Gestural Instrumentality: How Human Bodies, Instruments, and Music Theory Influence Each Other

[@chromaticswing9199]

I’m certainly not educated enough to fully comprehend the ideas presented in this video. But I found this video strangely intuitive. Like I’m sure we all have considered the physicality of music as musicians, but in an informal and limited concept. Thanks for opening up minds to this way of thinking.

[@Sononymous]

This comment makes me so happy! This idea was born out of intuition and hearing that it's clicking in any capacity on that level is extremely important I feel. Though, one thing I would change about the video (one of many) if I were to do it over again is I think I overstate how much book knowledge is actually necessary. If you're grasping it on that sensorial/intuitive/subconscious level then you're really grasping most of it, you just have to find a way bring that into the spotlight for yourself and your musical needs. Anyway thanks for watching, I'm glad you got something out of it. :)

[@musicaltreerat]

This reminds me of the first time I read one of David Byrne’s music theory books and discovered aspects of music I had never even considered, I love that feeling

[@Sononymous]

Notes:
 Another option for solving the “playing nice” problem is designing tuning systems around the form of a given instrument, e.g. designing microtonal tunings with the 12 Halberstadt keys in mind. This is something that’s been done before, both by myself and others in the xenharmonic space, but it comes with its own limitations. Optimizing for the keys requires that the steps are multiples of 12, making the use of most full harmonic series segments, odd number equal divisions, and so on, non-viable. Not a full solution, but an option for when the need arises. On the subject of the novelty of this idea. In the video I say it’s “almost certainly not a novel idea,” outside of the examples I mention in the video there is also this video by David Bruce, (kzbin.info/www/bejne/bH6YeZJrerSEirM) where he gives more examples of instrument form influencing musical thought and composition. He also mentions this great quote by Stravinsky that I just had to highlight: “Fingers are not to be despised: they are great inspirers, and, in contact with a musical instrument, often give birth to subconscious idea which might otherwise never come to life.” Both of these things I feel provide further support for one of the main thrusts of the video, but make my “almost certain” quote not quite accurate. I learned after I finished recording the voice over for this video of the concept of “khali” in Hindustani taal patterns. Khali, which roughly translates to “empty” is a beat within a taal cycle that is deemphasized, unaccented, and crucially, indicated with a wave of the hand. It’s also very common for the “sam” (which falls on the first beat) to be indicated by raising the hand upwards, since the sam is meant to be felt as a kind of rising or lifting beat. The opposite of the Western European tradition’s conceptualization of the “down beat.” More info on that here: raag-hindustani.com/Rhythm.html There are also many examples of the reciprocal interactions between the sensory, the instrumental, and the theoretical that I left out for brevity (imagine calling an hour long video brief). To name just two, the relationship between breath and phrasing in brass and woodwind instruments; and the relationship between string winding (round wound vs. flat wound) or material and the resulting changes in tactile feel and timbre affecting phrasing for string instruments. Glossary: * Gestural Instrumentality: An intersection of various musical disciplines and fields of study that focuses on the interconnectivity of physicalities in composition and improvisation that is agnostic towards musical tradition and system. * Gesture: A musical sound object that is evocative in its form of any possible physical actions used in its creation. * Gesture-class: A category of musical gestures based on shared features. For example, ascending vs. descending or fast vs. slow. * Gesture-class set: A larger grouping of gesture-classes into sets. For example, two ascending gestures and one descending gesture can be analyzed both separately as individual gestures and gesture-classes, but also as a set regardless of their differences. * Gesture mode: A bounded space derived from the physical form of an instrument from which individual gestures and gesture-class sets are constructed. * Instrumentality: The overall conceptual model within Gestural Instrumentality that deals with pre-musical physicality. The sub-concepts that fall under its umbrella are the mimetic hypothesis, instrument relativity, instrument form, and cross-cross domain mapping. * Instrument form: A conception of instrument that includes physical features as well as cultural presence and a given individual’s personal experience. * Instrument relativity: A proposition that states that a musician’s instrument(s) of choice influences and trains their musical thought in a manner that is nearly identical to how language does for general cognition. * The mimetic hypothesis: A model of musical comprehension that posits the centrality of "physical empathy" in developing musical knowledge and understanding. In other words, part of how we listen to music is through actual or mentally simulated imitation of the physicalities employed to create it. * Cross-domain mapping: A model of cognition originating in the study of linguistics that examines and explains the role of metaphor in building understanding. * Image schema: A pre-conceptual cognitive structure that is built from embodied experiences. A primary component of cross-domain mapping. * Post-tonalism: A set of theories used to create and describe music that is outside of the tonal system of the common practice period. * Xenharmony: The study and practice of harmony outside of the standard 12 tone equal temperment system. * Just intonation: A xenharmonic method of tuning using whole number ratios of frequencies, with the ratios in question being derived from the harmonic series. * ED2: Also known as 'EDO;' an acronym that stands for "equal division of the octave." The word octave is replaced with the number 2 to designate the specific intervallic ratio of 2/1. * Cents: A measurement of intervals where 100 cents is equal to one 12ED2 semitone. * Ditave: An xenharmonic alternate word for octave that references the specific intervallic ratio of 2/1 and also divorces the concept of frequency doubling from heptatonic scales. Can be continued into tritave for the 3/1 ratio, tetrave for the 4/1 ratio, pentave for the 5/1 ratio, etc. * Equave: A xenharmonic term for non-specific intervals of equivalence where a tuning circles back to the beginning of the intervallic pattern. * MOS: An acronym that stands for "moment of symmetry." A term to describe a pattern in and a method of scale construction using large and small step sizes (Ls) originally coined by Erv Wilson. Numbers are used to designate how many of each step size occur within a scale (e.g. 4L4s). * Polysystemic: A term for music that makes use of more than one tuning system at a time. * Gestalt: German word for "shape" or "spirit." Used here to mean a totality that arises out of smaller elements. A thing that is greater than the sum of its parts. In a word, a "vibe."

