OMS Background Information

Authorship: OMS is the result of a research project led by Isaac Malitz (imalitz@omsmodel.com). Isaac holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy / Mathematical Logic (UCLA 1976). Several mathematical concepts have been named in his honor (for instance, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_set_theory ). Isaac studied piano with Miles Mauney (Oberlin) and Aube Tzerko (UCLA). He runs a software development/consulting firm in Los Angeles ( http://www.rdic.com )

Origins of OMS: OMS gradually evolved over a period of 5 - 10 years. Several academic and artistic themes were investigated in parallel, and only recently did the investigations begin to merge. Here were some principal themes:

Wittgenstein: In his book Philosophical Investigations and in later works, the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein developed and demonstrated novel techniques for analyzing difficult conceptual issues. While using Wittgenstein's techniques in unrelated areas, it gradually dawned on me that these techniques might somehow be applicable to modeling the phenomenon of music (and other art forms); I got a vague idea of what a "model of music" might look like.

The Society of Mind by Marvin Minsky: This book is a modern classic on the subject of human intelligence. Minsky - one of the founders of the field of Artificial Intelligence - presents a model which is deceptively simple and extremely powerful. Even better, the book is "deep" - is has its roots in classic traditions in philosophy and mathematical logic.

Close analysis of some masterworks in Western music: Most important was a lengthy analysis of Beethoven Symphony #5: Over several years I studied the work in depth; I also learned and performed the Liszt piano transcription (which is itself a masterpiece). It turns out that in some sense Beethoven had a sense for the OMS view of things, and many of the OMS receptors seemed to be implicit in the work. After extracting a preliminary list of receptors from this work, I then analyzed about 50 other works from the mainstream classical repertoire, plus a few contemporary works - which allowed the list of receptors to be expanded and refined.

Analysis of much popular music: I have analyzed many American hits from early thru late 20th century, in a variety of genres. This allowed OMS to be further expanded and refined.

Other themes and influences: Upheavals of Thought by Martha Nussbaum. This is a groundbreaking study of human emotions; and it includes some deep analysis on emotion and music. Leonardo by Martin Kemp. Kemp is a renowned scholar of Leonardo Da Vinci. In my view, both Leonardo and Kemp are somewhat attuned to the OMS point-of-view; this book was very stimulating. 

 

Acknowledgements: I have benefited greatly from early feedback and encouragement from:  Daniel Barber (Department of Music, Cleveland State University); Michael Campbell (Western Illinois University); Louis Cozolino (Pepperdine University); Patrick Fitzgibbon; Marino Formenti; Thomas Forster (Cambridge University); Karanraj Guleria; David Huron (School of Music, Ohio State University); Joseph Kanengiser; Linda Levinson; Marvin Minsky (M.I.T.); Bo Morgan (M.I.T.); the NetNewMusic gang; Wesley Phoa; William Rosar (Journal of Film Music; UCSD); Dustin Smith (M.I.T.); Robert Walser (Dept of Musicology, UCLA).