Thirteen ways of apprehending blackbird song

Anticipating When Blackbirds Sing Chinese (Part #13)

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The above argument frames the possibility of exploring a future convergence between the following. "Blackbird" is then best understood generically as an alternative voice, transcending any conventional framework and therefore implying a degree of dissent through its challenge to conventional modes of comprehension. It is reminiscent of references to a "still small voice". The section might then have been titled Thirteen Ways of Engaging with Dissent.

It is indeed possible that aspects of this convergence have already been explored and documented under other headings, notably in Chinese, Japanese or Korean literature.

1. Sonograms: The use of sonograms or sound spectrograms (as discussed above with respect to bird song) suggests the possibility of exploring alternative visual renderings. Ideally these would be more compact, aesthetic and memorable. Of some interest are the skills with which these can be used for identification purposes by those familiar with those techniques.

It is possible that such analysis and rendering could be applied to pronunciation of Chinese-style logograms (sinographs), given the tonal variation possible (as discussed below). This could highlight innovative possibilities for convergence. More generally, could bird song be mapped onto Chinese characters? Conversely (as discussed below), could Chinese characters be interpreted as notation for particular bird song -- possibly through simulation?

2. Musical languages: According to Wikipedia, musical languages are languages based on musical sounds, either instead of or in addition to articulation. They can be categorized as constructed languages, and as whistled languages. Whistled languages are dependent on an underlying articulatory language, in actual use in various cultures as a means for communication over distance, or as secret codes. Musical languages can be distinguished from the numerous tonal languages, such as Chinese (as discussed below).

The mystical concept of a language of the birds connects the two categories. There is a case for developing reflection on (long-term) future use of Twitter from this perspective (Re-Emergence of the Language of the Birds through Twitter? 2010).

Of value to any such investigation is the legacy of Olivier Messiaen, a French composer and ornithologist influenced by Japanese music. He was known particularly for the inspiration that bird song provided for his music -- to the extent of incorporating birdsong transcriptions. He notably composed the piece Le merle noir (1952) for flute and piano based entirely on the song of the blackbird.

3. Music notation: There are many approaches to 2D representation with systems of notation by symbols, including numbers and letters (see also coloured music notation). Some have been developed and used in response to particular musical traditions. Others are used more generally. There is continuing exploration of alternative notation systems, some of which are subject to patent (Gardner Read, Pictographic Score Notation: a compendium, 1998).

The experimental approach to notation by Vinko Globokar is especially noteworthy (Marko etinc, Improvisation as Dialectic in Vinko Globokar's Correspondences, 30 May 2012; James Bunch, Writings : Improvisation as Dialectic in Vinko Globokar's Correspondences, 23 April 2014; Cory Scott Hills, Graphic Notation as Means of Musical Gesture: examining percusssion works by John Cage, Morton Feldman and Vinko Globokar, University of Kansas, 31 December 2011)

Of interest to the argument here is the further possibility of 3D and 4D visual renderings -- using newer information technologies. Can the form of Chinese characters be interpreted as a musical notation -- by analogy to western solmization, namely the system of attributing a distinct syllable to each note in a musical scale?

Of some relevance is the well-known fascination for drumming of the quantum physicist Richard Feynman (Jagdish Mehra, The Beat of a Different Drum: the life and science of Richard Feynman, 1994). A variety of relevant approaches have been taken to drumming patterns (Florence W. Deems, Drumming the I-Ching Patterns, 2013; Michael Drake, I-Ching: The Tao of Drumming, Talking Drum Publications, 2003).

4. Cognitive "movement": Of related interest is eye movement in music reading, namely the complex manner in which a musical score is scanned by a musician's eyes. The phenomenon has been studied by researchers from a range of backgrounds, including cognitive psychology and music education. Three oculomotor imperatives have been highlighted by research, has noted by Wikipedia:

• the eyes must maintain a pace across the page that is appropriate to the tempo of the music -- achieved by manipulating the number and durations of fixations, and thereby the scanpath across the score.
• an appropriate rate of refreshment of the information being stored and processed in working memory -- achieved by manipulating the number and duration of fixations.
• maintaining a span size that is appropriate to the reading conditions.

