower of. (iPod, Blue Tooth things, Cell Phone, Gum, Chapstick, Pocket Knife, Pen, Pencil, Wallet, Keys, and other things i happen to pickup on my way out the door). I think i'm up to date on information technology.

I dabble in the arts. I used to draw a lot when i was younger, that kind of transformed into little things with Adobe Photoshop and hasn't really progressed into anything other then random fun. I like to write pretty much anything that makes me think poetically. I like reading anything that makes me think of things on a larger and more complex scale. I really just got into music about a couple of years ago. I started playing the guitar (both acoustic and electric) about 2 years ago. My favorite kind of music is metal (i'm picky about it though, just because its heavy doesn't mean its any good), because it is really under appreciated. The Metal music i like generally incorporates a lot of literature (Iron Maiden's - Rime of The Ancient Mariner, is the poem to music). My favorite band is a Swedish melodic metal band called "In Flames". Their music is extremely melodic(their old stuff atleast, sad how things get worse with age)and features a lot of harmonized riffs and solos, classical (almost medieval) sounding parts (mainly heavier electric guitar, but often acoustic pieces are found in songs), and lyrics that are just beautifully worded with lots of room for interpretation like this:

Towards the rich archaic heavens, towards the lack diorama, you are the artist and the texture
that plays with the mantle of the Earth....

Anyways that's I think that's enough about my musical interests.

I am really looking forward to this course, because it really makes me think on a higher level. I wish to finish this course and have a better understanding of not only language and human communication, but also of the foundations of people and the societies they build and live in.