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CATEGORIES:CMS seminar series in the Faculty of Music
SUMMARY:Evolution of Musical Scales - John McBride\, postd
 octoral research fellow at Ulsan National Institut
 e of Science and Technology in South Korea
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20211118T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20211118T120000
UID:TALK166009AThttp://talks.cam.ac.uk
URL:http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/166009
DESCRIPTION:One of the most universal features of music is the
  construction of melodies using a restricted set o
 f pitch categories – i.e. musical scales. Despite 
 this universality\, we know little about how scale
 s have evolved\, cross-culturally. Some analogies 
 can be drawn between the evolution of scales and b
 iological evolution: they both involve linear sequ
 ences of discrete units\; these units undergo rand
 om change and directional selection. Scales are mo
 re complex in the mechanisms of change: in biology
  there are a limited set of changes (mutations\, i
 nsertions\, deletions\, inversions)\, while scales
  can be created entirely anew without reference to
  any previous template. However\, the possible spa
 ce of scales is tiny (typically 7 or fewer notes\,
  just-noticeable-differences of at least ~5 cents 
 results in millions) compared to biological sequen
 ces (a protein with 100 amino acids can have any o
 ne of 4300 sequences). Further\, there are some pr
 oposed theories on how scales are selected. It thu
 s ought to be possible to study their evolution\, 
 yet there are only a few quantitative studies of t
 he evolution of scales. To study of the evolution 
 of scales\, we first scoured the ethnomusicologica
 l literature of the last century to assemble a cro
 ss-cultural database of scales. The data point to 
 convergent evolution\, which is clear evidence of 
 selection pressures. We then consider a set of sel
 ection biases\, and test (using a generative infer
 ence approach) which hypotheses may best predict t
 he distributions of scales. Finally\, we think abo
 ut how the different forces (physical\, perceptual
 \, cultural) involved in drift and selection may v
 ary considerably between and within societies\, ac
 ross geography and time.
LOCATION:CMS Computer Room\, Faculty of Music (11 West Road
 \, Cambridge\, CB3 9DP) Zoom meeting   https://cam
 -ac-uk.zoom.us/j/95274848632?pwd=M1hWOVVyeXZZOHFFT
 0YrdDF6WnRqZz09   Meeting ID: 952 7484 8632 Passco
 de: 677829
CONTACT:Xi Zhang
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