The Memetics of Music: Exploring Viral Trends in Modern Songs - Perfect for Music Lovers, Content Creators & Social Media Influencers
Delivery & Return:Free shipping on all orders over $50
Estimated Delivery:7-15 days international
People:29 people viewing this product right now!
Easy Returns:Enjoy hassle-free returns within 30 days!
Payment:Secure checkout
SKU:33784272
Product Description
Richard Dawkins's formulation of the meme concept in his 1976 classic The Selfish Gene has inspired three decades of work in what many see as the burgeoning science of memetics. Its underpinning theory proposes that human culture is composed of a multitude of particulate units, memes, which are analogous to the genes of biological transmission. These cultural replicators are transmitted by imitation between members of a community and are subject to mutational-evolutionary pressures over time. Despite Dawkins and several others using music in their exemplifications of what might constitute a meme, these formulations have generally been quite rudimentary, even naïve. This study is the first musicologically-orientated attempt systematically to apply the theory of memetics to music. In contrast to the two points of view normally adopted in music theory and analysis - namely those of the listener and the composer - the purpose of this book is to argue for a distinct and illuminating third perspective. This point of view is metaphorical and anthropomorphic, and the metaphor is challenging and controversial, but the way of thinking adopted has its basis in well-founded scientific principles and it is capable of generating insights not available from the first two standpoints. The perspective is that of the (selfish) replicated musical pattern itself, and adopting it is central to memetics. The approach taken is both theoretical and analytical. Starting with a discussion of evolutionary thinking within musicology, Jan goes on to cover the theoretical aspects of the memetics of music, ranging from quite abstract philosophical speculation to detailed consideration of what actually constitutes a meme in music. In doing so, Jan draws upon several approaches current in music theory, including Schenkerism and Narmour's implication-realization model. To demonstrate the practical utility of the memetic perspective, Chapter 6 applies it analytically, tracing the transmission o
Customer Reviews
in 1990 lynn margulis attended a conference at paolo soleri's arcosanti where i was introduced to the term memetics. being polycultural, it precisely constituted an academically valid vocabulary for observing cultural transference (and the absence thereof..)my work led me to develop what are called aleatoric, procedural, algorithmic, and stochastic methods of generating music and other memetic content, similar conceptually to w.s. burroughs "cut-up technique". the objective was to create a "memetic recombinator" (yes parallel to genetic) that would catalyse apprehension and evolution of memetics. because of what i saw as a deficit in pertinent cultures due to overemphatic patterning, eg. people say "inclement weather" for generations past any consideration of what "inclement" means. similar examples abound.. so, by using "mad lib" style, computer generated production of lyrical song (which is like, "ultra" memetic semantics + tone/harmonics) we place "random" adjectives to nouns and verbs, so the audience is confronted with adjuncts they have not encountered culturally. sometimes, the ideas can be interesting.this breaks cultural patterning.now. that is important isn't it.my first lyrical song engine was produced in 1994, it took a day to assemble the pieces into a recording. eg. "care for that i should only have your houses" (each phoneme is horribly pitch shifted without formant correction). a decade later i created a realtime engine, endlessly generating simple electronic dance songs with voice synthesized lyrics (and a nice readout in case you can't understand the 3 band phoneme engine). called breathcube.you see, i, and perhaps the author, and reader, appreciate the application of lyrical music to memetics and cultural development. we are not alone. the general public has still not replaced recorded music with generative platforms. no one except myself has attempted to, at least voice + music + drums... most people interested in procedural music are still writing parts for one instrument, of just cacophonies of bits. eric morabito did the most accomplished "pop music" engine to date (but no lyrics).you see, i had an immense amount of difficulty once i started to achieve realtime models. if you look at my work at the time, you will see the discussions interlaced with accusations of being harassed wherever i went, my property vandalised and eventually burglarised. i ended up fleeing to the other side of the world due to cryptocratic harassment. that doesn't help. essentially, it seems, someone has a vested interest in suppressing technologies which would strongly catalyse human memetics.. (and i.. i've been exposed to these memetic evolving methods for decades and would be unable to explain what that means to others who have not..)i was excited to see any public offering on this topic, but truthfully the only difference between oriented and orientated is potato, or orientato i suppose.we are not going to find the debacle that is popular memetics suffering under authoritariansim here but academic sidetrails that are unlikely to arrive at any location not previously held. that's what you pay money for, not dissent.
