Peter Vuust & Andreas Roepstorff
Listen up! Polyrhythms in Brain and Music
The relationship between music and language is fiercely debated in the modern literature of neuroscience and music. Here, we argue that a musicological study of online communication between jazz musicians in combination with brain imaging studies offers a unique setting for evalu- ating communicational aspects of music practices that rarely enter the present discourse on the subject. We employ Miles Davis' quintet of the 1960s and its use of polyrhythmic structures as a general example of a jazz group focusing on communication. First, we consider jazz in the light of Roman Jakobson's model of communication in a broad perspec- tive. Next, we analyze polyrhythmic occurrences in Herbie Hancock's solo on the jazz Standard "AU of You" as an example of how this com- munication develops as a narrarive structuring of tension and relief. We identify two typical types of polyrhythms, metric displacement and re- grouping of subdivisions. Finally, we show how these polyrhythmic structures employ brain areas hitherto associated with linguistic semantic processing, and discuss possible implications.
CORRESPONDENCE: Peter Vuust (corresponding authot). Centre of Functionally Inte- grative Neuroscience (AUH), and Royal Academy of Music, Aatfius, Denmark. EMAIL [email protected]. Andreas Roepstorff. Centre of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (AUH), and Institute for Anthropology, University of Aartius, Aattius, Denmatk.
Introduction
"Music is a universal language" (Miles Davis-saxophonist George Coleman (Vuust 2000)), yet the meaning of music is of a far more abstract natura than speech (Levi-Strauss 1969). Nevertheless, musicians constantly communicate auditorially, when playing together, in order to create their musical artwork. This is indeed true in improvisational styles of music such as jazz, where possible communicational parameters include all layers in the musical structure (e.g. melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamics) (Berliner 1994, Levine 1996, Monson 1997, Sadie 2001). In jazz, as in many other musical styles, rhythm is one of the major trajectories for communication, both as a means of establish- ing and maintaining contact between musicians, and as a device for creating anticipatory patterns of tension and relief, for example between a soloist
Cognitive Semiotics, Issue 3 (Fall 2008), pp. 134-158 USTENUPiPOLYRHYTHMSINBRAINANDMUSIC | 135 playing behind the beat and the rhythm section on top of the beat (Ker- schbaumer 1976). Examining die music of Miles Davis' quintet and subsequent brain experi- ments, this paper tries to evaluate some communicational aspects of music, especially with respect to the rhythmic communication that takes place in jazz. First, we shall focus on what some would call the pragmatic aspect of this music, considering it as an expression of human communication in a broad perspective. For this purpose, we show that Roman Jacobson's model of the act of communication (Figure 1) is relevant as a model for the communication between the musicians in Miles Davis' Quintet. Second, we consider the polyrhythmic' occurrences in a specific solo by Herbie Hancock as an example of how this communication may develop as a narrative structuring of tension and relief throughout the solo. In particular, we describe the characteristic usage of two different types of polyrhythm, metric displacement (MD) and regrouping of subdivisions (RS), which are known and used by most jaz2 musicians. In this specific solo, MD and RS serve dissimilar narrative and communicational purposes, which may be reflected in different communica- tional fimctions as described by Jakobson's model. Common to these two types of polyrhythm is that they create anticipatory structures of tension and relief, which by many musicologists are considered the main way in which music conveys meaning and emotion. Third, using modern techniques of neuroimag- ing, we shall see how engaging with these polyrhythmic structures employs brain areas hitherto mainly associated with linguistic processing. It is shown that by carefully constructing paradigms to study the different communicational functions of MD and RS, it is possible to track the neural underpinnings of these rhythmic devices. Thus, using a multi-disciplinary approach, we have the possibility of gaining insight about differential cognitive processing required to communicate through music that may not be available to us in the framework of a Single research discipline.
