The Psychology Of Rhythm Matter And Art

This is a multidisciplinary study of the rhythms depicted in abstract art, the body's rhythms, and neural oscillations.

Christianity has repeatedly valued the "Word" over and above the non-verbal arts. Art has been seen through the interpretative lens of theology, rather than being valued for what it can bring to the discipline. 'Explorations in Art, Theology and Imagination' argues that art is crucially important to theology. The book explores the interconnecting themes of embodiment and incarnation, faith and imagination, and the similarities and differences between art and theology. Arguing for a critique that begins with art and moves to theology, 'Explorations in Art, Theology and Imagination' offers a radical re-evaluation of the role of art in Christian discourse.

This book situates Joyce's critical writings within the context of an emerging discourse on the psychology of rhythm, suggesting that A Portrait of the Artist dramatizes the experience of rhythm as the subject matter of the modernist novel. Including comparative analyses of the lyrical prose of Virginia Woolf and the 'cadences' of the Imagists, Martin outlines a new concept of the 'modern period' that describes the interaction between poetry and prose in the literature of the early twentieth century.

This book studies the effects of repetitive musical rhythm on the brain and nervous system, and in doing so integrates diverse fields including ethnomusicology, psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, religious studies, music therapy, and human health. It presents aspects of musical rhythm and biological rhythms, and in particular rhythmic entrainment, in a way that considers cultural context alongside theoretical research and discussions of potential clinical and therapeutic implications. Considering the effects of drumming and other rhythmic music on mental and bodily functioning, the volume hypothesizes that rhythmic music can have a dramatic impact on mental states, sometimes catalyzing profound changes in arousal, mood, and emotional states via the stimulation of changes in physiological functions like the electrical activity in the brain. The experiments presented here make use of electroencephalography (EEG), galvanic skin response (GSR), and subjective measures to gain insight into how these mental states are evoked, what their relationship is to the music and context of the experience, and demonstrate that they are happening in a consistent and reproducible fashion, suggesting clinical applications. This comprehensive volume will appeal to scholars in cognition, ethnomusicology, and music perception who are interested in the therapeutic potential of music.

The science of aesthetics was originally based on classical art even a contemporary philosopher of art like Croce never departs from the data of the Graeco-Roman and Renaissance tradition. Modern art, however, has made a decisive break with that tradition, and considerable confusion has been caused by the application to its products of criteria of judgment derived from a past historical phase. Even in our private, unprofessional approach to modern art, we come unconsciously armed with such prejudices. What, therefore, was necessary was a complete revision of aesthetics on the basis of the ample material produced by the modern movement in art, and this Mr. Allen Leepa has now provided. The material in question consists primarily of the works' of art themselves, and these, in significant selection, Mr. Leepa has subjected to a thorough functional analysis. But he realises that the explanation of art does not end with its formal dissection the function of art, as he says, is to ex press emotional meanings in the organized patterns of a medium and he has ventured on the much more difficult task of defining the nature of that psychological process. At this point formal analysis is of no avail, and what we fall back on is the artist's own description of his activity. Luckily modern artists have been surprisingly communicative, and Mr. Leepa has not failed to take advantage of the statements which, from time to time, artists like Picasso, Matisse, Klee and Mondrian have made. He has been aided in his under standing of what they mean ( which is not always clear) by his own practice as a painter, which has saved him from some of the simplifications which an outsider might be tempted to make for the sake of a neat system. Admirable, for example, is the way in which he insists, in Chapter X, on the mutual interaction of medium and idea in the process of creation. We are far too apt to think of the work of art as the illustration of a preconceived idea, instead of an organic growth in which idea only played the part of germ or seed. Particular attention should be given to all that Mr. Leepa has to say on the subject of abstract art, for which the average critic has hitherto reserved his most obstinate resistance. In its various forms ( and there is a wide divergence of aim within the so-called abstract movement) this type of art does, of course, make the most decisive break with the classical or humanist tradition. It is to be observed, however, that it is precisely this type of art which lends itself to the formulation of a coherent aesthetic; and though Mr. Leepa quite rightly insists on its individualistic and subjective nature, the final result would seem to be the discovery of archetypal forms of the widest social significance. The last point I would like to select for emphasis from a book so replete with interest is the firm way in which Mr. Leepa insists on the social significance of his subject.

The Psychology of Music draws together the diverse and scattered literature on the psychology of music. It explores the way music is processed by the listener and the performer and considers several issues that are of importance both to perceptual psychology and to contemporary music, such as the way the sound of an instrument is identified regardless of its pitch or loudness, or the types of information that can be discarded in the synthetic replication of a sound without distorting perceived timbre. Comprised of 18 chapters, this book begins with a review of the classical psychoacoustical literature on tone perception, focusing on characteristics of particular relevance to music. The attributes of pitch, loudness, and timbre are examined, and a summary of research methods in psychoacoustics is presented. Subsequent chapters deal with timbre perception; the subjective effects of different sound fields; temporal aspects of music; abstract structures formed by pitch relationships in music; different tests of musical ability; and the importance of abstract structural representation in understanding how music is performed. The final chapter evaluates the relationship between new music and psychology. This monograph should be a valuable resource for psychologists and musicians.

Mitry was driven to explain the "why," "what if," and "how come" experiences that resulted after the "wow" experience in cinema. His theory uses psychology and phenomenology to understand how cinema can elevate the viewer from the everyday world.