[@JohnRHarness]

I really liked this video and I'm excited to dive into all the resources and references you provided!

[@JohnRHarness]

Do you find the language of "affordance(s)" useful in this discussion?

[@JohnRHarness]

You might be interested in this lecture by Dorit Chrystler, noted thereminist, in which she discusses (mostly in the Q&A) how theremin is in the process of its players still figuring out how to even play the thing: a plurality of techniques, a developing repertoire, developments in technology, determining the possibility space. It came to mind especially because I think it comes down to: What is the repertoire of theremin gestures? kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6vRp6uCrbJ6hbs

[@Sononymous]

Oh my god, thank you for linking this to me! I've spoken to another thereminist who said it was the "most physically demanding instrument" he's ever played, which in my mind flagged it as instrument that should definitely be prioritized for scrutiny from a GI perspective. I can't wait to dive into this video! As for "affordance(s)," I think this is a great term to introduce in this context and to be honest I'm jealous I didn't think to investigate it's possible applications in this paradigm. I'll have to think about it for awhile and see how it morphs perspective. EDIT: And of course, thanks for watching! I'm really glad you enjoyed it. Double EDIT: Coming back after watching the Dorit Chrystler video. First off, her performances are probably the clearest demonstration of a technical idea that's important for all instruments, but is the theremin's specialty; being able to stay still. Her extremely precise control over her gestures is no doubt exceptionally difficult, and also required for creating both literal and symbolic stability in pitch. We as a culture spend a lot of time talking about stability vs. instability in harmonic relationships, and that obviously extends to melodic relationships (melody is inherently harmonic, in my view), but we don't talk about how stability in bodily movement lends itself to that symbolic sense of stability. The theremin as an instrument clearly highlights the role of the physical in our perception of musical stability. Not surprising, but still good to see and hear confirmation. Second, the scientific explanation provided by the other speaker (I forget his name, apologies to him) is also probably the clearest example of anatomy influencing instrument form I've heard. I wasn't aware of the specifics of how the instrument worked before, but it makes perfect sense. It's literally reliant on the saline in our bodies. So cool. Third, she mentions the need for notation. Which gets me thinking I should probably look more thoroughly into how notation systems, in a linguistic relativity sense, influence and are influenced by physical gesture.

[@Sononymous]

Oh wow, just reading the wikipedia entry as a refresher on the basics. "A child can be introduced to the conventional meaning of an object by manipulating which objects command attention and demonstrating how to use the object through performing its central function. By learning how to use an artifact, a child 'enters into the shared practices of society' as when they learn to use a toilet or brush their teeth. And so, by learning the affordances, or conventional meaning of an artifact, children learn the artifact's social world and further, become a member of that world." If this doesn't perfectly explain "guitar player brain" or "drummer brain," then I don't know what does.

[@JohnRHarness]

@@Sononymous I'm glad to hear my hunch was right, or rather two hunches: wrt affordance and wrt theremin! I know you said you might not make another video like this one, but I hope you do! Thanks for thinking about this stuff with me.

