About the Book

This book offers a truly interdisciplinary discussion on the relationship between the vocal and the instrumental in music and other arts and in everyday communication alike. Presenting an in-depth systematical and historical analysis of the evolution of word and gesture art, it gives extensive information on the anthropological, biological, and physiological influences and interactions in music and beyond. The book gives a unique definition of the genuinely vocal and instrumental from their generative deep structure: They derive from and are determined in their production by the duality of voice and hands, and in terms of product as the tone or 'tonal' on the one hand, and the percussive, that is noise plus rhythm, on the other. This book succeeds in bringing together perspectives from art, and from natural and social sciences, merging them to offer new explanations about the relationship between the vocal and instrumental, and eventually about the origins of music, arts, and language. It offers new perspectives on the intertwining between the vocal and the instrumental, specifically in the context of the expressions of human languages. At the same time, this book aims at clarifying and explaining the role of words and gestures in different contexts, such as society and communication, education, and arts.

About the Author: ​Hanns-Werner Heister, Prof. Dr. phil., carried out his university studies in Musicology, German Studies, and Indo-European Studies and Linguistic, in Tübingen, Frankfurt a. M. and Berlin (Technische Universität), respectively. In 1977, he received his Dr. phil in Musicology from the Technische Universität Berlin, under the supervision of Carl Dahlhaus; in 1993, he received his Habilitation from the Carl-von-Ossietzky-Universität Oldenburg; 1992-1998, he served as a Professor for Musical communication and History of Music at the Musikhochschule "Carl Maria von Weber" in Dresden; Between 1998 and 2011, he served as a Professor for Musicology at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. Furthermore, he worked as a freelancer for various radio stations, journals and newspapers He also taught at various Schools of Music and Arts, such as in Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, Wien, and Weimar. He held seminars at universities in Heredia, Costa Rica, Wellington, New Zealand, Parma, and Saarbrücken. Author and Editor of different books and book series in the field of music history and musicology, his research has been dealing with various topics, such as: methodology of musicology; aesthetics, sociology, history, and anthropology of music; political, popular music, new music and jazz; music and musical culture in Nazism, resistance movement and exile. Further topics include: aesthetics and history of music theatre; media/technology and institutions of music culture; music analysis; fuzzy logic and cybernetics; and gardening. He is also the author of many books such as: Das Konzert. Theorie einer Kulturform (1983); Jazz (Bärenreiter Verlag Kassel, 1983); Vom allgemeingültigen Neuen. Analysen engagierter Musik (Pfau-Verlag, 2006); Hintergrund Klangkunst (Schott Music, 2009); Die Ehrenmitglieder der Staatstheater Stuttgart 1912-2018. Theatergeschichte in Porträts (W. Kohlhammer GmbH, 2018); Music and Fuzzy Logic - The Dialectics of Idea and Realizations in the Artwork Process (Springer, 2021); and Musik und Fuzzy Logic. Die Dialektik von Idee und Realisierungen im Werkprozess (Springer, 2021).

Hanjo Polk, studied jazz drums, musicology and art history in Hamburg. He worked as a Freelancer jazz drummer, composer and musicologist. Since 2005, he has been lecturer for jazz history at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. Between 2008 and 2011 he has also worked as a research assistant in the same University. He has authored and co-authored different publications, in German, in the field of music, history of music and music culture, such as: Zur Hamburger Musik und Musikkultur zwischen Novemberrevolution und Machtübergabe an die Nazis, in: Dirk Hempel und Friederike Weimar (eds.), Himmel auf Zeit. Die Kultur der 1920er Jahre in Hamburg (2010); Cassandra Wilsons Interpretation des Songs "Strange Fruit", in: Thomas Phleps and Wieland Reich (eds.), Musik-Kontexte. Festschrift für Hanns Werner Heister (Monsenstein und Vannerdat, 2011); Komplexität und Einheit. Steve Colemans Zusammenarbeit mit der Gruppe "AfroCuba de Matanzas", in: Hanns-Werner Heister (ed.), Schichten, Geschichte, System. Geologische Methaphern und Denkformen in den Kunstwissenschaften (2016); Zelle und Motiv. Zur Abgrenzung formaler Kategorien im Bereich des Submotivischen, in: Hanns-Werner Heister and Hanjo Polk (eds.), Bewegtes und Bewegendes. Der Motiv-Begriff in Künsten und Wissenschaften (2017). He is the co-editor, with H.-W. Heister, of Bewegtes und Bewegendes. Der Motiv-Begriff in Künsten und Wissenschaften (Musik/Gesellschaft/Geschichte, vol. 7, ed. H.-W. Heister), published by Weidler Buchverlag Berlin, in 2017.

Bernhard Rusam, Cand. phil., studied to become a teacher in music and history at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, with piano as main subject, and the University Hamburg. Since the First State Examination in 2006, he has been working as a piano teacher, accompanist and musicologist. He has also been active as a music editor for the music publisher Peermusic Classical, Hamburg. He is currently working on a dissertation about the Roman emperors and their relation to music. He is the author of different publications, in German, including: ...es kommt die Füchsin als Nonne verkleidet ... Renard von Strawinsky (Weidler Buchverlag Berlin, 2007); Mahlers "Adagietto" - ein (Liebes-)Lied ohne Worte. In: Heister, H.-W. (ed.): "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen". Vokale und instrumentale Semantik im Werk Gustav Mahlers (Weidler Buchverlag Berlin, 2011); musica et publicus. Musik als politisches Instrument im Römischen Reich. In: Phleps, T., Reich, W. (eds.): Musik-Kontexte (Festschrift für Hanns-Werner Heister) (Monsenstein und Vannerdat, 2011); Bauer zu Nathal. Die gescheiterte (?) Musikerkarriere des Oberösterreichers Thomas Bernhard. In: Heister, H.-W., Spies, B. (eds.): Tarnung und Aufdeckung in den Künsten vom 16. bis zum 21. Jahrhundert (Festschrift für Erwin Rotermund) (2013); Städtische Klanglandschaften in der Literatur um 1900. In: Widmaier, T., Grosch, N. (eds.): Populäre Musik in der urbanen Klanglandschaft. Kulturgeschichtliche Perspektiven (Waxmann Verlag GmbH, 2014); Vom Wertgegenstand aus der Unterschicht an die Oberfläche zum Menschen unter Menschen? Möglichkeiten des sozialen Aufstiegs für Musiksklaven im Römischen Reich. In: Heister, H.-W. (ed.): Schichten, Geschichte, System. Geologische Metaphern und Denkformen in den Kunstwissenschaften (Weidler Buchverlag Berlin, 2016); ... drei Nächte und drei Tage Leid und Kälte ... Der Verlauf der Winterreise-Wanderung. In: Heister, H.-W., Polk, H. (eds.): Der Motiv-Begriff in Künsten und Wissenschaften (Weidler Buchverlag Berlin, 2017).