Music as a Chariot - Richard K. Thomas

Music as a Chariot

The Evolutionary Origins of Theatre in Time, Sound, and Music

Music as a Chariot offers a multidisciplinary perspective whose primary proposition is that theatre is a type of music. Understanding how music enables the theatre experience helps to shape our entire approach to the performing arts. Les mer
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Music as a Chariot offers a multidisciplinary perspective whose primary proposition is that theatre is a type of music. Understanding how music enables the theatre experience helps to shape our entire approach to the performing arts.





Beginning with a discussion on the origin and nature of time, the author takes us on an evolutionary journey to discover how music, language and mimesis co-evolved, eventually coming together to produce the complex way we experience theatre.





The book integrates the evolutionary neuroscience of the human brain into this journey, offering practical implications and applications for the auditory expression of this concept-namely the fundamental techniques artists use to create sound scores for theatre.





With contributions from directors, playwrights, actors and designers, Music as a Chariot explores the use of music to carry ideas into the human soul-a concept that extends beyond the theatrical to include film, video gaming, dance, or anywhere art is manipulated in time.
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Utgitt:
Forlag: Routledge
Innbinding: Innbundet
Språk: Engelsk
Sider: 338
ISBN: 9781138295469
Format: 23 x 15 cm
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Table of Contents





Chapter 1: Introduction: Why this Book?





Introduction: An Ear Opening Experience





Old School Aesthetics





When Sound Gets Divorced from Music





Who Should Read this Book





Overview of the Book





Bibliography





Ten Questions





Things to Share





Notes





Part I: The Nature of Time





Chapter 2: Let There Be a Big Bang





Introduction: If a Tree Falls in the Universe...





The Nature of Light and Sound





The Evolution of Hearing and Speaking





The Evolution of the Brain Leads to the Ability to Express Emotions





Eyes and Ears, Space and Time





Ten Questions





Things to Share





Notes


Bibliography





Chapter 3: The Great Mystery of Time





Introduction: Babbling in Babelsberg





The Mammalian Invasion





We Are Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made of...





The Relativity of Time





Ten Questions





Things to Share





Notes


Bibliography





Part II: Music = Time Manipulated





Chapter 4: What Is Music?





Introduction: What's in a Name?





Music Is Organized Sound





Narrowing Our Definition of Music





Music Is Visual as Well as Audible





The Elements of Design





Energy Characteristics





Temporal Characteristics





Spatial Characteristics





Complex Elements that Combine Energy in Time and Space





The Importance of These Elements of Music





A Proposed Definition of Music





Ten Questions





Things to Share





Notes


Bibliography





Chapter 5: Primate Numbers





Introduction: Who's on First?





Music, Language and Mimesis: The Really Early Years





Bipedal Primates





Ten Questions





Things to Share





Notes


Bibliography





Part III: Song = Music + Idea





Chapter 6: Campfire Songs (Rhythm and Entrainment)





Introduction: Welcome Homo





One Giant Leap for Mankind





Early Homo





Homo Erectus





Running, Tempo, Pulse, Tactus and Entrainment





Tempo, Pacing, Tactus, Entrainment and Theatre Composition





When Music Meets Mimesis





Conclusion





Ten Questions





Things to Share





Notes


Bibliography





Chapter 7: Music and Language





Introduction: "All Theatre Starts with a Script"





Brain Gains





Fantastic Voyage





Conclusion: Song = Music + Idea





Ten Questions





Things to Share





Notes


Bibliography





Chapter 8: Consonance and Dissonance (The Evolution of Line)





Introduction: The Roots of Who We Become





The Evolution of Line





Consonance and Dissonance





What is Consonance and Dissonance?





Subcortical Consonance and Dissonance Perception





Cortical Consonance and Dissonance Perception





Consonance and Dissonance in Theatre





Line/Melody





Harmony





Conclusion: Consonance and Dissonance and Time





Ten Questions





Things to Share





Notes


Bibliography





Part IV: Theatre = Song + Mimesis





Chapter 9: Ritual, Arousal, Reward, Ecstasy





Introduction: From High Mass to Ecstasy





The Development of Ritual, Shamanism, and (Altered States of Consciousness)





The Neuroscience of Arousal and Reward in the Altered States of Consciousness of Shamanism and Theatre





Introduction: Dreams, Altered States of Consciousness and Theatre





The Basic Neuroscience of Arousal





The Effect of Music on Physiological Systems





The Effect of Music on Psychological Systems





Cognitive Models for Music in Theatre





Robert Thayer's Model of Psychological Moods





Berlyne's Theory of Arousal in Aesthetics and Psychobiology





Conclusion: Experiments in Ecstasy





Ten Questions





Things to Share





Notes


Bibliography





Chapter 10: Music, Mimesis, Memory





Introduction: Traveling Backwards in Time





The New Stone Age





Memory





Introduction





Sensory Memory





Long Auditory Store/Short Term Memory/Working Memory





Long-Term Memory





Creating and Retrieving Long-Term Memories





Implicit Memory





Explicit Episodic Memory





Involuntary Explicit Episodic Memory





Autobiographical Memory





Conclusion: The Origins of Theatre and the Problems of the Oral Tradition





Ten Questions





Things to Share





Notes


Bibliography





Chapter 11: The Bronze Age and the Invention of Writing





Introduction: Theatre Becomes Drama





The Bronze Age





The Emergence of Written Language





The Transition from Oral Tradition to Recorded History





Conclusion: Lost in Translation?





Ten Questions





Things to Share





Notes


Bibliography





Chapter 12: Conclusion: Evolution and Greek Theatre





Introduction: A Case Study





The Origins of Greek Music: Music = Time Manipulated





The Development of Greek Song: Song = Music + Idea





Music as Math Made Audible: The Greeks Revisit Consonance and Dissonance





The First Autocratic Theatre: Theatre = Song + Mimesis





Plato and His World





Aristotle's Theatre





Conclusion of the Conclusion





Eleven Questions, Part I





Eleven Questions, Part II





Things to Share





Notes


Bibliography
Richard K. Thomas is Professor of Visual and Performing Arts at Purdue University with over 100 credits as a composer, sound designer, author, playmaker and educator. He is a Fellow of USITT, and winner of the 2018 Distinguished Achievement Award in Sound Design and Technology.