Music and Language Similarities and differences between language and music exist on many levels and have been studied by many scientists (e.g. Brown 2001, Feld & Fox 1994,
"The superposidon of different rhythms or meters". In this paper it is mainly used to describe rhythm that contradicts a given metric pulse or beat, thus synonymously with cross- rhythms. Note that by this definition, the term polyrhythm includes polymeter. 136 I P.VUUST&A.ROEPSTORFF
Koelsch et al. 2004, Lerdahl 2001, Patel 2003). A central diffcrence between music and language that has been stressed by a number of writers (e.g. Besson & Schon 2001) is that music, in most cases, is of a more abstract nature than language. This relies on the fact that whereas language often refers to some extra-linguistic Space having a direct link to the physical world, music is thought to be mainly self-referential, built of objects and anticipations created within music itself: in language the signifier is distinct from the signified, whereas in music signifier 2S\A signified coincide (Padula 2006). This self-referential nature of music, however, does not necessarily mean that music cannot express concrete concepts to certain listeners in certain situations. A C-minor chord next to a C-major chord can be as concrete as a chair next to a table. This is undoubtedly true for musicians with good ears and knowledge of music theory asked to distinguish between the two chords. Another point that is often overlooked is that music, just as language, has a pragmatic aspect comprising discourse Organization and contextual influences (see e.g. Besson et al. 2001). This is in particular the case in jazz. A piece of improvisational jazz music develops as a consequence of the internal communication between the involved musicians and has its base in the immediate, personal and global history of the played piece. Düring the be-bop period of the 1940s and 1950s, the rhythmic features of jazz solos became increasingly more subde (Carr 1982). In the sixties, the fiinction of the rhythm section changed from playing a mainly supportive role to being a more Interactive parmer for the soloist (Davis & Troupe 1989). The Miles Davis Quintet from 1963-68 was a main propagator of this style of jazz in which the free communication between the musicians was the centre of the music and polyrhythm was one of the most important means (Coolman 1997). In this context, melodic phrases, rhythmic events and harmonic progressions took a form and function resembling other kinds of human communication such as those known from language. In the foUowing we shall try to demonstrate that linguistic fianctions corresponding to all of the six positions in Roman Jakobson's model of communication (Jakobson 1960) can be found in the music of Miles Davis' quintet from the 1960s. It should be noted, that even though we restrict ourselves to examples exclusively from the Davis Quintet's repertoire, communication is a constituent part of jazz, and similar analyses could be carried out for most other influential jazz groups. USTENUPIPOLYRHYIHMSINBRAINANDMUSIC | 137
Factors Functions
Context Referential
Sender Message Receiver Enrwtive Poetic Conative
Channel Phatic
Meta- Code linguistic Figure 1. Roman Jacobson's model of the act of communicationßvm "Closing Statements: Linguistics and Poettcs" (Jakobson 1960). In the act of communication then are six factors. The message (e.g. a spoken sentence) is sent from a sender to a receiver through a Channel (in a spoken sentence as sound waves through the air), in a certain code (e.g. in English), within a certdn context. Each factor corresponds to a function, mhich is encapsulated in the message: The poetic function puts the 'focus on the message for its onm sake' (Ibid: 356) and is common in messages focussing on themselves as a message, i.e. their own form, as is ofien the case forpoetty. The r^erential function is generali seen in messages referring to ohjects in the real world e.g. in newspaper stories. The conative function is common in messages that focus on Controlling the action of the receiver ("keep off the grassl"), whereas the emotive function dominates messages intended to express the emotional State of the sender, as e.g. in exclamations. The phatic function is found in words intended to open or keep the communication Channels (e.g. "hello", "hmm", "do you see, »hat I am saying?"). The meta-linguistic function dominates messages such as thesauruses, grammars etc. in which the object of the message is the language or code itself.
Roman Jakobson's model of commxmication The Russian linguist Roman Jakobson su^ested a model of communication^ (Jakobson 1960) which mainly appiies to spoken conversaüon, but has proven powerfiil as a means to analyze other forms of human communicationai products, such as adverrisements and paintings (e.g. Hebert 2006). Jakobson's model (Figure 1) des to the act of communication, in which he Claims that there are 6 factors. Each of these factors corresponds to a communicative function. Ideally, all functions should be present in a message, but the message can be dominated by any one of these functions to a lesser or greater extent, as for example in the phatic message: "hello" or the conative: "the painting should not be touched". The latter demonstrates the possible multifunctionality of language. The sentence focuses on the receiver and is as
2 This model can be and has been critidzed among other things for its number of factors (Rastder 1997: 27-28; see e.g. Arcand & Bourbeau 1995: 25). 138 I P.VUUST&A.ROEPSTORFF
such predominantly conarive. However, it also refers to the context ("the painting"), and has as such also a partly referenrial Function. Thus, instead of being a mutually exclusive systeni, such that one funcoon excludes the others, Jakobson's model of the act of communication is a hierarchical system in which the different Functions subordinate each other to various degrees (Waugh 2006). The dominance of a function may be evident in a single sentence (as in the examples above) or characterize the message or text as a whole. Newspaper stories assign importance mosdy to referenrial statements, referring to events and relations in the extemal world, whereas legal texts and users' manuals mainly focus on Controlling the actions of the receiver. In poetry the communi- cational acts are mainly oriented towards the message and the form of the message itself, which is what most artistic expressions, including music, aim at. This does not mean that art does not contain Functions other than the poetic (cF. above), but only that the overall function oF the work is poetic. The Fact that music or sound may encompass other Functions than the poetic has recendy been documented by Padula (2006), who assigned the emotive Function to Schumann's "PerFect happiness", the referential function to the sound of ethnic Instruments referring to a specific culture (e.g. in film music), the conative function to Computer sounds demanding certain actions from the user, the phatic function to the dial tone from a telephone keeping the communication Channel open, and the metalinguistic function to the small thematic excerpts, used by some composers (e.g. Bach, Bartok, etc.) to forestall specific pieces in order to inform the music reader about the structure of the piece, thus using the code itself to speak about the code. In jazz the message (e.g. a musical phrase) is sent from sender to receiver through a Channel (e.g. live music) in a certain code (e.g. jazz) in a certain context (e.g. with Miles Davis Quintet, playing the Standard "All of You", in front of a live audience at the Lincoln Centre in New York 1964). In this highly improvisational kind of music, a whole system of devices has been developed to subserve the online communication that is necessary to take the music from the sketchy and short outline, often provided by no more than a lead sheet, to an explicit artistic creation comparable to symphonies in length and complexity. It is probable that many of these communicational acts, conceived in the musical presence, are more than mere poetic statements. In fact, when one listens to Miles Davis' Quintet from the 1960es it is striking how these different linguistic functions can be Found in diFFerent phrases played by the musicians: USTEN UP! POLYRHYTHMS IN BRAIN AND MUSIC 139
The referentialfunction, that is considered to be the function most easily separable from the poeric, can be observed in the frequent use of quotes in solos. Often a soloist communicates directly with the preceding soloist by quoting his or her ending phrase. Also, melodic materiaJ from earlier solos, from the themes of other Standards, or solos from other well-known recordings can be used as quotes. The superimposed quotes over a Standard may create effects that are sometimes almost humorous, as for example when Davis on "Bye, Bye, Blackbird" quotes the theme a whole step higher than in the thematic presentation, giving the solo a Lydian flavour (Miles Davis Quintet 1961). The use of quotes in jazz signifies respect for other players as weil as for the tradition.
