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Joshua Banks Mailman is a music theorist, as well an analyst, composer, improvisor, philosopher, critic, and technologist of music.

Early Life and Education

Joshua Banks Mailman was born in New York City and attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of the Arts. He gained a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Chicago and a Ph. D. in Music Theory from the Eastman School of Music of University of Rochester. Among his teachers were Charles Rosen, Ted Cohen, Richard Cohn, and Robert Morris (composer).

Teaching and Career

Mailman has taught predominantly at Columbia University, as well as at New York University, University of Alabama, and University of California, Santa Barbara. He has lectured at the Japan Society (NYC), the Society for Music Analysis (UK), IRCAM (Paris), and Symposium (SIMPOM) of Brazilian Studies in Music (Rio de Janeiro).

Research and Writing

His writings, published in numerous scholarly journals and books, contribute to several areas of music theory, analysis, and technology, spanning such topics as narrativity, phenomenology, metaphor, form as process and dynamic form, cybernetics, music visualization, and range over repertoires from Schoenberg, Carter, and Babbitt, to Ligeti, Lucier., Grisey, and Saariaho.


Analysis of Schoenberg’s compositions

Mailman is among the recent generation of music theorists who have ventured more systematic analyses of Arnold Schoenberg’s free atonal period, through the perspective of ‘transformation theory’’ [1]. In particular, Mailman’s analysis of the fourth piece, ‘’die blasse Wascherin’’, from Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire Op. 21, engages a modernist aesthetic perspective, but by analyzing phrase-like entities and thereby overcoming the ‘Martian’-like approach that sometimes typifies pc-set analysis [2]. This is done by identifying associational (pitch contour or other contextual features) that bring out contrasts or kinships between consecutive or non-consecutive phrase-like segments. [3] For instance Mailman’s analysis of Schoenberg’s piano piece, Op. 11, No. 2 singles out an arch contour, recurring through the opening section, focusing on the chords that occur at the registral peak of these arches, he shows how they create a conflict that resolves. [4] To do this, Mailman examines mutually exclusive aspects of their interval content, uses Klumpenhouwer networks to demonstrate a pattern in relation to these peaks, and analyzes the melodic contour activity “in terms of David Lewin’s Binary State GIS (generalized interval system), explaining this binary state GIS as essentially a vector of on/off switches that applied to each motivic cell can either reverse (make opposite, flip, invert) the current state of something (with a digit 1) or leave the state of something as is (with a digit 0)”. [5].


Dynamism, Process, and Emergence in Music “Theorist Joshua Mailman has written prodigiously of… dynamic form in Western Music…[arguing] that musical form should be interpreted as dynamic or as the ‘retrospective contour of the flux of intensity of qualities, [challenging] of-held views of musical form as architectonic or structural.” [6] Several writers have noted the indebtedness of their work to this idea [7] [8] [9]. Mailman’s work on dynamic form in music focuses on “emergent properties in dynamic processes” [10], for instance ‘’temporal density’’ (‘’interonset density’’) as a generator of phenomenologically emergent properties [11].


Mailman has examined “flux and flow in music by [Elliott] Carter and [Luciano] Berio, [modeling these] on multi-layered graphs showing the curve of various musical features” with the graphs aligned to indicate visually “the degree of coordination of flux among these salient musical elements, [with] a high degree of coordination [being] said to contribute to a more assertive (rather than furtive) projection of form, one that is more easily apprehended in time. Yet Berio’s ‘’Points on the Curve to Find ‘’was shown [by Mailman] to assertively project form through a completely different unconventional flux that did not depend on such coordination.” [12] Other emergent properties Mailman identifies as generators of dynamic form include ‘’echo rate’’ and ‘’pitch freshness’’ [13][14].

