The Music of Language (Book)

 

The Music of Language is a compilation of writings over the past decade on the connection between language and music. I'm in the camp of musicians who believe that music preceded language. I always understood it intuitively, and then later on it became more of a passionate intellectual pursuit.

At the back of the book, as the appendix are what I’m calling “wordrums” (a portmanteau of “word” and “drum”), where the inherent rhythms in natural speech become musical and become seeds for the music. In the past, it was customary for songwriters to start with a title, and the title would have some kind of a rhythmic pattern to it, which would be the basis for the entire song. I still like to work this way.

An AI-generated summary/analysis:

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Playlist of Examples: 

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Footnotes:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shave_and_a_Haircut    
2. Ivo Popasov, “Bulchenska Ratchenitsa (Bride’s Ratchenitsa)”    
3. https://youtu.be/RRmq5EKSmTg?si=sGkttV4B2B07LKzv    
4. https://youtu.be/4HX5-ulcdXc?si=SYOqALn8s6kjW8ak    
5. https://youtu.be/U2-KgBhslBQ?si=jUKBzdXl7yKQMoHy    
6. https://youtu.be/TYqrXVNfYUI?si=Y-yZG_obIUKrMI5I&t=375    
7. https://youtu.be/dou3aSZmEg0?si=oPYGrwmzkMzcOxkj&t=2245    
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Slang_by_decade    
9. https://musescore.com/user/30768085/scores/25999516/s/DJF8Kn?share=copy_link
10. (Mithen, Steven. The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2007. 149)    
11. https://youtu.be/GYM_0TPEttI?si=4nyPw6-ubpYLKhjY    
12. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/06/opinion/trump-speech-mental-capacity.html    
13. Bergen, Benjamin K. Louder Than Words: The New Science of How the Mind 
    Makes Meaning. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2012. Print., pp.82-86
14. https://soundcloud.com/chilee/it-was-all-just-a-dream/s-8Ha6vOIuCZq    
15. http://nautil.us/issue/30/identity/drums-lies-and-audiotape
16. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-54772218    
17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrafactum    
18. Burlingame, Jon. The Music of James Bond. United Kingdom, OUP USA, 2012.
19. https://www.wsj.com/articles/david-byrne-and-talking-heads-on-burning-down-the-house-11594042472    
20. https://interlude.hk/charles-baudelaire-1821-1867-i-have-cultivated-my-hysteria-with-pleasure-and-terror/
21. https://aeon.co/essays/machine-writing-is-closer-to-literatures-history-than-you-know    
22. https://youtu.be/oDFuIIwG1M4?si=qs9C8bI5i-eULa-8    
23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8n51xlrMy8&t=1636s    
24. https://leebarry1.bandcamp.com/track/dying-to-connect-some-august    
25. https://youtu.be/bFkpRel59eU?si=L_hirRdoUYlINQc-     
26. https://youtube.com/shorts/OE9E9r773D4?si=0Sw00wp0IOC5CpjQ    
27. The technical term for words that “smear” across each other is an  oronym--e.g, “an ice water”/”a nice water”. Typically there is one  variation that is nonsense. In pop music, nonsense wordplay is more possible because the meaning might be intentionally vague.