An update is coming. Really.
In the meantime, consider these questions for the first day of Music Psychology class. None of them have just one answer -- they are merely designed to provoke discussion.
1. Aliens land in the university stadium and when the stands are full of students and faculty, the spaceship doors open and three aliens step out. They wave at the crowd, then gesture to someone inside the spaceship. Suddenly, speakers on the side of the ship emit a piercing series of dissonant tone clusters, at an excruciating volume. Everyone in the stadium goes instantly deaf and many suffer brain damage. Everyone is in severe pain.
The aliens merely meant to greet us with their national anthem.
Was it music?
2. Consider a young man who is considered a “savant” – he is mentally retarded and has autism, and can instantly imitate anything you play on the piano. He builds up a repertoire of hundreds of songs and loves to play them, both alone and in front of audiences. He has learned many jazz standards, and can imitate the improvisations of the performers on various recordings.
If he plays with others in a traditional jazz combo setup, the other players must match his tempo; he does not adjust to them. If they begin to play very quietly when he is not, he will imitate them, but he will express displeasure with the change. He learns how to accompany the improvisations of others after someone shows him the chords, but when it comes time for his improvisation, he always plays the one he has memorized – even when told that he can create something for himself.
He likes playing with the combo and likes playing alone.
Is he “musical”? Is he “creative”?
3. A little girl has severe disabilities. She cannot speak and does not demonstrate any other form of communication, other than facial expressions and laughter or crying. She is in a wheelchair and she has almost no voluntary movement. The only thing she can do consistently is tense up her right arm (her right hand is always in a fist), which raises it a little above her wheelchair tray, and then relax it, so the arm returns to rest on the tray.
During a group music therapy session that includes the little girl, the music therapist sings a song with a chorus that repeats 5 times. The final two words of the chorus are accompanied by a V7-I progression. The music therapist has recorded the last word/note of the song on a switch that the little girl can activate – when she raises up her arm, the music therapist slides the switch under it, and when the arm relaxes, it hits the switch and the last note/word sounds.
The music therapist keeps her expression and body language neutral as she sings, but she uses a ritardando as the chorus ends, so the V7 chord hangs in the air as she waits for the little girl to raise her arm. There is a pause as the arm goes up, the switch is slid under, the arm comes down and then – the final note sounds and the music therapist accompanies it with the tonic chord.
The instant the final note sounds, the little girl smiles broadly and starts to laugh.
Is the little girl a musician?
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An update is coming. Really!