More generally Mailman’s “broad-reaching meditation on ‘dynamism’ in relation to musical form [… includes…] a working definition of ‘’dynamism theory’’ as an analysis that ‘asserts motion, change, process, or energy (potential motion, change, or process) as existing in the course of a piece or a performance, as it elapses’” [15]


Narrative and Narrativity in Complexity (Carter) and Minimalism (Lucier)


Listening and Metaphor


Cybernetics, Phenomenology, and Emergence

Mailman’s sprawling expedition into cybernetic phenomenology of music engages Speculative Realism, exemplifying that “the experience, and indeed the very constitution of the world does not necessarily have to refer to linguistic mediation.” [16]. It may reference the real but nevertheless diverge from it, constituting “[m]ixed realities…resulting in new narrative opportunities through artistic practice” [17] As music is enacted in time (showing rather than telling), its most important properties are not basic, instantaneous, or immediate; rather “this enactment occurs through ‘emergent properties’ that arise out the combinations of the fundamental elements of music (such as pitch, timbre, and duration) into holistic musical features,” [18] Mailman explains how these “emergent properties” can arise through bodily motion (using conventional instruments or ‘’comprovisational’’ technology). “Mailman suggest that, when we conceive of musical properties in terms of physical reference, musical listening can, in turn, present new notions of bodily experience.” Mailman argues that as such properties emerge they can give rise to noticeable processes. [19]

Mailman uses the rules of the game of Go to generate brief snippets of music and discusses the ‘’emergent properties’’ that arise only indirectly from these rules, but which can be heard in the snippets. As Tim Summers explains it: “Under Mailman’s mode of listening, music in its sounding is also a form of world-building—we perceive not only the musical material in front of us, but also that there are sets of parameters, rules, and procedures that give rise to this music. Much like game theorist Jesper Juul’s conception of learning a game’s rules through its fictions, Mailman suggest that the ‘rules’ that underpin the worlds of musical pieces are implied by the sounded material. These rules/processes can be established, subverted, fulfilled, and so on. The music plays out within these frames and processes… Mailman’s ‘properties’ within ‘rules’….imply that we are hearing only one musical articulation within broader spaces of possibilities—the music we hear has the potential to be otherwise” [20]

Mailman does not just propose these ‘’emergent properties’’ as ineffable, but rather as explicable through analysis (which in some cases enables them to be synthesized or emulated technologically—through custom-designed algorithms). Yet this explication has to be prompted by phenomenology of listening leading into a feedback loop involving some technical analytical procedures or algorithm, whose output is monitored and which is adjusted in response to that monitoring. As Benjamin Hansberry explains it: “Mailman describes this analytical methodology [cybernetic phenomenology] as involving ‘computational analytic procedures prompted by [one’s] hearing, procedures whose output in turn enhanced [one’s] experience as a a listener…Mailman…foregrounds the creative potential of such a methodology as part of the performative turn in music analysis.” [21] As Hansberry describes it, this process has three stages: (1) The analyst translates their phenomenal experience into formal terms. (2) The formal terms are worked out systematically. (3) The results are “re-translated” back into phenomenal experience—except that in Mailman’s cybernetic phenomenology these stages occur in a loop, where stage 3 feeds back into another iteration of stage 1. “The notion of this cybernetic phenomenology as an underlying analytical practice is a common theme in Mailman’s work.” [22]


Comprovisation, Embodiment, Interactive music and Visualization algorithms (improvised synesthesia)

Regarding the term ‘’comprovisation’’, Mailman’s use of this term clearly shows that improvised and composed music are so interwoven with each other down to even their presuppositions, that only the label assigned to them allows one to, arbitrarily, distinguish them.[23]

Mailman’s work on comprovisation, embodiment, and interactive music involves developing and using custom-built technologies, using wireless hardware sensors to control meta-parameters of algorithms, where these meta-paramater correlate to emergent properties[24] “Mailman …rightly critiques what he sees as a ‘universalizing impetus’ of embodied cognition that insists on a ‘natural’ relationship between musical sounds and their embodiment, suggesting instead an approach that highlights music’s artifact and allows for the expansion and extension of how music is embodied.”[25] Therefore rather than trying to manipulate typical musical properties, “Mailman advocates listening to and analyzing music in order to discover alternative musical parameters to manipulate via body movements. These alternative elements can then become embodied in a new way through associative learning while using the IMS [Interactive Music System]. Some of the the musical features Mailman demonstrates include rhythmic sparseness, viscosity of texture, and harmonic space. He pairs these features with types of body motions, such as pressing the hands closer together or further apart[26]Caitlin Trevor calls this a “more enriching and creative way to build IMS” and “an inverting, boundary-pushing new perspective on the subject.”[27]

