Description
Book SynopsisMusic 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 conceptnamely 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 soula concept that extends beyond the theatrical
Table of Contents
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
