A Memetic Analysis of a Phrase by Beethoven: Calvinian Perspectives on Similarity and Lexicon-Abstraction

This article discusses some general issues arising from the study of similarity in music, both human-conducted and computer-aided, and then progresses to a consideration of similarity relationships between patterns in a phrase by Beethoven, from the first movement of the Piano Sonata in A flat major op. 110 (1821), and various potential memetic precursors. This analysis is followed by a consideration of how the kinds of similarity identified in the Beethoven phrase might be understood in psychological/conceptual and then neurobiological terms, the latter by means of William Calvin’s Hexagonal Cloning Theory. This theory offers a mechanism for the operation of David Cope’s concept of the lexicon, conceived here as a museme allele-class. I conclude by attempting to correlate and map the various spaces within which memetic replication occurs

Memetic Perspectives on the Evolution of Tonal Systems

Cohn (1996) and Taruskin (1985) consider the increasing prominence during the nineteenth century of harmonic progressions derived from the hexatonic and octatonic pitch collections respectively. This development is clearly evident in music of the third quarter of the century onwards and is a consequence of forces towards non-diatonic organization latent in earlier music. This article conceptualizes such forces as memetic — drawing a distinction between memetic processes in music itself and those in the realm of music theory — and interprets the gradualistic evolution of tonal systems as one of their most significant consequences. After outlining hypotheses for the mechanisms driving such evolution, it identifies a number of ‘musemes’ implicated in hexatonic and octatonic organization in a passage from Mahler’s Symphony no. 10. Pople’s (2002) Tonalities music-analysis software is used to explore the tonal organization of the passage, which is considered in relation to the musemes hypothesized to generate and underpin it

Profiling the mental health of diabetic patients: a cross-sectional survey of Zimbabwean patients

Objective The burden of diabetes mellitus has exponentially increased in low resource settings. Patients with diabetes are more likely to exhibit poor mental health which negatively affects treatment outcomes. However, patients with high levels of social support (SS) are likely to report optimal mental health. We sought to determine how SS affects the report of psychiatric morbidity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in 108 diabetic patients in Harare, Zimbabwe. Results The average age of participants was 54.1 (SD 18.6) years. Most of the participants were; females (69.4%), married (51.9%), and were of low level of income (43.5%). 37.1% of the participants exhibited signs of psychiatric morbidity [mean Shona Symptoms Questionnaire score—6.7 (SD 3.2)]. Further, patients also reported lower HRQoL [mean EQ-5D-VAS score—64.1 (SD 15.3)] and high levels of SS [mean Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support score—43.7 (SD 11.5)]. Patients who received greater amount of SS had optimal mental health. Being female, unmarried, lower education attainment, having more comorbid conditions, being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and having been diagnosed of diabetes for a longer duration were associated with poorer mental health. It is important to develop context-specific interventions to improve diabetic patients’ mental health

A Memetic Analysis of a Phrase by Beethoven: Calvinian Perspectives on Similarity and Lexicon-Abstraction

This article discusses some general issues arising from the study of similarity in music, both human-conducted and computer-aided, and then progresses to a consideration of similarity relationships between patterns in a phrase by Beethoven, from the first movement of the Piano Sonata in A flat major op. 110 (1821), and various potential memetic precursors. This analysis is followed by a consideration of how the kinds of similarity identified in the Beethoven phrase might be understood in psychological/conceptual and then neurobiological terms, the latter by means of William Calvin’s Hexagonal Cloning Theory. This theory offers a mechanism for the operation of David Cope’s concept of the lexicon, conceived here as a museme allele-class. I conclude by attempting to correlate and map the various spaces within which memetic replication occurs

A sampling study of the prevalence and nature of 'tune on the brain' phenomena

It is thought that musicians are particularly disposed to imagining music, in activities ranging from composition and performance to listening. Yet the experience of having a musical fragment ‘on the brain’ suggests that musical imagery is not restricted to deliberate musical activity. Little is known about the prevalence or nature of ‘tune on the brain’ phenomena. An obstacle has been the reliance on indirect, retrospective report. The current study addresses this issue by adapting Experience-Sampling Methods (ESM) to explore musical imagery as it occurs in everyday life. Eleven university music students were cued to fill out an experience sampling form at random times throughout a seven-day period. The strength of imagery for different musical dimensions was probed, while more general questions explored respondents’ current activities, interaction with others, and mood. Participants reported actually hearing music for 47% of these episodes, and imagining music for 35%. Thus, for these music students, having a ‘tune on the brain’ was a common form of musical experience. Though individual variation was demonstrated between respondents, clear global differences were found between the strength of their reported imagery for different musical dimensions. A high rate of return and the depth of information provided by respondents suggest that ESM techniques are a promising way of exploring ‘tune on the brain’ experience. It is argued that this method would also be amenable to the investigation of musical imagery in a wider population

A tracking study of mental imagery for popular classical music

Little is known about the relationship between structural features of a piece of music and the structure of a conscious auditory image for that piece. This study addresses two related questions. First, what are the structural ‘holes’ in the memory image of large-scale pieces of music? Second, is there evidence to suggest the temporal manipulation of this mental imagery? Six extracts of popular classical music were selected on the basis of their familiarity and their structural interest. Nineteen ‘classical music lovers’ were instructed to mentally track as much music as possible. After hearing the beginning of an extract, participants were instructed to lower the volume controller to silence and imagine the musical continuation. When unable to mentally continue the music, they were encouraged to raise the volume until they were again able to imagine the continuation. Each movement of the volume controller was recorded, producing a graphic representation of listening and imagining throughout each piece. Time spent imaging did not vary significantly between pieces. However, clear differences in the imaging distribution within each piece emerged, relating to distinct zones within the musical structure of each extract. Pieces characterised by repeated short sections produced image profiles with frequent movements of the volume controller, while extracts characterised by long thematic material are matched by more constant imaging profiles. The image-tracking paradigm revealed a relationship between ‘mental holes’ in the musical image and structural properties of the musical work