[@BlackMatt2k]

Chasing a "unified" music theory? I'm interested.

[@Sononymous]

I don't think a unified theory of music or really much else is possible, and I'm not totally sure that it would even be desirable if it was. So I'll settle for explaining my perspective and highlighting what I feel are underrepresented concepts instead. Hope it's useful for you!

[@CatrinaDaimonLee]

it is not as if gesture evokes physicality but as gestalt is as gestalt does (or is as merness of itself in a recursive recession of line and not the other! indeed...), it superises in a tapestry of frameworks as in 3 D chess as it were, in a spiral of mentational dimensions unattainable as only gesture nor only physicality(or multiple physicalities viz the brain mind abstract overlaying the body network nervous systemic overlay, or the baldedash paradox) we can call Integral post hyper mutational, snippily put that is. pardon my pun! haha, quite droll.

[@ilovenomorepoetry]

first

[@Jazzmaster58]

If you want anyone to expand on the ideas you talk about, you will need to make some five or six videos of the same size just to contextualize each chapter, don't expect for people to go read a glossary before watching the video. I am a Jazz musician coming up to fifty years playing and the only couple of words I retained from watching the entire video is "just intonation" and even that I couldn't contextualize with the rest of the video. Gestural instrumentality, how the human body whatever, that's all, if you ask me what was this about that's all I had to say, oh, and something about shapes and pinkies and guitar scales.

[@mellowyellow6572]

I hear you man, I’ve been playing the washboard for Bob Dylan for 80 years and this video was trash.

[@shuasaladbar]

Most masters need to state they're masters and show a complete unwillingness to take in information that is new to them.

[@Sononymous]

I don't recall ever saying I expected people to read the glossary before watching, what I did say is that it's there for people to reference if they're confused. It's common practice to provide materials such as a glossary and/or sources for quotations and concepts that are built upon. I admit that many of these terms are obscure and somewhat confusing at first, however I did not coin most of them. There are a multitude of resources already available (from videos to academic textbooks to the xenwiki, here's an example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sGWbZ4aZg691hdE&t=) for those who wish to dive into learning the more obscure theory I make use of if they so choose. While these resources are not perfect, they are certainly good enough to allow one greater access to the more detailed analysis that makes up the bulk of this video's content. I feel that if I were to make videos explaining xenharmonics, post-tonalism, cognitive linguistics, etc. they would be quite redundant. You're free to seek out the already existing pedagogical works for any concepts that confuse you, I even link some of them in the description. I'm also happy to answer questions here in the comments as I say in the video, but I think expecting me to do what amounts to multiple college courses worth of work (much of which already exists, remember) in order to explain the ideas I am building off of for free is unreasonable. Beyond that, actually utilizing the core concepts of this video doesn’t require one to understand all of the esoteric theoretical language, just as it is for “regular” tonal theory and music. In fact that’s one of the points I make in the video, these concepts have been unspoken and disparate for many musicians across many cultures. When you really zoom out and just look at the overarching ideas they can be thought of as:

 1. Music is not just aural, it is also visual and tactile.
 2. Human anatomy, instrument design, and music theory have reciprocal co-evolutionary relationships to each other. 3. Understanding of the previous two points can be used to compose and improvise music regardless of the musician’s background or choice of musical tools.

 Going deeper from that simple base layer of understanding requires analysis. All I’m trying to do is create the intellectual toolset that allows anyone who is interested to do that investigation. If you’re not one of those people, that’s ok, I knew it would be of niche interest when I was making it. So to sum up, I won’t be taking your needlessly rude “advice” since I find your criticism to be lacking in merit, and invite you to ask yourself whether or not this was a productive use of your time. Thank you for the engagement you’ve brought, I’m sure the algorithm will love it.

[@Jazzmaster58]

@@Sononymous It was as productive a use of my time as your answer. Rude, I wasn't trying to be, you will know when try to be rude. You said in the beginning that this was your first video and it shows. Watching such a long video should be comprehensive enough for you to come to the end and realize, well, I learned something new, or in the least some application to something I already knew. I'm well versed in most of the subjects you talk about but the way the subjects were presented without application examples, I couldn't make a connection to any musical usage or a useful concept that would give me some new understanding of the art. My criticism wasn't supposed to merit any response from you, for that I will need to watch the video again and chapter by chapter point to where you're fumbling.

[@bigdookie2565]

L + ratio, you probably listen to charlie parker greatest hits comp and think you're jesus. Get absolutely bent clown. You geriatric vegetable.