These recall the remarks made separately regarding numeric cognitive constrains (Conceptual clustering and cognitive constraints, 2014):

• "Miller number" (7 ?± 2): the much cited constraint reported by George Miller (The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: some limits on our capacity for processing information, Psychological Review. 1956).
• "Spreadthink number": as identified by John N. Warfield (Spreadthink: Explaining ineffective groups, 1995). This reflects the fact the inability of groups to reach agreement on complex issue. In the SCI, this is assumed to be 5.
• "Dunbar's number": as formulated by Robin Dunbar, This is a suggested cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships The commonly used value is 150.
• Span of control

The concerns are reminiscent of those required in scanning the strategic situation in board games like chess and go, as discussed separately (Strategy games as pointers to comprehension of multi-dimensionality, 2006). These are frequently associated with comments concerning the distinct "energy" or tensions characteristic of certain strategic conditions. A valuable description of this subtle perception is provided (in translation) by Michel Bruneau (Dynamic Chess Classification -- Chess Theory) which explicitly acknowledges how difficult it is to explain the meaning of "energy" in chess. The document distinguishes, and comments on, 7 game conditions:

"Quick divergency" "Slow divergency" "Damped divergency"

"Unstable" "Balanced"

"Exhausted" "Aborted"

The document states that "chess energy" or "tension" is the result of various imbalances appearing on the chessboard during the unfolding of the game. Their brief description, in energy terms, of each condition -- as a discontinuity -- suggests an intriguing resemblance to geometrical descriptions of the 7 elementary catastrophes. Their descriptions might be usefully refined by a chess-playing mathematician familiar with catastrophe theory. Such descriptions might also be usefully confronted with analogous descriptions by go-playing mathematicians (cf David H. Stern et al. Modelling Uncertainty in the Game of Go; Bruno Bouzy and Tristan Cazenave, Computer Go: an AI oriented survey, 2001).

Whilst necessarily respectful of these constraints, of interest is how music can enable them to be reframed or circumvented in some way. Of particular relevance is work on the cognitive implications of movement (Mark Johnson, The Body in the Mind: the bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason, 1987; Maxine Sheets-Johnson, Kinesthetic experience: understanding movement inside and out, Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy, 2010).

How do blackbirds scan the memescape they are "decorating" -- with the strategic implications these may have for other birds?

5. Conducting music: As the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures, the primary function of the conductor is to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble. The nature of the movements and preoccupations in conducting music, notably as they are typically depicted, are reminiscent of Chinese logograms and the manner in which a logogram is constructed (as noted below). A variety of resources exist, as indicated by the following:

• Brock McElheran (Conducting Technique For Beginners & Professionals, Oxford University Press, 1989).
• Ennio Nicotra (Introduction to the orchestral conducting technique in accordance with the orchestral conducting school of Ilya Musin. Edizioni Curci, 2007).
• John Watkins (The Art of the Conductor: the definitive guide to music conducting skills, terms, and techniques, iUniverse-Indigo, 2007)
• Michael Miller (The Complete Idiot's Guide to Conducting Music, ALPHA, 2012)
• Max Rudolf(The Grammar of Conducting, Macmillan, 1981)

Examples of movements of orchestral conductor's baton (reproduced from Wikipedia)
2/4, 2/2, or fast 6/8 time	3/4 or 3/8 time	4/4 time	slow 6/8 time
For other relevant examples: Advanced Patterns

What movements might a conductor consider using with respect to a bird song -- as with Messiaen's Le merle noir (1952)? Clearly a blackbird can be usefully understood as "auto-conducting" -- although possibly in response to another bird.

There is a case for exploring how a songbird embodying movement in song might be compared with the embodiment of the waggle dance by bees. This is a term for a particular figure-eight dance of the honey bee through which successful foragers share information with other members of the colony about the direction and distance to flowers. to water sources, or to new housing locations. Another lead might be provided by engagement with ritual (Luc Sala, Ritual: the magical perspective, 2013).

6. "Compression" as a mnemonic aid: The length of a blackbird song could be usefully compared with widespread use of telephone ring tones.for which a variety of encoding formats have been developed. Birdsong can of course be recorded for use as a ring tone.

Of related interest is the compression of a haiku poem or koan into some such compressed format, as discussed above with respect to use of the QR code to represent haiku.

Haiku in Chinese Example of one haiku (reproduced from a collection) translated into Simplified Chinese by Yiwei Huang in 2012, also appearing as part of the essays Becoming a Haiku Poet and Haiku and the Japanese Garden.
	meteor shower a gentle wave wets our sandals

As an indication of response to such modalities, a daily BBC broadcast of bird tweeting has been initiated (David Attenborough to launch Tweet of the Day on Radio 4, BBC Radio 4, 24 April 2013; Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss, Tweet of the Day: a tear of Britain's birds from the acclaimed Radio 4 Series, Saltyard Books, 2014). Also of interest are smartphone apps enabling identification of birds from bird song (Bird Calls : 4500+ Bird Sounds, Bird Songs, Bird Identification and Bird Guide; WeBIRD, the Wisconsin Electronic Bird Identification Resource Database).

