Musical Communication

"Bringing together leading researchers from a variety of academic and applied backgrounds, this book examines how music can be used to communicate, as well as the biological, cognitive, social, and cultural processes which underlie such communication."--BOOK JACKET.

This book provides an overview of the communicative processes that encompass the creation, interpretation, perception, and evaluation of the various phenomena constituting musical art. The numerous internal and external communicative links in the spheres of the composer, the performer, the listener and the musicologist-critic – links which constitute a complex system of the transmission of musical information – are considered from a socio-cultural perspective, which determines the high social role of the academic genres of music. The book will be of use to professional musicians and to all those interested in the acute problems of musicology, musical aesthetics, the sociology of music, and musical pedagogics.

One of the ways forward when working with those who have little or no speech, or limited comprehension of language, is to use music. In this book tried and tested approaches and activities devised to promote the development of communication and social interaction at a fundamental level are clearly set out. The ethos behind this manual is a person-centered approach, within a structured framework and allowing for differentiation and improvisation according to the learner's individual needs and developmental levels. This is a practical guide that contains lots of ideas and original activities for the specialist and non-specialist alike. It provides original songs and music scores, activities and games, and suggestions for group work for learners at a variety of levels. This book will be helpful to teachers, carers, therapists and parents who work or live with people with severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties. Music teachers and coordinators working in mainstream early years and primary education will also find the songs and activities useful.

This work argues against the widely held view that to understand music the listeners must hear musical works and passages as expressive of emotions. The argument developed in the work arises from Wittgenstein's later account of language. It is argued that if his later account of the meaning and the understanding of natural language is applied to the case of music, then what follows is a version of musical formalism. This is to say that insofar as we can talk about musical communication, i.e., the understanding of musical phrases and their semantic content, then the grounds of this communication must reside in the conventional rules of a musical system.

This book explains music’s comprehensive ontology, its way of existence and processing, as specified in its compact characterization: music embodies meaningful communication and mediates physically between its emotional and mental layers. The book unfolds in a basic discourse in everyday language that is accessible to everybody who wants to understand what this topic is about. Musical ontology is delayed in its fundamental dimensions: its realities, its meaningful communication, and its embodied utterance from musical creators to an interested audience. The authors' approach is applicable to every musical genre and is scientific, the book is suitable for non-musicians and non-scientists alike.

Known for creating classic films including His Girl Friday, The Big Sleep, Bringing Up Baby, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Howard Hawks is one of the best-known Hollywood ‘auteurs’, but the important role that music plays in his films has been generally neglected by film critics and scholars. In this concise study, Gregory Camp demonstrates how Hawks' use of music and musical treatment of dialogue articulate the group communication that is central to his films. In five chapters, Camp explores how the notion of 'music' in Hawks' films can be expanded beyond the film score, and the techniques by which Hawks and his collaborators (including actors, screenwriters, composers, and editors) achieve this heightened musicality.

Artistic expression is a longstanding aspect of mankind and our society. While art can simply be appreciated for aesthetic artistic value, it can be utilized for other various multidisciplinary purposes. Music as a Platform for Political Communication is a comprehensive reference source for the latest scholarly perspectives on delivering political messages to society through musical platforms and venues. Highlighting innovative research topics on an international scale, such as election campaigns, social justice, and protests, this book is ideally designed for academics, professionals, practitioners, graduate students, and researchers interested in discovering how musical expression is shaping the realm of political communication.

Since the beginning of human civilization, music has been used as a device to control social behavior, where it has operated as much to promote solidarity within groups as hostility between competing groups. Music is an emotive manipulator that influences attitude, motivation and behavior at many levels and in many contexts. This volume is the first to address the social ramifications of music’s behaviorally manipulative effects, its morally questionable uses and control mechanisms, and its economic and artistic regulation through commercialization, thus highlighting not only music’s diverse uses at the social level but also the ever-fragile relationship between aesthetics and morality.