The emotive function that characterizes communicative occurrences focusing on the emotional State of the Speaker is not typical of the highly interactive type of jazz music that is played by Miles Davis' quintet. It can, however, be seen in certain passages, where the soloist goes into his own mode, e.g. when Wayne Shorter or Miles Davis plays a sort of plaintive rubato on top of the fast tempos played by the rhythm section on records such as "Miles in Berlin" (1964b) or "Miles Davis at Plu^ed Nickel, Chicago" (1964a).
The conative function on the other hand is frequendy found in the music of the quintet and plays an important role in the way the music is directed. One example of this is a certain melodic phrase played by Davis demanding an answer from the rhythm section (Figure 2.1). Originally, the phrase had a tail to it (Figure 2.2). On the earlier records such as "Workin"' (1956b) and "Steamin"' (1956a) the piano plays the tail; later the tail is substituted by a drum fiU. Through his career, Davis gradually changed the phrase beyond recognition, but the conative function was maintained (e.g. in the Miles Davis solo on Dr. Jackle (1958)). Another specific example of the conative function can be observed in the bass solo from the recording of "the Theme" (Miles Davis Quintet 1964a disc 3, recording 4, at 7 min. 36 sec.), where Davis suddenly plays a high note interrupting the bass solo at an odd place in the form, Signalling that he wants this solo to end. The Intention here is clearly to influence the bassist's action in much the same way as is the purpose of the sentence: "the painting should not be touched". 140 P. VUUST & A. ROEPSTORFF
Trumpet - "call"
F7 ßk
Figure 2.1. Phrase plajed hy Miles Davis in solos throughout bis career. The phrase functions as , (conative) "call" to the rhjthm section demanding a drum fill or alike.
Trumpet/drums - "response"
; 2.2. Original tail! "response" to the "call".
The phatic function is especially important to communication in jazz in particular and maybe music as a whole. Unlike in spoken language, musicians play simultaneously, creating a multi-threaded communicaüonal network. Hence, jazz allows for several communication Channels at the same time, implying that new connections between different musicians are established continuously in the musical flow. Breaking of rhythmic patterns in jazz is a typical way of attracting attention and thereby establishing Channels for communication between musicians. Rhythm section players often operate in more of less pre- defined patterns, as for example the drummer's swing rhythm on the cymbal, or the bassist's 4-beat Walking line (for excellent examples of this, listen to: "There Is No Greater Love", Miles Davis Quintet 1964c). These patterns can be broken as when the bass player changes into playing a pedal point or the drummer plays a polyrhythm, which in turn changes the immediate feel and sound of the music, attracting the attention of the other players as a request for communication. Whoever then accommodates this request will be the communicational partoer for at least a short period of time. Establishing the primary Channels for communication often takes place in the beginning of new parts of the music, as for example in "All of You" (analysed below), where a communication Channel is established between the piano and the drums through an exchange of metric deviations in the two first choruses of Herbie Hancock's solo. USrei UP! POLYRHYTHMS IN BRAIN AND MUSIC | 141
The meta-lingual function is integral to the sort of ja2z music played by Miles Davis' Quintet. This music is frequently built upon the Standard repertoire with a strong focus on improvisation. The communication often tums into an exploration of how far it is possible to Stretch a given compositional material. Simple examples of this process can be observed in the development of harmonic progressions. The chords of the score are hardly ever played as notated. Either tensions are added, alternative chord scales are played (such as lydian (#5) on major seventh chords), the original chords are substituted with other chords (e.g. minor seventh chords exchanged with seventh chords) or bass notes are substituted (e.g. tritone substitutions, Netdes 1987a, 1987b, 1988). As the harmonic progression is coordinated between players as the music develops, the music becomes essentially a "discussion" of the music. ^ Over time the way that a certain group develops their playing over a Standard may be used and referred to by other jazz musicians and groups. For instance, the harmonies to Stella by Starlight were gradually changed by the Quintet over the years into a form that is nowadays more or less accepted as the basis that newer versions refer to. However, the chord changes were never the same from Version to version. Listen for example to the version of Stella by Starlight from the "Plugged Nick;el"-sessions (Miles Davis Quintet 1964a), which is so far away from the original that it can be very hard to track the form in the solos. So the meta-lingual function is always present in jazz and may in certain recordings be right in the middle of the communicational process.
