Internalism and the Cultural Politics of Music Theory

Tue, January 26, 2021 12:45 PM at Zoom (if you wish to attend, please email Michael Callahan at mrc@msu.edu)

Dr. Sam Mukherji, Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the University of Michigan, presents a guest lecture at Michigan State University. The event is free and open to the public. It will take place via videoconference due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you would like to attend, please contact Michael Callahan, Music Theory Area Chairperson, at mrc@msu.edu.

Lecture Abstract

My focus in this talk is on internalism, a concept central to work in contemporary generative linguistics (as being undertaken by Noam Chomsky and others). This concept has its roots in the ideas of rationalist philosophies such as those proposed by Descartes, and especially the linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose writings are the basis for much of Chomsky’s own work in linguistics. Part of my reason for focusing on this concept is to illustrate its significance for a number of current proposals about the human mind and its ability to create and comprehend language (and by extension music, as I will argue too). However, a perhaps greater reason for my focus on internalism in this talk is to illustrate the rather profound commentary it has enabled, on human nature, and the implications this has for discussions of equality, freedom and human rights—as can be seen in the radical progressive politics of Chomsky himself. Why this is relevant to music theory is not only because of the connections it reveals between music and language—that topic of age- old interest within not only music scholarship—but also the connections it reveals between linguistic theory and certain kinds of music theory, especially those of Heinrich Schenker, and also those of indigenous, non-Western theorists, such as the Indian theorist Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande. Given some of the controversies surrounding the ideas of Schenker today, given the current cultural politics of the field, demonstrating the internalist basis for his ideas, with their progressive political implications—and furthermore their mutual connection to the ideas of under-represented, minority, music theorists —suggests a broader, more diverse, context for Schenkerian theory that has been hitherto ignored, by pro- and anti-Schenkerian music scholars alike. But more significantly, understanding the broader connections between internalism, music, and language, and between music and linguistic theory— i.e., understanding the ‘eternal golden braid’ between Humboldt, Schenker, and Bhatkhande—might help us progress towards a genuinely more global and inclusive music theory, but one that is not being given much attention within the present ideological frameworks of music scholarship.

Bio

Dr. Somangshu MukherjiSam Mukherji's work lies at the interface of traditional Western tonal theory, the theory and practice of popular and non-Western idioms, and the cognitive science of music. Within this framework, the main focus of his research has been on the prolongational, grammatical aspects of Western tonality and their connection to the tonal structures of Indian music and the blues-based traditions within rock and metal. This emphasis makes his work similar to that of a linguist who explores relationships between the world’s languages – and, therefore, Mukherji’s research has been influenced in particular by ideas from linguistic theory, especially the Minimalist Program in contemporary generative linguistics. For this reason, he has investigated connections not only between different musical idioms but also between music and language – and musical and linguistic theory – more generally. Much of his work explores overlaps between Minimalist linguistics, and related, generative approaches within music theory (such as those found in the writings of Heinrich Schenker), and he has also written extensively about what such “musicolinguistic” connections imply for the wider study of human musical behavior, cognition, and evolution.