In terms of technology, Mailman has developed the audio component of these systems using ports of Real-time Cmix (RTcmix) for iOS as well as Max/MSP. For instance, in his iOS implementations, features such as attack density, timbre (low-pass filter), or pitch-collection can be manipulated through sliders or tilting the phone.[28]

At the same time, Mailman’s IMSs also involve a visual component, live computer graphics animation, steered by the same body controlled sensors as steer the audio components. As David Wright remarks: “Visualization of music… serve[s] as the basis for experimental work in live digital visuals…[Mailman’s Montreal Comprovisation No. 1] provides an excellent example.”[29]

Visualization and Spectralism (Grisey and Saariaho)

As with his analyses of Carter’s music, Mailman’s approach to Spectral music reconsiders how to present musical formal procedures as they unfold in time, especially with regard to rhythm and texture. [30] His analysis of Gerard Grisey’s Vortex Temporum’’’’ and Kaija Saariaho’s Lichtbogen’’’’ employ his own custom-designed computer graphics animations to analyze texture and temporal processes. [31]



Babbitt (and Portmantonality)


Artistic and Technological Activities

Notable performances include his audio-visual electro acoustic improvisational trio Material Soundscapes Collide (with Arthur Kampela and Rhonda Taylor) at the New York Philharmonic Biennial in 2016, John Cage’s Ryoanji at the Miller Theatre, NYC, in 2015, and the solo audio-visual work/performance Montreal Comprovisation No. 1 at Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice (ICASP) at McGill University in 2012. His audio and audio visual works are presented in Enough Records’ 100 Years of Noise, SoundsRite, and and The Open Space Web Magazine. Mailman’s music has also been performed by Thomas Piercy.

Media Appearances

Mailman has appeared in Robert Hilferty’s documentary film Babbitt: Portrait of a Serial Composer and on TV in The ABC’s News Nightline segment “Why Some Songs Make us Sad” where he likened the bluesy, minor-key pitches in Pharrell Williams’s song ‘’Happy’’ to the appeal of salted caramel.

Family

Joshua Banks Mailman is the son of immigration lawyer and writer Stanley Mailman, second cousin of feminist painter Cynthia Mailman and of film producer Fran Rubel Kuzui, and second cousin-in-law of Nobel prize winning nuclear physicist Melvin Schwartz.

