Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Authenticity and Evolution:
93 views
Skip to first unread message
C Parthapratim
May 15, 2013, 11:42:30 PM5/15/13
to
"Authenticity and Evolution: A Semiotic approach towards understanding Hindustani Classical Music
(Based on analysis of recordings during 1905-2005)
Semiotics is the study of signs. Music, like many other art forms and languages, is a body of musical signs or phonemes commonly known as musical phrases clustered together, and is defined over time. A musical text is therefore, only a collection of such phonemes that are otherwise abstractions derived from some or other human action. In addition, materialistically speaking, a musical phrase can be defined as a series of tones that are audible frequencies along with their usual harmonics over a time axis. In case of modal music like ours, such phrases can often appear almost randomly in the name of improvisation, albeit there are some pre-given and stringent norms of combinations that come from conventions.
From this perspective, there would be a stochastic function determining the distribution of such signs. Such a function is naturally dependent on the response model of the human hearing system. Hardly any research has been there so far to understand the exact correlation between the musical signs and the response curve of the human ears though from clinical data we know that such relations exist. Such a correlation might in turn indicate a natural relationship between music and human response to it. Nonetheless, the function is heavily biased by the taste and purpose of the hegemonic class that might have changed through time, and hence the aesthetics of classicism in music is always strict but never stale. However, in this study we are trying to devise a method to understand the signs of music and their relationship with the general musical aesthetics.
The musical aesthetics as well as any other instances like language, visual art et cetera, normally expects certain signs to appear in a certain order to make things “meaningful” per se. Authenticity of music is purely dependent on how close a text remains to the contemporary set of expectations. Authenticity is also a function of congruence of a given musical text with the expectations becoming “norms” in a given canon, seen synchronically. When one is initiated into a certain kind of music, s/he is conditioned in a way so that certain “expectations” about the basic signs and their order grow. A set of such expectations in a certain context and time, defines a raga/mode synchronically while such expectations can also be defined diachronically. By means of analyzing the recorded musical texts available from the history of last one hundred odd years of pre-recorded music, we are trying to evolve here a method to understand both the synchronic and diachronic properties that determine the purity or authenticity of a given musical piece/text. Authenticity always works with a given frame of reference; in this case, it is usually the stylistics of the artistes considered as maestros at a given point of time. In the absence of a standardized and rationalized frame of reference comprising of certain sets of expectations and norms, the authenticity itself can boil down to subjective choice. The same text can appear authentic and unauthentic at the same time, which is not a healthy sign, and can often cause the canon to melt down.
Hence, before declaring a given recital authentic or not, one must have a pre-defined notion of authenticity that comprises of both the ground plan or the set of norms in action and the architectonics of the given rendition. The ground plan does include the expected behavior of the stochastic function mentioned above, or musically speaking, the Ragadhyana, but it doesn’t include the performer’s temperament or his/her personal interpretation of the ground plan. More often than not, it may so happen that the subjective preferences of the artiste starts affecting the ground plan itself, quite similar to the case where the owner of a particular house may not like a given wall or column in place though the ground plan actually required that wall to be there. In such cases, either the structure becomes unstable and falls apart very soon, or the owner/performer devises a new way to compensate for the structural changes that apparently suited his personality. By altering the combination of the phonemes or musical phrases, one might attain a new kind of music. In such cases, there appears a dialogue, or more precisely a dialectic condition between the culturally defined and pre-given classicism with subjective and/or hegemonic preferences. By means of analyzing the recordings, we want to reach at the abysmal condition where this dialectic exchange takes place, and only then, we may arrive at a conclusive position where we might be able to reconstruct the lost history of Hindustani Classical Music. "
ANY COMMENT ON THE ABOVE?
(Based on analysis of recordings during 1905-2005)
Semiotics is the study of signs. Music, like many other art forms and languages, is a body of musical signs or phonemes commonly known as musical phrases clustered together, and is defined over time. A musical text is therefore, only a collection of such phonemes that are otherwise abstractions derived from some or other human action. In addition, materialistically speaking, a musical phrase can be defined as a series of tones that are audible frequencies along with their usual harmonics over a time axis. In case of modal music like ours, such phrases can often appear almost randomly in the name of improvisation, albeit there are some pre-given and stringent norms of combinations that come from conventions.
From this perspective, there would be a stochastic function determining the distribution of such signs. Such a function is naturally dependent on the response model of the human hearing system. Hardly any research has been there so far to understand the exact correlation between the musical signs and the response curve of the human ears though from clinical data we know that such relations exist. Such a correlation might in turn indicate a natural relationship between music and human response to it. Nonetheless, the function is heavily biased by the taste and purpose of the hegemonic class that might have changed through time, and hence the aesthetics of classicism in music is always strict but never stale. However, in this study we are trying to devise a method to understand the signs of music and their relationship with the general musical aesthetics.
The musical aesthetics as well as any other instances like language, visual art et cetera, normally expects certain signs to appear in a certain order to make things “meaningful” per se. Authenticity of music is purely dependent on how close a text remains to the contemporary set of expectations. Authenticity is also a function of congruence of a given musical text with the expectations becoming “norms” in a given canon, seen synchronically. When one is initiated into a certain kind of music, s/he is conditioned in a way so that certain “expectations” about the basic signs and their order grow. A set of such expectations in a certain context and time, defines a raga/mode synchronically while such expectations can also be defined diachronically. By means of analyzing the recorded musical texts available from the history of last one hundred odd years of pre-recorded music, we are trying to evolve here a method to understand both the synchronic and diachronic properties that determine the purity or authenticity of a given musical piece/text. Authenticity always works with a given frame of reference; in this case, it is usually the stylistics of the artistes considered as maestros at a given point of time. In the absence of a standardized and rationalized frame of reference comprising of certain sets of expectations and norms, the authenticity itself can boil down to subjective choice. The same text can appear authentic and unauthentic at the same time, which is not a healthy sign, and can often cause the canon to melt down.
Hence, before declaring a given recital authentic or not, one must have a pre-defined notion of authenticity that comprises of both the ground plan or the set of norms in action and the architectonics of the given rendition. The ground plan does include the expected behavior of the stochastic function mentioned above, or musically speaking, the Ragadhyana, but it doesn’t include the performer’s temperament or his/her personal interpretation of the ground plan. More often than not, it may so happen that the subjective preferences of the artiste starts affecting the ground plan itself, quite similar to the case where the owner of a particular house may not like a given wall or column in place though the ground plan actually required that wall to be there. In such cases, either the structure becomes unstable and falls apart very soon, or the owner/performer devises a new way to compensate for the structural changes that apparently suited his personality. By altering the combination of the phonemes or musical phrases, one might attain a new kind of music. In such cases, there appears a dialogue, or more precisely a dialectic condition between the culturally defined and pre-given classicism with subjective and/or hegemonic preferences. By means of analyzing the recordings, we want to reach at the abysmal condition where this dialectic exchange takes place, and only then, we may arrive at a conclusive position where we might be able to reconstruct the lost history of Hindustani Classical Music. "
ANY COMMENT ON THE ABOVE?
C Parthapratim
Oct 4, 2013, 3:03:20 PM10/4/13
to
Dear RMIC,
Sometimes your silence is more interesting than the blabbering and ranting. However, here is a fully developed proposal for your perusal....
http://pathabhavanpraktoni.net/main/?p=6583
Sincerely
CP
Sometimes your silence is more interesting than the blabbering and ranting. However, here is a fully developed proposal for your perusal....
http://pathabhavanpraktoni.net/main/?p=6583
Sincerely
CP
0 new messages