7. Insights from Chinese characters in the light of the Eight Principles of Yong: Of potentially remarkable relevance is the thinking with regard to the elaboration of the most aesthetic form of a Chinese character (as in widely practiced Chinese calligraphy), using eight common strokes in regular script, according to the 8 Principles of Yong, This is illustrated with the character yong, signifying "forever" or "permanence". In Japan the principles (and the associated 72 types of "brush energy") were the focus of the Daishi school of calligraphy associated with Kukai. There is clearly a strong case for exploring what is understood by yong in relationship to "sustainability" -- as it is now so widely used with respect to strategic issues of governance. Of particular relevance with respect to calligraphy are the cognitive and philosophical associations in the process of elaborating a character, as cultivated within the Zen tradtion.

Eight Principles of Yong regarding formation of Chinese characters (images from Wikipedia)
Stroke order (animation)	Stroke order (colour gradation from black to red)	Strokes numbered (strokes overlap briefly where there are multiple numbers in an area)

The directionality associated with the strokes of the Eight Principles of Young can be speculatively contrasted with that of the alternative Bagua arrangements -- as presented below. This could be done through the metaphors through which the directions are traditionally distinguished.

Correspondence between Bagua and Eight Principles of Yong?
Bagua Earlier Heaven Arrangement	Eight Principles of Yong (strokes together and separated)	Bagua Later Heaven Arrangement
Images from Wikipedia

These considerations might prove to be fruitfully associated to those of Neidan, namely the cognitive processes of internal alchemy, traditionally relating to the quest for "immortality" -- perhaps to be understood in terms of those required for "sustainability".

8. Tonal pronunciation: Chinese logograms may be variously pronounced using four distinct tones (five in Mandarin) in various combinations (Introduction of Four Tones in Chinese Pronunciation, yeschinese, 27 July 2011; Six Basic Steps for Learning Four Tones in Chinese Pronunciation). From "easiest" (for learners) to "hardest", these are:

• 1-1
• 4-4, 2-4
• 2-2, 4-2, 1-4
• 2-3, 3-3, 1-3, 2-1, 3-4, 3-1, 1-2
• 4-1, 4-3
• 3-2

An extensive discussion of the representation and use of tone in languages is provided by Wikipedia.

Comprehensive indication of tone distinctions using tone letters and tone diacritics (reproduced from Wikipedia)

9. Computer input of Chinese characters: The resources and thinking that have been allocated to this challenging task are indicated in an extensive Wikipedia entry (Chinese input methods for computers). A distinction is notably made between a phonetic approach and a root-shape approach, and the corresponding keyboard requirements. (See also How to Read and Type Chinese Characters on the Internet with Input Methods)

Some attention has been given to a 3D approach (Akira Wada and Jungpil Shin, Three Dimensional Virtual Calligraphy Simulation with Pen Tablet). Clearly of relevance to this argument are the approaches to speech recognition and its conversion into traditional Chinese characters (Venessa Wong. Can Speech-Recognition Software Work in Mandarin? BloombergBusinessWeek, 19 March 2012; Jun Luo, Lori Lamel and Jean-Luc Gauvain, Modeling Characters versus Words for Mandarin Speech Recognition, ICAssP. 2009) .

10. Dynamic superimposition: Discovery of the genetic code offers a further lesson through the manner in which its deterministic nature was anticipatively over-hyped and through the subsequent obligation to focus on epigenetics as a complementary source of insight. The same might be expected of any memetic code and the complementary role of epimemetics. This is strikingly evident in advocated patterns of psychological types which focus, in their visual presentation, on the types in isolation rather than on the dynamics within which they are embedded.

Juxtaposition of related animations based on the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching (Psychosocial Implication in Gamma Animation: epimemetics for a Brave New World, 2013)
Hexagram coding	Codon transitions	Hexagram character

There are indications from the literature that songbird speciation is intimately linked to song patterns -- implying an association to DNA of relevance to any further exploration of the memetic significance of song.

11. Drilled truncated cube as a mapping surface: In the quest for any comprehensible and memorable form (whether visual or auditory), capable of holding a complex of potential elements in a communication, the drilled truncated cube has notable advantages with its 64 edges (of 9 types), 32 faces (of 5 types), and 32 vertices (of 4 types). Potentially appropriate to this argument, the most complex Chinese characters have 64 strokes, as illustrated below:

Examples of most complex Chinese characters
Zhe (verbose) (64 strokes in 4 groups)	Zheng (flourish) (64 strokes in 4 groups)	Nang (poor enunication) (33 strokes)	Biang (a kind of noodle) (57 strokes)
Images reproduced from Wikipedia

As noted above, there is a 64-fold pattern of hexagrams to the I Ching with which a 64-fold stroke pattern might be expected to be associated in some way -- as with the codons of the genetic code. The 4-fold clustering of the images on the left (above) is indicative of one type of potential symmetry. The polyhedron is used as a mapping surface for those codons (left below). It is also used for labels of the hexagrams (right below). Of interest is whether it could be otherwise suitable for "memetic codes", as discussed separately (Relating configurative mappings of 64 I Ching conditions and 48 koans, 2012).