Selected publications

External Links

References

  1. ^ Gallope, Michael (2017). Deep Refrains: Music Philosophy and the Ineffable. University of Chicago Press. pp. 144, 287. ISBN 9780226483696.
  2. ^ Whittall, Arnold (2016). "Metaphysical Materials: Schoenberg in Our Time". Music Analysis. 35 (3): 387–88, 402. doi:10.1111/musa.12075.
  3. ^ Yu, Yi-Cheng Daniel (2017). "Ruth Crawford's String Quartet, Mvt. 3: An Analysis of Dynamic Counterpoint, Contour Similarity, and Musical Form". Intersections Canadian Journal of Music. 37 (2): 131. doi:10.7202/1066621ar.
  4. ^ Boss, Jack (2019). Schoenberg's Atonal Music. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108296991. ISBN 9781108296991.
  5. ^ Auerbach, Brent (2021). Musical Motives: A Theory and Method for Analyzing Shape in Music. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780197526026.001.0001. ISBN 9780197526026.
  6. ^ Lee, Katherine In Young (2016). Dynamic Korea and Rhythmic Form. Wesleyen University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0819577054.
  7. ^ Morris, Robert. "Notation is One Thing, Analysis Another, Musical Experience a Third: What Can They Have To Do With One Another?". In Clark, Suzannah; Rehding, Alexander (eds.). Music In Time - Phenomenology, Perception, Performance : Essays In Honor of Christopher F. Hasty. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0964031760.
  8. ^ Lee, Katherine In Young (2018). Dynamic Korea and Rhythmic Form. Wesleyen University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0819577054.
  9. ^ Strum, Nicole (2012). Luciano Berio's Sequenza VII: Temporal Multiplicity and Alternative Conceptions of Form (PDF) (Thesis). University of North Carolina, Greensboro.
  10. ^ Hanninen, Dora. A Theory of Music Analysis: On Segmentation and Associative Organization. University of Rochester Press. p. 453. ISBN 1580461948.
  11. ^ Corder, Nathan (2018). Determining Conditions: Towards an Aesthetic of Emergence in Live Electronic Music (Thesis). Mills College.
  12. ^ Klorman, Edward (2014). ""Musical Form: Mapping the Territories": A Conference Report". Music Theory Online. 20 (2).
  13. ^ Reale, Steven (2019). "The Calculus of Finite (Metric) Dissonances". Music Theory Spectrum. 41 (1): 149. doi:10.1093/mts/mty028.
  14. ^ Strum, Nicole (2012). Luciano Berio's Sequenza VII: Temporal Multiplicity and Alternative Conceptions of Form (PDF) (Thesis). University of North Carolina, Greensboro.
  15. ^ Lee, Katherin In Youngyear=2018. Dynamic Korea and Rhythmic Form. Wesleyen University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0819577054.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Stover, Chris; Oliva, Stefano (2020). "Music and Language Revisited". Italian Journal of Philosophy of Language (RIFL – Rivista Italiana di Filosofia del linguaggio). 14 (1). doi:10.4396/20201INTR.
  17. ^ Tiernan, Cross (2018). "Neurological Perception and sound-based creativity in post-biological realities: Recontextualizing reflective practice for technoetic environments". Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research. 16 (1): 23–31. doi:10.1386/tear.16.1.23_1.
  18. ^ Summers, Tim (2021). "Fantasias on a Theme by Walt Disney: Playful Listening and Video". In Cenciarelli, Carlo (ed.). Oxford Handbook of Cinematic Listening. Oxford University press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190853617.013.36. ISBN 9780190853617.
  19. ^ Summers, Tim (2021). "Fantasias on a Theme by Walt Disney: Playful Listening and Video". In Cenciarelli, Carlo (ed.). Oxford Handbook of Cinematic Listening. Oxford University press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190853617.013.36. ISBN 9780190853617.
  20. ^ Summers, Tim (2021). "Fantasias on a Theme by Walt Disney: Playful Listening and Video". In Cenciarelli, Carlo (ed.). Oxford Handbook of Cinematic Listening. Oxford University press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190853617.013.36. ISBN 9780190853617.
  21. ^ Hansberry, Benjamin (2017). Phenomenon and Abstraction: Coordinating Concepts in Music Theory and Analysis (Thesis). Columbia University.
  22. ^ Hansberry, Benjamin (2017). Phenomenon and Abstraction: Coordinating Concepts in Music Theory and Analysis (Thesis). Columbia University. pp. 115–119.
  23. ^ {cite book|last1=Court|first1=Jean-Michel|title=Rencontres du jazz et de la musique contemporaine|last2=Florin|first2=Ludovic|publisher=Presses universitaires du Midi|isbn=2810703744}}
  24. ^ Schutz, M (2017). "Acoustic Constraints and Musical Consequences: Exploring Composers' Use of Cues for Musical Emotion". Frontiers of Psychology. 10. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01402.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  25. ^ {{cite book|last=Kozak|first=Mariusz|title=Enacting Musical Time: The Bodily Experience of New Music|date=2019|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780190080211}|page=111}
  26. ^ Trevor, Caitlin (2021). "Review of Music, Analysis, and the Body: Experiments, Explorations, and Embodiments. Edited by Nicholas Reyland and Rebecca Thumpston". Music Theory Spectrum. 43 (1): 172–180. doi:10.1093/mts/mtaa023.
  27. ^ Trevor, Caitlin (2021). "Review of Music, Analysis, and the Body: Experiments, Explorations, and Embodiments. Edited by Nicholas Reyland and Rebecca Thumpston". Music Theory Spectrum. 43 (1): 172–180. doi:10.1093/mts/mtaa023.
  28. ^ Schutz, M (2017). "Acoustic Constraints and Musical Consequences: Exploring Composers' Use of Cues for Musical Emotion". Frontiers of Psychology. 10. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01402.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  29. ^ Wright, David (2015). The Philosophy of Action in Live Performance Interaction Design: Aligning Flows of Intentionality (PDF) (PhD). University of Pittsburgh. p. 124.
  30. ^ Hutchinson, Mark (2016). Coherence in New Music: Experience, Aesthetics, Analysis. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315572567. ISBN 9781315572567.
  31. ^ Lochhead, Judy (2019). "Coloring the Future: Visualizing Music in the Digital Era". Integral. 33: 83–88.
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