scholarly journals The deconstruction of Byzantine mode-organization and the new Chrysanthine ‘order’

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Plemmenos

This paper was written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the publication of musical treatise by Archbishop Chrysanthos of Madytos (c.1770-1846), the first work towards a ‘scientific’ treatment of Greek ecclesiastical music (1821)[1]. Chrysanthos attempted to reorganize the modal and rhythmic theory of this music, and reform the musical notation that has remained to this day. The paper deals with an aspect of Chrysanthine modal system that has not received due attention so far: the abandonment of the traditional authentic-plagal order and its substitution by a new one that does not make sense if placed outside its cultural context and historical antecedents. Chrysanthos’ main point of reference seems to be the Ottoman makam system that had already penetrated post-Byzantine chant but was now given a new momentum[2]. Before that, Greek composers used the Byzantine modal division into four authentic (kurioi) and four plagal (plagioi), positioned a fifth apart from each other. The authentic modes were mostly ascending in terms of melodic movement, whereas the plagal were descending (though one has first to ascend in order to get down!). Otherwise, every authentic-plagal pair shared the same melodic scale (usually an octave), which they traversed according to certain melodic motifs (some common to all, others unique to every mode).[1] Chrysanthos, Εισαγωγή εις το θεωρητικόν και πρακτικόν της Εκκλησιαστικής Μουσικής / συνταχθείσα προς χρήσιν των σπουδαζόντων αυτήν κατά την νέαν μέθοδον παρά Χρυσάνθου του εκ Μαδύτων, Διδασκάλου του Θεωρητικού της Μουσικής (Paris: Rigny, 1821).[2] In this paper, the Turkish terms have been rendered into their original script except for makam (mode) and usul (rhythm), the Anglicized plural form of which (makams and usuls) has been preferred instead of the longer makamler and usuler. The Greek names have been transliterated into Latin according to British Standard for transliteration of Cyrillic and Greek characters (BS), 1958.

Author(s):  
Armand D’Angour

This chapter outlines the evidence for musical history in ancient Greece, connecting it to philosophical approaches represented by Plato and others, as well as to recently elucidated documents with Ancient Greek musical notation. Ideas of ethos and mimesis are related to what may be known about the sounds of ancient Greek music as elicited from descriptions, surviving scores, and replicas of instruments such as the aulos (double pipe). The chapter seeks to elucidate the notion of mousikē (‘music’, as derived from the name of Greek divinities Mousai, the Muses) in its cultural context, and to connect elements of ancient musical traditions such as metre and harmonics to contemporary aural and musical realities.


2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meagan E. Curtis ◽  
Jamshed J. Bharucha

WE EXPLORED HOW MUSICAL CULTURE SHAPES ONE'S listening experience.Western participants heard a series of tones drawn from either the Western major mode (culturally familiar) or the Indian thaat Bhairav (culturally unfamiliar) and then heard a test tone. They made a speeded judgment about whether the test tone was present in the prior series of tones. Interactions between mode (Western or Indian) and test tone type (congruous or incongruous) reflect the utilization of Western modal knowledge to make judgments about the test tones. False alarm rates were higher for test tones congruent with the major mode than for test tones congruent with Bhairav. In contrast, false alarm rates were lower for test tones incongruent with the major mode than for test tones incongruent with Bhairav. These findings suggest that one's internalized cultural knowledge may drive musical expectancies when listening to music of an unfamiliar modal system.


2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuma Himonga

AbstractThe article examines the realization of the right to health through the African concept of ubuntu. It attempts to show that ubuntu plays or ought to play a significant role in the realization of the right to health. This argument is advanced by identifying the attributes of ubuntu relevant to the implementation of the right to health and then applying these attributes to practical scenarios to operationalize the right to health. South Africa is used as a special point of reference because of the jurisprudence on ubuntu that has emerged there since 1994.