Drilled truncated cube -- a polyhedron with 64 edges, approximating a torus, Indicative assignment of labels with faces variously coloured or not (images produced with Stella Polyhedron Navigator)
Codons assigned as labels to edges	Chinese hexagram labels assigned to edges

Although seemingly obscure, compact polyhedral forms of this type are potentially significant to the design of high performance computer memory. The polyhedral model (also called the polytope method) is a mathematical framework for loop nest optimization in program optimization (see also: Frameworks supporting the polyhedral model). The power of supercomputers is partly due to their use of a design based on a hypercube configuration of distributed memory parallel computers (see N-dimensional modified hypercube).

With respect to this argument, the question is whether communication capable of passing "under the memetic radar" is necessarily to be understood as some form of "hypercomprehension" with which blackbird song might be associated (Hyperaction through Hypercomprehension and Hyperdrive: necessary complement to proliferation of hypermedia in hypersociety, 2006). The issues are consistent with the recent arguments framed by Timothy Morton (Hyperobjects: philosophy and ecology after the End of the World, 2013).

12. Cognitive fusion and synaesthesia: With respect to synaesthesia, of relevance to this argument is the role it played in the creativity of Olivier Messiaen (Joseph Edward Harris, Musique colorée: Synesthetic Correspondence in the Works of Olivier Messiaen, 2004). Following the transformation of alchemical operations, via chemistry, into chemical engineering, a case can be made for imagining the sequence of creative processes in terms of the systemic process thinking essential to the productivity of chemical plants. Such systemic thinking remains to be engendered with respect to the creative process itself -- as with the cognitive implication of the dependence of a global civilization on "oil". To be emphasized, however, is the sense in which creativity is an imaginative process beyond the bounds of science -- and essentially disruptive of the tangible states and processes which it defines. The following schematic is derived from Arthur M. Young (Geometry of Meaning, 1976).

Animation suggestive of the experiential system of interwoven creative processes -- creativity embodied in alchemical processes encoded by the forms of zodiacal signs (reproduced from Eliciting a Universe of Meaning: within a global information society of fragmenting knowledge and relationships, 2013)

The animation is a reminder of the manner in which a helicopter pilot is obliged to embody instinctively and intuitively the various skills and insights required to control the vehicle (as was the inspiration of Arthur Young). The implication is that a similar pattern of skills, but of a subtler cognitive order, is required for other form of (self)governance, whether of the individual or of a collectivity. Is governance too readily assumed to be less challenging than flying a helicopter -- perhaps too readily compared with riding a bicycle, driving an automobile, or piloting "the ship of state"?

More generally, the animation above exemplifies the challenge of the quest for comprehensible succinctness of which blackbird song is an indicator (In Quest of Mnemonic Catalysts -- for comprehension of complex psychosocial dynamics, 2007). A more complex animation is presented separately (Dynamic Exploration of Value Configurations: interrelating traditional cultural symbols through animation, 2008).

The challenge is highlighted otherwise in research on synaesthesia and development of cognitive fusion capacity in response to circumvent information overload, as discussed above and separately (Enactivating a Cognitive Fusion Reactor: Imaginal Transformation of Energy Resourcing (ITER-8), 2008). Is the above animation suggestive of the nature of such a "reactor"?

13. Interestingness: The interest aroused by the Stevens' poem on Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (as discussed above) raises the more general question as to how best to understand "interest", whether with respect to the poem or more specifically with respect to blackbird song. Why indeed are "blackbirds" of special interest and a relatively unique focus of attention -- possibly to be understood as an enigma?

Aspects of this question have been explored separately (Investing Attention Essential to Viable Growth: radical self-reflexive reappropriation of financial skills and insights, 2014). As noted there, with respect to the term "interestingness", this phenomenon is attracting increasing attention. It might however be asked what enables the blackbird to be creative and original, namely to sustain interestingness in the effort to attract a mate and define its territory. From what memespace does sustainable creativity emerge -- as so effortlessly demonstrated by the blackbird?

As an illustration of interestingness, there is particular charm to the examples below from the Torigun collection of imaginative art by Japanese artist Sato.

Song Bearers -- meaningless to conventional thinking Artist's impression of Songbirds in Military Uniforms by Sato

These images recall those of the German "unmanned camera pigeon" used in World War I (see Wikipedia entry on war pigeon), as discussed separately (Demonstrated military capacity of carrier pigeons, 2013).

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