Polyphonic Minds Polyphonic Minds Music of the Hemispheres Peter Pesic The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England © 2017 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. This book was set in Syntax LT Std and Times New Roman by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available. ISBN: 978-0-262-03691-7 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 for , my polyphonic minds Contents Prelude 1 I POLYPHONY EMERGENT 13 1 Global Contexts and Ancient Origins 15 2 Dispassion and Deification 31 3 The Music of the Blessed 47 4 Oresme and the “New Song” 67 5 Polyphonic Controversies 85 II POLYPHONY TRIUMPHANT 99 6 E pluribus unum 101 7 Polyphony and Power 119 8 Controlling Dissonance 131 9 Contrapuntal Science and Art 149 10 In Bach’s Hands 163 III POLYPHONIC HORIZONS 181 11 Polyphony Extended 183 12 Contrapuntal Radio and Polyphonic Fields 209 viii Contents IV POLYPHONIC BRAINS 227 13 Polyphonic Selves 229 14 Tuning the Brain 245 15 Music of the Hemispheres 259 Postlude 273 Notes 277 References 299 Illustration Credits 317 Acknowledgments 319 Index 321