The music instinct: the evolutionary basis of musicality

Why does music pervade our lives and those of all known human beings living today and in the recent past? Why do we feel compelled to engage in musical activity, or at least simply enjoy listening to music even if we choose not to actively participate? I argue that this is because musicality—communication using variations in pitch, rhythm, dynamics and timbre, by a combination of the voice, body (as in dance), and material culture—was essential to the lives of our pre-linguistic hominin ancestors. As a consequence we have inherited a desire to engage with music, even if this has no adaptive benefit for us today as a species whose communication system is dominated by spoken language. In this article I provide a summary of the arguments to support this view.

Space, authenticity and utopia in the hip-hop teen dance film

The dance film flourished in the 2000s in the form of the hip-hop teen dance film. Such films as Save the Last Dance (Thomas Carter, 2001), Honey (Billy Woodruff, 2002) and Step Up (Anne Fletcher, 2006) drew on hip-hop’s dominance of the mainstream music industry and combined the teen film’s pre-existing social problem and musical narratives. Yet various tension were created by their interweaving of representations of post-industrial city youth with the utopian sensibilities of the classical Hollywood musical. Their narratives celebrated hip-hop performance, and depicted dance’s ability to bridge cultural boundaries and bring together couples and communities. These films used hip-hop to define space and identity yet often constructed divisions within their soundscapes, limiting hip-hop’s expressive potential. This article explores the cycle’s celebration of, yet struggle with, hip-hop through examining select films’ interactions between soundscape, narrative and form. It will engage with these films’ attempts to marry the representational, narrative and aesthetic meanings of hip-hop culture with the form and ideologies of the musical genre, particularly the tensions and continuities that arise from their engagement with the genre’s utopian qualities identified by Richard Dyer (1985). Yet whilst these films illustrate the tensions and challenges of combining hip-hop culture and the musical genre, they also demonstrate an effective integration of hip-hop soundscape and the dancing body in their depiction of dance, highlighting both form’s aesthetics of layering, rupture and flow (Rose, 1994: 22).

The Vetlatori Dance: "Little Angels go to Heaven"

This paper discusses the vetlatori dance performed on the occasion of a baptised infant's death in the Valencia region of Spain until about fifty years ago. Analyses of historical sources that emphasise the noble spirituality of the vetlatori dance are shown to be based on romantic views of traditional culture and emotions related to the loss of an infant, rather than on authentic information. Ethnographic and ethnomusicological data are presented to illustrate that the music and dances performed during the vetlatori dance were meant for entertainment rather than for spiritual impact. Recourse is also had to oral sources, particularly interviews carried out in the 1960s and 1980s with former infant wake participants who experienced the vetlatori dance, and who confirmed the popular nature of the music, song, and dances that were performed. Analysis of written sources and of the choreographic and musical characteristics of the dance also shows that the kind of music performed was typical of festive celebration in the Valencia region. Functional outcomes for such wakes are also proposed.

Suite: the tempter. Overture, berceuse, bacchanalian dance, for orchestra.

Mode of access: Internet.

Le streghe : The witches' dance : op. 8 : for violin and orchestra (or piano) /

Orchestral acc. arr. for piano.

Album of piano music by modern Italian composers.

Publisher's no.: 4518, 4516.

Modern trio album. [music] : fifteen special concert arrangements and original compositions for violin, cello and piano /

Elegie and consolation, op. 200, no. 2 / Atherton, Frank P. -- Hungarian dance no. 5 (in G minor) / Brahms, Johannes -- Humoreske : op. 101, no. 7 / Dvor̂ák, Anton ; arr. by Gustav Saenger -- La Cinquantaine / Gabriel-Marie ; special concert arr. by C. Arnold -- Gavotte Louis XIII : Amaryllis / Ghys, H. ; arr. by N. Hansen -- Serenade, from Op. 3 / Herbert, Victor -- Dreams of love = Liebesträume : notturno III / Liszt, Franz ; arr. by R. Klugescheid -- O Belle Nuite, Barcarolle from "Contes d'Hoffmann" / Offenbach, J. ; arr. by Max Woltag -- Celebrated Andante / Reissiger, C. G. -- My heart at thy sweet voice : Cantabile from "Samson and Dalila" / Saint-Saëns, C. ; arr. by R. Klugescheid -- Melodie Mignonne / Sinding, Christian ; arr. by N. Hansen -- Vienna life = Wiener Blut / Strauss, Johann ; special concert arr. by C. Arnold -- Autumn song = Chant d'automne ; Chant sans paroles : op. 40, no. 6 / Tschaikowsky, P. ; arr. by N. Hansen -- Song to the evening star : from "Tannhäuser" / Wagner, Richard ; concert paraphrase by C. Arnold.

The popular piano collection. [music].

Illustrated t.p.

Egyptian dance : op. 41 /

For piano.

The wand of youth : music to a child's play : first suite : op. 1A /

Originally for orchestra.

Danse rituelle du feu = Danza ritual del fuego = Ritual fire dance /

Originally for orchestra.

The American dance band discography 1917-1942 /

Includes index.

A Dance rhapsody.

At head of title: Orchesterwerke.

Country dance tunes.

Mode of access: Internet.