?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=The+Evolution+of+Music%3A+A+comparison+of+Darwinian+and+dialectical+methods&rft.creator=Gatherer%2C+Dr+Derek&rft.subject=Evolution&rft.description=Music+provides+a+challenging+system+for+the+analysis+of+cultural+evolution.++The+dialectical+approach+to+music+seeks+to+identify+the+internal+stylistic+tensions+and+contradictions+(in+terms+of+thesis+and+antithesis)+which+give+rise+to+new+musical+forms+(synthesis).++The+Darwinian+alternative+to+dialectics%2C+which+in+its+most+reductionist+form+is+becoming+known+as+memetics%2C+seeks+to+interpret+the+evolution+of+music+by+examining+the+adaptiveness+of+its+various+component+parts+in+the+selective+environment+of+culture.++This+essay+compares+the+memetic+and+dialectical+approaches+with+special+reference+to+the+development+of+jazz+in+the+era+of+recorded+sound%2C+in+the+light+of+Benzon%E2%80%99s+classification+of+musical+styles+into+evolutionary+Ranks+(Benzon+1993).++It+is+concluded+that+the+basic+postulate+of+memetics+is+falsifiable+and+therefore+that+memetics+qualifies+as+scientific+in+the+Popperian+sense%2C+rather+than+being+simply+a+pseudo-scientific+metanarrative+for+cultural+evolution.++Some+suggestions+for+empirical+analysis+are+provided.++In+contrast%2C+the+dialectical+perspective+is+not+scientific+in+the+Popperian+sense%2C+but+does+provide+a+good+explanatory+framework+for+the+history+of+jazz+in+the+years+1900-1970%2C+and+shows+how+transitions+between+Ranks+may+be+generated.++However%2C+dialectics+is+considerably+less+successful+in+the+construction+of+a+model+to+explain+the+period+since+1970.&rft.publisher=JAI+Press+Inc.&rft.contributor=Gatherer%2C+Dr+Derek&rft.date=1997&rft.type=Journal+(Paginated)&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=application%2Fpdf&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F4354%2F1%2Fjses.pdf&rft.identifier=++Gatherer%2C+Dr+Derek++(1997)+The+Evolution+of+Music%3A+A+comparison+of+Darwinian+and+dialectical+methods.++%5BJournal+(Paginated)%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F4354%2F