The poetic function is the communicational fiinction which is most often associated with the overall intention of a musical piece being itself the centre of a communication of an aesthetic message from the musician(s) to the lis- tener(s). Although this paper is not about aesthetics per se, it is interesting to notice that the artistic value of the music of the Davis quintet is closely related to the relative success of the communicational process.
The above analysis of Miles Davis' music in the context of Jakobson's model highlights two characteristics of jazz and maybe other kinds of improvisational music: First, the communication that is necessary in order to make every
3 This could also be postulated about the function of different interpretations of a classical piece of music. 142 I P.VUUST&A.ROEPSrORFF
improvisadonal Performance of a song/standard unique and interesting is dependent on die fact that musical phrases can assume different communica- tional funcüons, just like in spoken language. Second, the Function of the musical phrases and maybe the overall intention of the music may be perceived differendy by the audience as compared to the musicians themselves. To the musicians, the main value of playing jazz may lie in participating in the musical communicational process more than in the artwork itself (see also Monson 1997, chap. 3). This is in accordance with the viewpoint held by some ethnomusicologists of music as fundamentally a social activity (Mcleod 1974, Feld et al. 1994).
One of the points made in the above analysis may shed light on an important stylistic feature in the sort of jazz that is played by the Davis quintet. One of the main purposes of music is to convey emotion (Meyer 1956, JusUn & Västfjäll 2008). Yet the emotive function does not appear to be of great importance in the musical interaction among the musicians in the quintet. There may be several reasons why this is so. Importandy, Jakobson's functions are not exclusive, but often one function dominates a specific utterance. In a musical phrase such as e.g. the Miles Davis "call and response" (Figure 2.2), the conative function clearly dominates, and is carried by the actual notes of the phrase. The way in which Miles Davis plays this particular phrase with respect to dynamics, rhythm and timbre, however, differs from version to version, and the separate versions may express very different emotions. So even though the musicians of this quintet may concentrate on exchanging Information using functions other than the emotive, the emotional qualities that are expressed simultaneously may be what listeners in general focus on and experience during the musical Performances and when listening to the records. In the foUowing we shall investigate some communicational aspects of a particular solo from the point of view of the musicians.
The communicational process was, for Davis' rhythm section in the 1960s consisting of Tony Williams (drums), Ron Carter (bass) and Herbie Hancock (piano), to a great extent characterised by the extensive use and exploration of the communicational potential of polyrhythms. In the early 1960s, this rhythmic Interactive approach was one of the most ground-breaking aspects of the music of the Quintet. So even though this group communicated on other USTEN UP! POLYRHYTHMS IN BRAIN AND MUSIC | 143 musical parameters such as harmony, melody and dynamics, the polyrhythmic aspect often became the main vehicle for the musical conversation. We shall here analyse the rhythm section playing of a specific solo by Han- cock with regards to the communication through polyrhythms. We focus on the phatic function that MD may assume as well as on the fundamental and maybe more poetic role that polyrhythm (here RS) plays as a means of creating tension that structures the course of events in a particular solo.
Polyrhj^hmic structures as communicative means in Miles Davis quintet The tension created by polyrhythm/polymeter (Sadie 2001) is arguably one of the strongest rhythmic means for jazz communication, and a strong attractor of attention. This effect was one of the most important communicational elements in the music of The Miles Davis Quintet from 1963-68. The piano solo by Herbie Hancock on the jazz Standard "All of You" at a concert in Carnegie Hall 1964 (Miles Davis Quintet 1964c) is an excellent example of how this communication develops during the quintet's Performances and of the usage of polyrhythm. The solo is, as is the entire record, highly appreciated both by jazz fans and the involved musicians (Carr 1982). The graphical overview (Figure 3) of the polyrhythmic occurrences in piano, bass and drums clearly shows how, in this particular solo, polyrhythms are traded between the musicians at salient positions during the improvisation: at the transitions between the different parts of the form and at the dynamical climaxes of a solo (for transcriptions and a complete analysis see Vuust (2000)). The musicians' focus on the communicational process is evidenced by the Speed at which the musicians exchange ideas as at the entrance to occurrence 3, Figure 3. Because of this emphasis on the communicational process, musical exchanges, and thereby musical phrases with other main functions than the poetic, are found to a great extent throughout the solo. This holds true for the occurrences of MD (as can be seen in Figure 3 and 4) that (as argued below) are mainly phatic Channel openers, RS that mainly has a poetic fimction, as well for the shifting drum grooves preceding system 4 (Figure 3) that force the other musicians to shift from swinging to even 8th notes, an act of communication that could be considered as conative. 144 I P.VUUST&A.ROEPSTORFF
Pianosol o - All Of You fr «im Mile »vis u i R t p t r h e u m p 1 e t f f ® mm I'olyrhythmic occurre K S Kefirouping af Suhdiv MI) Metrie Di»plac«ment A' ® 1 t ...II. 13 evan dr fllls MI) 3«lli>alo groov« (2-1 (b«ginf on 2) di*piacAd 2-beti Oailniitoflrw.v« {2- B
A' A' © MO KS Mn MD Vamp
drRS
dr Inswsr (I r: K S -B X X' 1 ' • ' II-
pi«oo «wrlnss inctasftingiy
©KS ©
Figure 3. Graphical overview of saUent rhythmic events in Herbie Hancock 's piano solo an tbe ja^ Standard "All ofYou" (Miles DamQuintet 1964). Top line represents thepiano, bottom line drums (Tor^ Williams) and bass {Ron Carter). The ticks correspond to bar Unes. The overview shows rlythmc communication between the piano and drums (dr)lhass (bs) on tjvo different issues: 1) poh/rhythms and 2) swinging/ even 8th notes. The po^rhythmsjpolymetric occurrences divide into 1) metric displacement (MD) and 2) regmuping of subdivisions (RS). Occurrences 1 and 2 are dominated ^ MD, establisUng the communicational Channel between drummer and soloist, whereas the rest of the pofyrhythmic occurrences are regroupings of subdivisions. The main communication (occurrences 3 and 4) coincide with one of the dynamical climaxes of the solo. Poljrhythms 3 and 4 are preceded by tension created by bitonaäty produced ^ Hancock's "outside"playing^ corresponding to in Greimas' Square andfollowed ly Williams' extending the polyrhythm b^ond the bar line, white Hancock stops his po^rhythmic pattem, corresponding to ~>S2.
