際際滷

際際滷Share a Scribd company logo

Bernstein Meme Handout

Jordan Smith
Jordan Smith

The "Musico-Linguistics" Meme: Recursion and American Academic Inquiry into Musical Meaning since Bernstein in Boston Presentation by Jordan Randall Smith Musician Jordan Smith is a conductor, percussionist, educator, composer, and writer from Dallas, TX currently residing in Baltimore, MD. Learn more at www.jordanrsmith.com This 10-minute presentation was originally given to the Musicology Colloquium for Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) Candidates at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 12.19.2012.

1 of 2
Download to read offline
Smith 7 Figure 1. Sierpinski triangle. (fair use) A graphical variant would be the well-足known Sierpinski triangle (see fig. 1), which can itself be expressed as a mathematical algorithm. All of these examples help to create a working definition that cases of recursion, as Corballis puts it, can take its own output as the next input, a loop that can be extended indefinitely to create sequences or structures of unbounded length or complexity. In practice, of course, we do not get caught up in infinite loops-足life is simply too short for that. For the purposes of this book, then, we shall no be interested so much in the generation of infinite sequences as in a definition that might apply usefully to human thought. A definition that meets this requirement is suggested by Steven Pinker and Ray Jackendoff, who define recursion as a procedure that calls itself, or a constituent that contains a constituent of the same kind.27 27 Steven Pinker and Ray Jackendoff, The faculty of language: whats special about it? Michael C Corballis, The Recursive Mind: The Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011),
Smith 8 Reflexively, in composing this essay, I had originally intended to give the earlier portion of that quote, and skip ahead to make a segue back into the scholarly through-足line of Bernsteins musico-足linguistic meme (via Jackendoff) as there is no need to include the middle portion describing the outlook of the book. However, it occurred to me while writing that this in itself is a perfect example of the latter Pinker/Jackendoff definition: in order to define recursion, a passage from a source is quoted in which: in order to define recursion, a passage from another source is quoted. Further, the previous sentence itself is both a description of recursion and is itself recursive. Lastly, and at the risk of absurdity, it is worth pointing out that the very act of composing this paragraph occurred to me as an exercise in recursion in which I am composing a paragraph in which I discuss the act of writing that very same paragraph. This multivalent form of recursion is a linguistic analog of the famous 2 Hands Drawing by M.C. Escher. However, in order to proceed, the advice of Mr. Corballis must be followed and the essay must now withdraw from the loop in order to proceed. Figure 2. M.C. Escher, Drawing Hands, 1948 (fair use)

More Related Content

Bernstein Meme Handout

  • 1. Smith 7 Figure 1. Sierpinski triangle. (fair use) A graphical variant would be the well-足known Sierpinski triangle (see fig. 1), which can itself be expressed as a mathematical algorithm. All of these examples help to create a working definition that cases of recursion, as Corballis puts it, can take its own output as the next input, a loop that can be extended indefinitely to create sequences or structures of unbounded length or complexity. In practice, of course, we do not get caught up in infinite loops-足life is simply too short for that. For the purposes of this book, then, we shall no be interested so much in the generation of infinite sequences as in a definition that might apply usefully to human thought. A definition that meets this requirement is suggested by Steven Pinker and Ray Jackendoff, who define recursion as a procedure that calls itself, or a constituent that contains a constituent of the same kind.27 27 Steven Pinker and Ray Jackendoff, The faculty of language: whats special about it? Michael C Corballis, The Recursive Mind: The Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011),
  • 2. Smith 8 Reflexively, in composing this essay, I had originally intended to give the earlier portion of that quote, and skip ahead to make a segue back into the scholarly through-足line of Bernsteins musico-足linguistic meme (via Jackendoff) as there is no need to include the middle portion describing the outlook of the book. However, it occurred to me while writing that this in itself is a perfect example of the latter Pinker/Jackendoff definition: in order to define recursion, a passage from a source is quoted in which: in order to define recursion, a passage from another source is quoted. Further, the previous sentence itself is both a description of recursion and is itself recursive. Lastly, and at the risk of absurdity, it is worth pointing out that the very act of composing this paragraph occurred to me as an exercise in recursion in which I am composing a paragraph in which I discuss the act of writing that very same paragraph. This multivalent form of recursion is a linguistic analog of the famous 2 Hands Drawing by M.C. Escher. However, in order to proceed, the advice of Mr. Corballis must be followed and the essay must now withdraw from the loop in order to proceed. Figure 2. M.C. Escher, Drawing Hands, 1948 (fair use)