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This chapter explores the sources and evolution of the new musical language that lead to the symbolist ideal and corresponding musical processes. The latter is based on transformation of traditional diatonic pitch constructions, symmetrical, and cyclic-interval properties of the dominant-ninth chord and other traditional harmonic constructions, as developed by Russian nationalist, French impressionist, and Hungarian composers. The interaction of pentatonic, diatonic, whole-tone, and octatonic sets by means of common suhcollections or cells is essential to the new twelve-tone language based on the concept of the interval cycle.

Language and music are said to be uncommonly close in Africa. This chapter explores the dimensions of that closeness by delving into the nature of tone languages and the constraints they impose on melodic structure and on the modes of drumming (signal mode, speech mode, dance mode). The method by which talking drums transmit messages is explained. The chapter also examines the dynamics of word-music interaction in song. The extensive use of ideophones (“picture words”) in spoken African languages is discussed. The chapter finally posits a linguistic residue that constrains various kinds of African performance. A detailed commentary on a hiplife song is included.

Chapter 6. discusses absolute pitch (or “perfect pitch”)—the rare ability to name a musical note in the absence of a reference note. It is argued that acquiring absolute pitch requires exposure to certain environmental influences during a critical period early in life. This ability is associated with early musical training—and the earlier the onset of training the stronger the association. The author and her coworkers have found at music conservatories and universities in the United States and China that the earlier students had begun taking music lessons, the greater the probability that they possessed absolute pitch. We also found that the prevalence of absolute pitch is much higher among people who speak a tone language—in which the meaning of a word changes depending on the pitch or pitches in which it is spoken. It is therefore argued that when babies learn to speak a tone language, they automatically associate pitches with words, and so develop absolute pitch for the words they hear. Therefore when they begin taking music lessons, their brain circuitry for absolute pitch is already in place. Speakers of non-tone languages are therefore at a disadvantage compared with tone-language speakers for acquiring absolute pitch. Further work by the author and colleagues also point to a genetic factor in acquiring absolute pitch. Also discussed are the neurological correlates of absolute pitch, and its presence in some autistic savants, and in people who are blind. It also considers the decline of absolute pitch with aging, and distortions in absolute pitch judgment under certain medications.

Chapter 11 explores relationships between speech and music. The history of thought about these relationships is reviewed. The importance of prosody in speech—musical qualities such as variations in pitch, tempo, timing, loudness, and sound quality—is discussed. There follow reviews of the emotional response of infants to the musical qualities of their mothers’ speech, and how such qualities help children acquire language. Further studies are discussed indicating that musical training aids children in processing the prosodic qualities of speech. Other studies show an influence of language on music perception. The tritone paradox, discussed in Chapter 5, shows that how people hear a pattern of tones can vary with the language or dialect to which they were exposed in childhood. Also, as discussed in Chapter 6, speakers of tone language, such as Mandarin, Cantonese, and Vietnamese, have a far higher prevalence of absolute pitch in music than do speakers of non-tone languages such as English. Other work has shown an influence of language on the perception of timing in music perception, and on musical composition. Yet music and language generally differ in their physical characteristics and functions. Whereas speech serves primarily to inform the listener about the world, music modulates feelings and emotions. Last, the question of how music and speech evolved is discussed, and it is argued that they may both have their origins in a vocal generative system called musical protolanguage.

Chapter 5 explores the tritone paradox—a musical illusion that was discovered by the author. Its basic pattern consists of two computer-generated tones that are related by a half-octave (i.e., a tritone). These tones are well defined in pitch class (note name) but ambiguous in pitch height. When one of these tone pairs is played in succession, some people hear an ascending pattern, yet other people hear a descending one. Indeed, a group of people will disagree completely among themselves as to whether such a pair of tones is moving up or down in pitch. Furthermore, any one person hears one of these tone pairs as ascending or descending depending on their note names (such as C–F♯, or G♯–D). How people hear the tritone paradox varies with the geographic location in which they grew up—and so with their native language or dialect. Native English-speaking Californians hear this pattern differently from natives of the south of England. People who are natives of Vietnam hear the pattern quite differently from native English-speaking Californians. The tritone paradox shows, therefore, that the way we perceive music is related to our language, and generally reveals strong effects of our memories and expectations on how we hear music. It also has important implications for absolute pitch (or “perfect pitch”)—the rare ability to name a musical note that is presented in isolation. People make orderly judgments of the tritone paradox, even though they cannot name the notes that they are judging, so they must have an implicit form of absolute pitch.