This solo is built around the two main types of polyrhythm described in this paper, MD and RS.
MD: As MDs"* instantaneously violate the metric expectation they are typically used as phatic messages in the initial stages of the solo. They attract attention
4 The superposition of a counter meter, equivalent to the main meter but with a different starting point. USTENUPIPOLYRHYTHMSINBRAINANOMUSIC | 145 and hereby establish connection between the musicians, crearing a common ground for mutual exchange of improvisarional ideas. In the present solo, the phatic process is apparent in the exchange of polyrhythmic ideas between piano and bass/drums that takes place at the transition between AI and A2 (poly- rhythmic occurrences 1—3, Figure 3). In the first chorus of the solo, a metric displacement is played by the drums and bass in unison (Figure 4.1). In the second chorus, at the exact same place in the form, this rhythmic pattem is imitated by the piano, while the drums and bass simultaneously engage in a different polyrhythm (RS), leading to a communicational, polyrhythmic process that results in the piano and drums agreeing on identical metric displacements (Figure 4.2). This establishes a clear contact between the two Instruments, and has the sound of a musical handshake, from which the real conversation may begin to unfold.
Kf: RS 5 typically emerges at crucial points in the improvisarional communica- tion, such as at the dynamic climaxes. In these places, they develop over time, intensifying the tension between the foreground counter meter created by the polyrhythm and the original background meter being kept by musicians and the listeners, until this tension is released at the retum of the main meter. The most prominent and lengthiest appearance of polyrhythm in the present solo coincides with the dynamic climax. It is part of a communicational process between the piano and the drums that is preceded by a long ascending triplet based piano phrase (Figure 3, system 2) cautiously underscored by the drums for the middle part, establishing the subdivision that four bars later is used as the basis for a polyrhythm that emerges from piano and drums simultaneously as by magic (Figure 4.3). However, the melodic material of the piano phrase leading in to the polyrhythmic phrase has a bi-tonal namre that, in interaction with the already established triplet based framework, makes the resulting polyrhythmic structure a natural expansion of the musical tension. This tension is gradually extended until it is finally resolved into one single pulse, first by the piano and subsequendy by the drums (Figure 4.4). In contrast to the initial MDs in this solo that have the clear purpose of establishing contact, the central placement, the interesting nature and the strength of the musical tension
Grouping of subdivisions (as for example by accentuation of every fourth 8th note triplet) in a way which is different from the grouping according to the meter and different from metrical displacement. 146 P. VUUST & A. ROEPSTORFF
created by this RS makes it a musical event in itself with a predominantly poetic Function.
All Of You (TCC - pianosolo)
with cymbal 13 _ , Bass(lAl) mä
¥igure 4.1. Volyrhythmic occumnces in Hancock'spiano solo on "All ofYou" (Miles DavisQuintet 1964). The numbering comsponds to the graphical overview as depicted in Figure 3.
All OfYou (TCC - pianosolo) 8" Piano (2A1) (no voicing
J 1 J 7 „h-/ J 7^7 Drunis
T" ri—^ -b- V—vh^ r- ^ ri 7 r
Walking ... r" Ii r j. .i
______7 4^7 J 4 4-J < j LU 7 7 L t—• ' t—• l—J-J
iQure 4.2. LISTEN UP! POLYRHYTHMS IN BRAIN AND MUSIC 147
All Of You (TCC - pianosolo) C7 Fm7 r— 3 ^ -3-n r---? —
Piano (Vamp) (no voicings)
_J J J J X 7 -x^ Drums rU^
Bk CT
r—, 3- —, 3-
>r>] 7 X^^. Jl 7 JTl 7 y >1
Figure 4.3.
