special feature III for India Music Week (N.Y.): Music, Sound & Language (part 1 and 2)

Website: http://www.imcradio.net/indiamusicweek | @ Facebook page

special feature III for the India Music Week (New YorK): MUSIC, SOUND & LANGUAGE
part 1: Structure of Music & Language | part 2: Interaction – Music & Communication

Busto di Pitagora. Copia romana di originale greco. Musei Capitolini, Roma. (Source: Wikipedia (ENG))

The relationship between music and language, between sounds and the spoken word or vocals is a very special one. The grammarians of Sanskrit, the ancient Indian science language regard music and language as divergent aspects of one and the same phenomena.

With Indian classial music (Hindustani, Carnatic) there is a multiplicity in common under the topic to “music and language “, which is the bases of the occidental harmonics, dated back to the founder of the mathematical analysis of music by Pythagoras of Samos who had evidenced empirically the harmonic intervals – approximately written before 500 B.C. .

Music seems to be reflected far less vaguely in us than it had been granted so far. Rather our perceptions of sounds are defined very exactly by outlined possibilities and borders. The audiomental system has greater importance than one had assumed recently.

special dates of broadcasting (for part 1 and 2)…

13th October 2013 – 07:00-08:00 am EST (01:00-03:00 p.m. CET) @ radio multicult.fm (DE/Berlin)
10th October 2013 – 05:00-06:58 pm EST (11:00 pm-00:58 am CET) @ TIDE Radio (DE/Hamburg broadcasted
9th October 2013 – 06:00-08:00 am EST (01:00 pm-03:00 pm CET) @  Radio RaSA (CH) broadcasted
broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast

As shown by recent studies the perception of music and ‘music making’ incorporate nearby almost all regions of the brain. The widespread acceptance that music is processed in the right brain hemisphere and language in the left had completely been wrong. The current research shows that language and music are assimilated almost identically. The profound emotional content of music, from felicity to sadness affects particularly stimulating our brain and also produces frequently physically intensively perceptible reactions to the listener.

Music settles visibly in our life, in brain activities which are measurable nowadays and made vividly visible with modern medical imaging techniques e.g. (functional) magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) or Magnetoencephalography (MEG), see picture below.

In part 1 of IMC – India meets Classic’s special feature “Music, Sound & Language” is presented the structure of music & language. The  following part 2 will bring light up the social psychological meaning of music for individual and community interaction processes influenced by the nature of music as communication form.

Stefan Koelsch: Nature Neuroscience 7(3), 2004: Music, Language and Meaning: Brain Signatures of Semantic Processing

short paper (pdf: German | English)

Note: IMC OnAir’s radio show “music and language” in two parts (2x 58 min.) represents a fundamental introduction regarding the multiplicity of sciences involved (music ethnology,  anthropology, language and social sciences, neuro sciences, psychology, computer sciences (artificial intelligence) among others).

Type in Ten Indian Languages

A software, developed by Israel-based FTK Technologies, lets you type in ten Indian languages —Hindi, Bangla, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi and Urdu. The software uses a virtual keyboard that maps over your computer keyboard to be used like a regular keyboard or on screen with the help of a mouse.

The software comes in two variants. The advanced version, LooKeys Pro, uses a special webcam that determines what you are typing, representing essentially another method of input. LooKeys is compatible with MS Word and web browsers like Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. It can even be used with instant messengers like MSN Messenger and Gtalk.

As the LooKeys window opens, you can type a document in the language of your choice. The document can then be saved either as a Word document or copied and sent as an email.

To further the use of its vernacular options, the LooKeys window also has links to various dictionary sites and sites that provide vocal translations for those of us who may be unsure of pronunciation. Here you can also find links to Facebook, YouTube, AOL Mail, Gmail, Google, Orkut and Myspace. In short, your can modify you entire Internet experience to the language or your choice.

LooKeys, however, may take some getting used to. It is like learning to type all over again. But its comprehensive coverage of the languages it supports means you’ll also end up brushing up your grammar and spellings.

(Source: 11/24/2008 – HindiLearner.com)