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Sound(worlds)

Analysing sound phenomena in the framework of cultural studies has become a popular field of research and experimentation in the 21st century. Indeed, we are talking about a primordial nature-nurture-relationship of humankind. As early as in the bible, God cannot be seen, only heard, and for the romantic art-religion music is the preferred medium for a new transcendental experience. But the primacy of seeing is also questioned today from different perspectives. In the global society audio engineering is gaining importance to the extent that some factions in academia are beginning to speak of the "acoustic turn".

Innate and learned

Despite the insight into the genetically anchored musicality of humans, there is little verified knowledge on the function and importance of sound for prenatal and child development to date. At least we know that six-month-old babies are already able to identify musical segments of periodically structured music. Similar questions dominate adult-oriented music psychology and therapy: What effects do sounds and noises have on concentration, memory and thinking? Can certain kinds of music increase the cognitive potential of humans?

In this context, the so-called "musical universals" take on more significance – predispositions and features that are not learned, but innate. As emotion research has verified experimentally, humans can identify four basic emotions with musical means: joy, sadness, anger, fear. Moreover, it was discovered a few years ago that mammals have octave mapping. The scales of all musical cultures are octave-based for that reason, but fifths and fourths are also encountered. Apparently, the brain tends towards these overtone-privileged intervals, because combinations of notes whose frequency relations are determined by small whole numbers elicit additional periodic patterns in nerve signals, as opposed to ones with complicated relations.

Harmonious Structure and Listening Experience

Moreover, humans do not seem to be anthropologically programmed for equidistant scales. Intervals between neighbouring scale steps vary in size – this is true for scales in almost all known cultures. However, in this manner, harmonies can be produced, because the notes have a "hierarchical" relationship with the keynote, and the listener can imagine which point the music has reached with regard to its centre at all times. This structure enables a cognitive-emotional reenactment of tension and resolution, which permanently enhances the musical potential for expression and experience – right through to ecstasy. This very fact is probably a reason for the global triumph of major-minor tonality.

The RG Sound(worlds) not only sought to bring these findings up to date, deepen and extend them, it also sought to ask what consequences they may have for (education) policy, (cultural) history, art production/reception and the theory of aesthetics.

Publications

Wolf Gerhard Schmidt / Jean-François Candoni / Stéphane Pesnel (Hrsg.): Klang - Ton - Musik. Theorien und Modelle (national)kultureller Identitätsstiftung, Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, 2014
Schmidt, Wolf Gerhard (Hrsg.): Körperbilder in Kunst und Wissenschaft, Würzburg: Verlag Königshausen & Neumann, 2014
Schmidt, Wolf Gerhard (Hrsg.): Die Natur-Kultur-Grenze in Kunst und Wissenschaft, Würzburg: Verlag Königshausen & Neumann, 2014

participating Alumnae / Alumni

- Kirill Dmitriev
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Arabic Studies
  
  institution
  
  University of St Andrews (UK)
  
  Phone
  
  +44 1334 463658
  
  E-mail
  
  kd25@st-andrews.ac.uk
- Gerhard Ernst
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Philosophy
  
  institution
  
  Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
  
  Phone
  
  +49 9131 852-9346
  
  E-mail
  
  gerhard.ernst@fau.de
- Bernhard Herbordt Melanie Mohren
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Artists
  
  institution
  
  Die Institution
  
  Phone
  
  +49 711 57646575
  
  E-mail
  
  info@die-institution.org
- Anke Jentsch
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Disturbance ecology and vegetation dynamics
  
  institution
  
  Universität Bayreuth
  
  Phone
  
  +49 921 55-2290
  
  E-mail
  
  anke.jentsch@uni-bayreuth.de
- Gordon Kampe
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Music Science / Composing
  
  institution
  
  Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg
  
  Phone
  
  +49 40 428482-01
  
  E-mail
  
  gordon.kampe@hfmt-hamburg.de
- Sabine Koller
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Slavic Studies
  
  institution
  
  Universität Regensburg
  
  Phone
  
  +49 941 943-1665
  
  E-mail
  
  sabine.koller@ur.de
- Verena Lepper
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Egyptology and Semitic Studies
  
  institution
  
  Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung Berlin
  
  Phone
  
  +49 30 26642-5010
  
  E-mail
  
  v.lepper@smb.spk-berlin.de
- Rebekka von Mallinckrodt
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Modern History
  
  institution
  
  Universität Bremen
  
  Phone
  
  +49 421 218-67220
  
  E-mail
  
  von.mallinckrodt@uni-bremen.de
- Wolf Gerhard Schmidt
  
  person_research_subject
  
  New German Literary Science / Comparative Literature
  
  institution
  
  Universität Bayreuth
  
  Phone
  
  +49 921 55 36 34
  
  E-mail
  
  Wolf-Gerhard.Schmidt@uni-bayreuth.de
- Carsten Q. Schneider
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Political Science
  
  institution
  
  Central European University
  
  E-mail
  
  schneiderc@ceu.edu
- Simone Schütz-Bosbach
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Psychology
  
  institution
  
  Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
  
  Phone
  
  +49 89 21 80-52 10
  
  E-mail
  
  s.schuetz-bosbach@lmu.de
- Viktoria Tkaczyk
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Cultural Studies / Science History
  
  institution
  
  Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
  
  Phone
  
  +49(0)30 209366190
  
  E-mail
  
  viktoria.tkaczyk@hu-berlin.de
- Matthias Warstat
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Theatre Science
  
  institution
  
  Freie Universität Berlin
  
  Phone
  
  +49 30 83 85 33 65
  
  E-mail
  
  matthias.warstat@fu-berlin.de
- Hildegard Westphal
  
  person_research_subject
  
  Palaeontology / Geology
  
  institution
  
  Leibniz-Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung GmbH
  
  Phone
  
  +49 421 238 00 21
  
  E-mail
  
  hildegard.westphal@leibniz-zmt.de

Publications

participating Alumnae / Alumni

Activities