All Of You (TCC - pianosolo) Fm7 li\,7 Gm7
Piano (Vamp) fc^ (no voicings) hi^e I -3^ mm.— 3-,^3^
J J J J } ilX'i. 11 JMi,
ßk Gm7 i ES -3^ . J-, 1-5-
>1 >nj j.
Figure 4.4. 148 I P.VUUST&A.ROEPSTORFF
Tension and nüef: The kind of anticiparive structure of tension and relief which, in the present solo, is mainly created by complex rhythmic patterns on top of die precisely timed meter, is considered by many musical theorists to be the predominant way in which music conveys meaning and emotion (Cooper & Meyer L.B. 1960, Lerdahl & Jackendoff 1999, Meyer 1956, MoneUe 1992, Huron 2006). In other words, music creates meaningful structures in a dynamic interplay of tension between background and foreground events, enabling a constant creation of tension and relief as the music unfolds (Figure 5).
Experiencing two meters at the same time
Counter meter
"A counter meter superimposed on a main meter"
3 against 4 ¥igure 5. Graphical depktion of pofyrhythmic tension such as in the Herbie Hancock solo or in the JMRI experiment discussed. The model shotvs the proffession over time in the tension between the main and the counter meter. Interestin^, thepo^rhythmic event usualfy ispreceded ^ an establishingphase, in which the final nature of the poljrhythmic event is more or less undetermined and followed by a finishing phase, in which the tension is resolved. These surrounding phases constitute the intermediate positions between the counter meter and the main meter.
According to this point of view, musical narration is directly linked to the motion Over time between opposites, which is highly compatible with the predominant music-theoretical viewpoint of music as being built upon basic oppositions such as tonic/dominant, strong and weak beats, inside and outside notes (Levine 1996, Netdes 1987a) etc. At the higher level of the musical form, the Opposition between the main meter and the counter meter, constituting polyrhythm, creates the basis for the communicative progression in the interplay between musicians in modern ja2z.6 This communication is related to the interplay between local auditive events and a deeper structural layer, partiy inherent in the music as such, partiy provided by mental structures in the listeners induced by the music (Palmer and Krumhansl 1990). Studying these
6 For further exploration of the musicological aspect of communication through polyrhythms in jazz, see Vuust (2000). USTENUP'POLYRHYTHMSINBRAINANDMUSiC | 149 mental structures, with modern imaging techniques is therefore a possible way to gain a more detailed understanding of the neural processing of musical communication. The question that we shall try to pursue in the following is whether the neural Foundation of musical communication through polyrhythms is compara- ble to other forms of human communication — as, for example, through language. In general, the literature of the past 5—10 years converges on an understand- ing of music and language as sharing some neuronal resources. Similarities between the processing of rhythm and of language have been investigated in several studies (Peretz & Hyde 2003, Brown 2001, Koelsch et al. 2002, Koelsch et al. 2004). When studying similarities and differences between the processing of music and language, it is important to specify the level of analysis (Besson et al. 2001). One of the most prominent differences between rhythm in music and language is the temporal periodicity in music that is not found in language (Patel 2006). The individual rhythmic phrases in music subordinate to the periodicity of the meter (Palmer & Krumhansl 1990). However, grouping of phrases occurs in both music and language, and at a more abstract level, musical rhythm has a Syntax that can be seen as analogous to language (Lerdahl et al. 1999). Certainly, musical rhythm/meter establishes predictive pattems that are similar to those of language (Temperley 2004). Recenty, using the nPVI (normalized pairwise variability index), it has been shown that the rhythmic variability in music firom a certain country is associated with the rhythmic variability of its language (Patel, Iversen & Rosenberg 2006, Patel & Daniele 2003). In the present study we go beyond the structural comparison between music and language, and focus on the communicational fiinction that language has, and that music can have in certain improvisational styles of music (such as jazz.)
In the musical analyses above we identified two different polyrhythmic devices, RS and MD, that establish clear communicational events in the musical narrative structure with disünguishable functions, as exemplified by the analysis of the Hancock solo. MD is mainly a phatic event that establishes a channel for communication, whereas RS establishes the fundamental narrative element of the Hancock solo. To musicians playing jazz, the attention-catching MD events resemble the "cocktail-party" event of somebody saying your name while you are listening to somebody eise. This has been observed in experimental settings 150 I P.VUUST&A.ROEPSTORFF
in the so-called mismatch negarivity studies. The mismatch negativity (MMN) is a pre-attentive neural marker of change in some aspect of an auditory sequence (Naatanen 1992) diat originales in the auditoiy cortex. If music and language partially overlap in the brain, we would expect MDs to be processed at the level of the auditory cortex and to be iateralized to the left hemisphere by competent listeners, as is the case for such language events (Naatanen et al. 1997). The regrouping of subdivisions (RS), on the other hand, are the main communica- tive Clements in the solos as they evolve over a time. If paralleled with language processing, we would therefore expect them to recruit inferior frontal areas known to be involved in structural parsing of temporal coherence (Gelfand & Bookheimer 2003), and, further, that the more they are treated as language, the more they are processed in the left hemisphere. We examined this question in a series of brain experiments on polyrhythmic structures, of which two are of particular interest to the present paper. In order to study the pharic function of metrical displacement (MD), we used magne- toencephalography (MEG). This method has a high temporal resolution, making it appropriate for studying metrical displacement occurring at a specific point in time. In order to study the tension-creating aspect of RS, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a method with a high spatial resolution and a sufficient temporal resolution (~ 1 s) to study the tension created by RS, which typically evolve over öme (in the present study 6 s).