Author(s):  
Banu Şenay

As much as crafting a desired ney tone is paramount to good playing, a high premium is also placed on the competence of the player to bring pitches into intimate relationships with each other that are appealing to the ear. Given that Ottoman art music is always set in a modal system (makam), the novice must learn how to render the pitches effectively while satisfying the musical and emotional expectations of the makam in question. This chapter examines the aural perceptual modifications that one goes through so as to cultivate this capacity, a topic that engages with broader questions around the use of musical notation, as well as with discretion, intuition, and individuality in performance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 150-159
Author(s):  
I. E. Koznova

On World Philosophy Day, November 15, 2018, the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences organized the international conference on the Russian classic writer I.S. Turgenev (“Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev: A Philosophical Writer and Political Philosopher. On the 200th Anniversary of the Birth”). During the plenary and two breakout sessions, speeches were given by philosophers, cultural researchers, historians ofRussia,USA,Germany,Austria. The conference’s attitude to the consideration of the multifaceted heritage of the great Russian writer made it possible to highlight in the modern historical and cultural context many aspects of Turgenev’s work, to rethink stereotypes existing among researchers and in the mass consciousness regarding Turgenev. At the conference, Turgenev was presented as a political thinker, a liberal who embodied spiritual asceticism, a supporter of the dialogue of cultures, a “Russian European” who does not accept “new barbarism” in all its manifestations from radicalism to Russian exclusivity idea. In the reports and speeches, attention was drawn to the cultural bilingualism inherent in Turgenev, his ability of non-biased artistic and philosophical observation, which enabled him to analyze the then state of minds in Russian society, to foresee many collisions inherent in the national historical process in the 20th – early 21st centuries and world cultural trends engendered by the “uprising of the masses,” to anticipate the drama of the absurd. At the conference, among the discussed topics were the themes of nihilism and loneliness, viewed through the prism of the existential experience of the writer and world literary characters.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lifshitz ◽  
T. M. Luhrmann

Abstract Culture shapes our basic sensory experience of the world. This is particularly striking in the study of religion and psychosis, where we and others have shown that cultural context determines both the structure and content of hallucination-like events. The cultural shaping of hallucinations may provide a rich case-study for linking cultural learning with emerging prediction-based models of perception.


2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katariina Salmela-Aro ◽  
Ingrid Schoon

A series of six papers on “Youth Development in Europe: Transitions and Identities” has now been published in the European Psychologist throughout 2008 and 2009. The papers aim to make a conceptual contribution to the increasingly important area of productive youth development by focusing on variations and changes in the transition to adulthood and emerging identities. The papers address different aspects of an integrative framework for the study of reciprocal multiple person-environment interactions shaping the pathways to adulthood in the contexts of the family, the school, and social relationships with peers and significant others. Interactions between these key players are shaped by their embeddedness in varied neighborhoods and communities, institutional regulations, and social policies, which in turn are influenced by the wider sociohistorical and cultural context. Young people are active agents, and their development is shaped through reciprocal interactions with these contexts; thus, the developing individual both influences and is influenced by those contexts. Relationship quality and engagement in interactions appears to be a fruitful avenue for a better understanding of how young people adjust to and tackle development to productive adulthood.


2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chongzeng Bi ◽  
Oscar Ybarra ◽  
Yufang Zhao

Recent research investigating self-judgment has shown that people are more likely to base their evaluations of self on agency-related traits than communion-related traits. In the present research, we tested the hypothesis that agency-related traits dominate self-evaluation by expanding the purview of the fundamental dimensions to consider characteristics typically studied in the gender-role literature, but that nevertheless should be related to agency and communion. Further, we carried out these tests on two samples from China, a cultural context that, relative to many Western countries, emphasizes the interpersonal or communion dimension. Despite the differences in traits used and cultural samples studied, the findings generally supported the agency dominates self-esteem perspective, albeit with some additional findings in Study 2. The findings are discussed with regard to the influence of social norms and the types of inferences people are able to draw about themselves given such norms.


1982 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 375-376
Author(s):  
Victor L. Brown
Keyword(s):  

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