Re: Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies (JIMS)1 Advisory Board

Dear Professor Mark Tramo,

I am writing on behalf of Richard Parncutt at the Centre for Systematic Musicology in Graz. We would like to thank you for your continuing support of the Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies (JIMS) as a member of the Advisory Board.

The last few years have been quiet, but we recently published a Special Issue entitled 'Cognition of Early Polyphony', edited by Frans Wiering and Barbara Tillmann. We also renewed our homepage at http://www.musicstudies.org, so please take a look and download one of the latest articles if you like (open access). We will advertise the journal at conferences over the summer (see attached flyer) and expect to receive more submissions in the coming academic year.

We are also updating the editorial boards and would like to continue to list you as a member of the Advisory Board. Please let us know if that is appropriate for you. You will not be required to do anything in return for having your name listed, but we may ask you to be action editor or anonymous reviewer for a future submission.

Thank you very much and best wishes,

Maximilian Burkard
(student assistant)

p.s. In case it is appropriate for you to continue as a member of the Advisory Board and if you have time, could you check the list at http://musicstudies.org/editorial-board/ and let us know in case what is written as your affiliation/institution is wrong (and what should be written there)? Thanks a lot!

Mark Jude Tramo, MD PhD Dept ofNeurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA Dept of Musicology, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Director, The Institute for Music & Brain Science Co-Director, University of California Multi-Campus Music Research Initiative (UC MERCI)

http://www.BrainMusic.org
http://merci.ucsd.edu

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Mark Jude Tramo, MD PhD

Dept of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Dept of Musicology, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

Director, The Institute for Music & Brain Science

Co-Director, University of California Multi-Campus Music Research Initiative (UC MERCI)

http://www.BrainMusic.org
http://merci.ucsd.edu

EFTA00453797

Thank you for your email, Maximilian -

I'm delighted to continue serving on the Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies (JIMS) Advisory Board.

I am checking the Board page now to ensure my information is correct.

With warm regards to Professor Parmcutt,

EFTA00453795

Mark

Below is response from Jeffrey Epstein:

I think you guys have it backwards, You are looking at only the receivers. For info. I think more productive to reverse engineer the music. To find out how and why it is CREATED. Not heard, Heard is boring.

Thanks, JEE - provocative...inspiring these thoughts and consideration in my book -

You wrote "how and why" music is created. Candidate titles for my book with ICM's Kris Dahl: "Why Music? Human Sociobiology and Communication." or "The Music Instinct: Mind, Brain and Culture."

I. Your insight on reverse-engineering music resonates with Al Liberman's "Motor Theory of Speech Perception". The emphasis there is the dependence of speech perception on our motivation and ability to create and produce speech. So moving our mouths and feeling our mouths move when we speak to communicate OUR thoughts and feelings emotions is correlated with hearing what we produce. Having learned to do this for ourselves, we then apply the same multi-modal system to decoding the acoustic signals of others who are trying to communicate THEIR thoughts and feelings.

2. I've been thinking about music in relation to communication in general, including animal communication, especially apes and monkeys. Recently read some relevant sections by Darwin in "Origin..." and "Emotional Expression..." The "how" of both language and music must reflect both unique properties of the human nervous system (e.g., an unprecedented expansion of the anterior frontal lobe with its agranular cytoarchitecture and widespread connectivity) and universal properties we share with all mammals who use sound to communicate to one another.

3. You emphasized "how and why" music is created. Would you please give me some feedback re: your take on the candidate titles for my book with ICM's Kris Dahl:

A. "Why Music? Human Sociobiology and Communication."

B. "The Music Instinct: Mind, Brain and Culture."

Best,
Mark