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging study of musicians' neural response to intensive polyrhythm We scanned 18 professional jazz/rock musicians while tapping to the main meter, Hstening to Sting's "The Lazarus Heart" containing three measures of main meter foUowed by three measures of counter meter. In musical terms, the underlying polyrhythm induced by the counter meter is known as 4 against 3, implymg that three measures is sufficient and necessary for the downbeats of the two meters to coincide (for details regarding the experimental procedures see Vuust et al. (2006)). We found that polyrhythms (RS) activated Brodmann area 47 bilaterally, when musicians tapped the main pulse in a polymetric context in which the music emphasized a counter pulse. Keeping the rhythm while listening to music is fundamental to experiencing musical tension in different layers of the musical structure such that the music appears as a coherent, meaningful expression. BA47 was formerly associated primarily with USTENUPIPOLYRHYTHMSINBRAINANDMUSIC | 151 language and has consistently been implicated in studies of semantic processing (I^vitin & Menon 2003, Bookheimer 2002). The activation of BA47 in die right hemisphere correlated negatively with the metrical competence of the subjects as measured by dieir tapping Standard deviarion while keeping the rhythm during the counter meter. In contrast the difference between the left and right hemispheric response correlated positively (although non-significandy) with metrical competence. This supports our earlier observations using MEG, demonstrating competence-related left lateralized brain responses in the auditory cortices to metric deviation (hereby MD). It extends this finding of competence-dependent left lateralization of rhythm/meter of pre-attentive processing in the auditory cortex to higher processing, both in musical and in neurological terms, in the inferior frontal sulcus. Polyrhythms are by nature bistable phenomena for which perception is dependent on anücipatory structures provided by the meter. Hence, for competent listeners, the experience of a certain polyrhythmic event can be modulated (top-down) by changing perception of the anücipatory structure (the meter), which alters the Interpretation of the music dramatically. This makes polyrhythm an excellent substrate for studying more general aspects of brain processing in order to test recent theories of how the brain works, such as e.g. the promising model of brain ftinction that was proposed by Friston (2005) where predictive coding is seen as the central principle of brain function (see Vuust, Ostergaard, Pallesen, Bailey & Roepstorff 2008, Vuust, Roepstorff, Wallentin, Mouridsen & Ostergaard 2006, for a more general discussion of this point). Taken together, these studies süßest that processes fundamental to human communication may subserve processing of both music and language. Furthermore, they link the competence of musicians and brain processing of polyrhythm to the language hemisphere.
Implications Our musical analyses demonstrated that from a perspective of Roman Jakobson's model of communication, musical material in the online communi- cational practices in ja2z can evoke the same functions found in verbal language. Particularly, musical phrases in jazz may have other functions than the poetic function, commonly ascribed to works of art (Waugh 2006). The main difference between language and music appears to be that in music, the referential function mainly employs other musical material (auto-referential), 152 I P.VUUST&A.ROEPSTORF
whereas language - through the nature of the lingiiistic sign - more explicitly also involves strong extemal references. It should here be noted that there are more recently developed dieories of praginadc funcüon (e.g. Sperber & Wilson 1986), and Frameworks specifically developed for the analysis of ongoing discourse diat might be expected to yield informative insights about improvisa- tional interactions in jazz (such as e.g. Clark 1996). The specific analysis of the Herbie Hancock solo on "All of You" demon- strated how the musical tension created by polyrhythm can be used as the central dement in the communicational exchanges between musicians in jazz improvisadon and become the central dement in the narrative structuring of a jazz solo. We singled out two types of polyrhythm in this solo, MD and RS, each exemplifying two crucial aspects of polyrhythms in the communication between the involved musicians: MD with a clear phatic function in opeiung and maintaining Channels for communication, and RS, used in the narrative structuring of the solo for creating intense epochs of rhythmic tension. To study brain responses associated with these different aspects of polyrhythmic communication, we created an MEG paradigm to study metric displacement (MD) as a Channel opener, and a functional Resonance Imaging (fMRl) paradigm to study the rhythmic tension created by RS. In combination with our musical analysis, the results from our experiments süßest that under certain circumstances, processing of rhythm and language may involve similar neuronal sources, especially in rhythmically competent individuals. Using MEG, we showed left lateralized pre-attentive processing of MD in the auditory cortices of highly competent jazz musicians similar to competence-related left-lateralized processing of phonemes and Morse code. Using fMRI we showed involvement of semantic language areas in the inferior frontal gyrus (BA47) in musicians experiencing polyrhythmic structures, a process fundamental to an experience of musical tension between different layers of the musical structure and crucial for music to appear as a coherent, meaningful expression.
