Arnie Cox abstract PDF

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Abstract of Arnie Cox's article "Embodying Music: Principles of the Mimetic Hypothesis"
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Yekaterina Rizhkova Embodying Music: Principles of the Mimetic Hypothesis Arnie Cox’s article describes a hypothesis of a way in which music can be internalized into the body and mind of a listener. It lists several previous research works by Cusick, Cumming, Saslaw, Brower, and others. Despite the traditional meaning of the term mimetic, in this topic it signifies the process of music perception by human body and mind. After the introduction, the article lists and elaborates on eighteen principles (situations) during which people tend to embody music that they hear. For example, when people hear Mussorgsky’s The Grand Gate of Kiev, the can imagine the heavy and slow-moving gate, which is portrayed in the music by slow and heavy chords. This illustrates Cox’s first principle - “Sounds are produced by physical events”. Out of the eighteen principles, there are some that Cox considers more significant than the others: imagined actions are informed by performed actions; imitation involves the three variables intention, consciousness, and overt-ness; mimetic motor imagery and action occur in three modalities: intra-modal, cross-modal, and amodal; different kinds of music “invite” (afford, motivate) different kinds of mimetic engagement; some music attenuates the mimetic invitation; mimetic responses often are stronger in live contexts than in recorded contexts; MMI varies in strength and accuracy among different people. The third section of the article focuses on two functions: 1) theorizing the principles and their applications; 2) challenge the idea that the most valuable musical meaning rises above the bodily experience. At the end of the article, Cox states that the Mimetic Hypothesis might still need refinement as some of it has not been tested in all musical contexts. The purpose of this

hypothesis is to show that mimetic understanding motivates conceptualization and contributes to affective response to music. Throughout the article, Cox expresses the ideas in a clear and organized way. The three sections of the text and each principle are specified, which makes it easier for the reader to locate the information in this lengthy article. The language is also explicit in most cases; it is somewhat confusing when he explains the amodal imitation, and it maybe because of the label “amodal” itself. In the conclusion section, he writes that there may be some refinement needed on this hypothesis, and because he not long ago published a book on this topic, we may assume that this hypothesis is successfully explained. There are several recordings included in this article, which provide great illustrations of Cox’s principles. In addition, there are real-life examples included for almost every principle. This is a great approach of discussion because those examples describe how Cox’s principles and ideas may happen in musicians’ everyday life. Overall, this article is written in a clear language and is easy to read because of its organization and examples....