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SUMMARY:Meaningful Music\, Unmediated Sound: An Evolutionary History - Pro
 fessor Elizabeth Tolbert\, Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute
DTSTART:20160531T160000Z
DTEND:20160531T173000Z
UID:TALK63260@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Gabriela Pavarini
DESCRIPTION:What and how does music mean? I suggest that the conditions of
  representation that allow for music to be apprehended as socially and emo
 tionally meaningful are biologically grounded in our evolutionary history.
  Specifically\, I propose that music emerged from the evolution of the hum
 an capacity for culture (Tomasello 1999\, 2005)\, and is a means of creati
 ng joint attentions and intentions in order to achieve social goals.  The 
 evolution of a uniquely human form of social intelligence resulted in huma
 n symbolic systems such as music and language that give rise to an inheren
 t phonocentrism (Derrida 1976)\, a perceived immediacy of vocally communic
 ative sound. Although decades of ethnomusicological research have debunked
  the myth of music’s literal unmediatedness\, I maintain that the experi
 ence of music’s immediacy\, indeed the experienced immediacy of any symb
 olic communication\, is what allows it to be intelligible in the first pla
 ce.​\n\n*About the Speaker*\n\nElizabeth is Professor of Ethnomusicology
  at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University with a joint 
 appointment in the Department of Anthropology. She is currently a Research
  Affiliate at the Centre for Music and Science and a Visiting Scholar at t
 he Faculty of Music\, Cambridge University\, and a Visiting Fellow at Wolf
 son College. Her interdisciplinary theoretical interests and publications 
 cover a broad\nrange of topics\, including music and evolution\, feminist 
 theory and\ngender\, music and language ideologies\, ritual\, and music co
 gnition.
LOCATION:Lecture Room 1\, Faculty of Music\, 11 West Road\, CB3 9DP
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