The metric tension in the fMRI study created a strongly bistable figure/ground percept. The motion between degrees of bi-stability in different musical Parameters determines the musical narrative progression as modelled by the semantic Square (see above). In keeping with modern theories of language (Talmy 2000) as well as music theory in general, such figure/ground relations, which create tension and relief, are primary ways in which language and music USTENUPIPOLYRfmHMSINBRAINANOMUSIC | 153 convey meaning. According to Talmy, language establishes one concept (the ground) as a reference point for another (the figure). The figure is the focus of attention and therefore this process must include attentional cognitive resources necessary for construction of meaning. The anchoring of the figure to the ground is a main dement in what Talmy refers to as the semanrics of grammar, which determines the structure of a cognitive representation as opposed to the lexical meaning that constitutes the majority of its content. Thus, the present finding of activadon of BA47 in relation to the auditory figure/ground percept created by polyrhythm points to an overlap between neural substrates for processing certain aspects of language and music (see Figure 6). Hence, similar cognitive processes and strategies may serve music, language and possibly other forms of human communication.
tapM/C versus tapM/M BA40 BA47
Prosody in language Semantics in language Irony
Attention In studles of Temporal bistable perception cohesion in music (Levitin & Menon, 2003) Music: Contour Polyrhythm
CountofM«1«f lO 12 3 412 3412 3 41234 ü M«lnM«lef(M) 1234 1234 1234 120 bpm 50' 0 tr»' H Figure 6. Effect of keeping the rt^thm in a polyrtythmic context (random effects SPM-anafysis, p < 0.05, FEW-corrected, smoothing 12 mm, 18 musicians). Bottom: The pofyrtythm (4 against 3) underlying the pofyriythmic pari of the stimulus. This pofyrhythm creates an auditive correlate to Visual Figure/ Ground perception as it can he heardfrom the point of view of two different metric backgrounds creating very different perceptions of the music, even though the auätive input is the same (adopted from Vuustetal. 2006).
When perfonning controUed brain experiments on musical material, it is necessary to restrict oneself to very simple musical Stimuli. Therefore, the musical analyses focussed on only two polyrhythmic devices, used for 154 I P.VUUST&A.ROEPSTORFF
communication in a particular piece of music by this particular group of musicians in this particular musical genre. However, the music of the Miles Davis quintet is regarded by jazz historians (e.g. lan Clark) as being representa- tive of modern jazz as a whole, and the interaction between the musicians and the analogy to Jakobson's communicational model shown in this particular piece of music could be replicated for most other artists in this genre. Moreover, the two kinds of polyrhythm used in the two experiments are clearly utilized by jazz musicians as a means of communication, as the analyses show. Therefore, the experiments lead to valuable information on how rhythmic communicational Stimuli are processed in musicians with profound competence in playing jazz. So even though the acoustic features of music are very different from those of language, the pragmatic aspect of the musical conversation propagated through polyrhythms may be an ideal setting to look for overlap between neuronal processing of music and language. We may speculate that the processing of communicational relevant features is similar to music and language in certain contexts and that music in these instances constitute a language to musicians. It is obviously necessary to be cautious when drawing these kinds of conclu- sions from brain imaging experiments. To infer from neuronal co-localization of processing of linguistic and musical Stimuli that the brain performs "language-like" computations on musical structures is not conclusive. However, a ränge of other studies have recently made similar findings in very different paradigms. Koelsch and coUeagues have in a number of papers (Koelsch et al. 2001, Koelsch, Schmidt & Kansok 2002, Maess, Koelsch, Gunter & Friederici 2001, Koelsch, Gunter, Friederici & Schroger 2000, Koelsch & Siebel 2005) suggested an association between language syntax processing and musical Syntax processing. One argument against paralleling language and music processing is that in language, syntax relies on abstract computation between units (words) that at a sensory level are very similar and involve only weak acoustical deviance (Bigand, Tilimann & Poulin-Charronnat 2006). In music, in contrast, the units are much more direcdy rooted in the psychoacoustic properties of sound. Hence, it is argued by Bigand and colleagues, it is difficult in the case of music to discern the neuronal effects of the acoustic deviance from the syntactical processing. However, Magne et al. have recendy found similar brain responses to prosody in language and to pitch deviations in music, fields where the defining acoustical properties are comparable (2003). Second, even if the brain USTENUPfPOLYRHYTHMSINBRAINANDMUSIC | 155 areas involved in certain music and linguisüc tasks shouJd happen to be the same, as measured by fMRI, there is no guarantee that the actual computarions taking place are identical, as we have in this experiment no available evidence of the specific integration of brain modules involved in the task (see also Fristen 2002). However, the fact that music analysis reveals a relationship at the communi- cational level between music and language under certain conditions, and that 'classical' language areas have proven active in those conditions, suggests that manipulating the communicational level of subjects, task, and Stimuli, and comparable linguistic settings potentially could add a valuable dimension in the study of the relationship and possible overlap between language and music processing.
Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank the co-workers on the experimental part of this paper Mikkel Wallentin and Kim Mouridsen, as well as Eckart Altenmüller, MireiUe Besson and Chris Frith for invaluable comments regarding the design, data and/or papers, Henriette, Frederik and Mikkel Vuust and the Danish National Research Foundation.
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