Music and the Mind

This chapter ponders answers to several questions asked by music listeners not having direct experience with the sounds: How does the brain perceive sounds? How does the harmonic series dominate music? What are consonances and dissonances? Why do octaves sound nearly the same? What is perfect pitch? How do you have a brilliant child by boosting its sensory perception in the perinatal period?

Arabic Language as Arab Characters Related to Arabic Language Alphabet

All languages in this universe have a rich history behind them and culture among the people who speak them. Arabic calligraphy is a timeless craft that has resounding relationship with the Arabic culture and Islamic heritage. The word calligraphy originated from Greek words, namely kallos and graphos, which mean beauty and writing, respectively. Many calligraphic works may seem effortless at a glance, but that is not the case as calligraphy requires keenness and the final piece is as a result of accurate and measure brushstrokes. This chapter is going to look at and analyze the different artwork and calligraphy works related to the Arabic language that have significance to the Arabic world and Muslim culture.

Random Processes and Visual Perception

The aim of this chapter is to explore a classic stochastic problem using the tools of the graphics environment. Stochastic processes are associated with the concepts of uncertainty or chance. Major areas of research in mathematical and applied sciences, statistics, finance, and artificial intelligence/machine learning benefit from the knowledge gained studying this process. Visual Art also depends on elements of uncertainty and chance. To explore the commonality of concern between Science and Art and better understand stochastic processes, the author organizes his research according to the Knowledge Visualization framework, examines a graph theory reference model called the “shortest route problem,” and, adding additional elements specific to the art-making process, shares his results to highlight the relevance of interdisciplinary studies in the fields of randomness and visual perception.

Jazz and Jazz Theory

The question “what is jazz?” has been asked regularly since the origins of this music in the early 20th century. Over this time, jazz has undergone many changes, but certain characteristics—such as a particular kind of syncopated rhythm, improvisation, and tonal harmony—have remained more or less constant. The central theme of this chapter is that these constant features constitute a common jazz practice analogous the common practice that underlay European art (“classical”) music from the mid-18th century to the end of 19th century. While the common practice in jazz is no longer at the creative cutting edge, the tradition it represents is alive and well. All of the major styles within this tradition are still performed by skilled jazz artists around the world. Jazz Theory follows.

Vachanamrut Visualization

The authors discuss their interaction with data using various data visualization techniques, which are a quick, easy way to convey concepts universally. Currently, data has become more and more important; it is also important how one can visualize that data in the mind. This chapter is based on extracting important information from one of the holy Swaminarayan scriptures. The authors explore the content of the Vachanamrut, a unique work of prose in the Gujarati language, which contains discourses of Lord Swaminarayan and his conversation with saints and devotees. They convert the data in graphical interface using some libraries of the R tool. So, one can get the main idea of that data quickly, without a need to explain more about that data. Summing it up, this chapter examines the techniques of describing data of any ancient scripture or ancient text in any language by visualizing that data.

Simultaneous Perception of Parallel Streams of Visual Data

This chapter presents a study of the perceptual processes that condition the parallel processing of visual data, and thus could become a design tool to manage the transfer of information. This allows the designers to analyze and consciously plan this process, taking into the account the perceptual mechanisms involved. The chapter combines knowledge from the fields of cognitive science, geometrical optics, graphic design, and, last but not least, it utilizes the author's experience in architecture gained from the study of transparency perception.

Cultural Considerations of Chinese Calligraphy Using Characters as Visual Language

Chinese writing language originated from hieroglyphics. Chinese characters, changing with the development of writing instruments, became pure written symbols. The emergence of calligraphy, one of the highest quality art forms in China, caused the evolution of Chinese characters. Each style in calligraphy reflects the calligraphists' personality, emotion, and the intrinsic motivation behind a message in the script. The author created the characters based on her own style by studying the characteristics of calligraphy and personifying calligraphy as human. The charm of calligraphy was shown by expressing changes in ink thickness and opacity. The author intended to help people who cannot read Chinese to understand emotions expressed within the characters, and combine illustration, calligraphy, and painting characterized by fast-moving ink marks drawn with a writing brush, then imported into computer software for detailed drawing. The purpose of this document is to use case studies to seek optimal art form in illustration.

Alphabets and Characters

This chapter examines visual-verbal connections that can be perceived in individual letters. Cultural patterns that build our visual literacy include visual writings in many modes and styles, visible stories, and visual rhetoric. The text examines old ways of communication attained by developing writing systems and discusses kinds of characters making different alphabets. Further text is about human characters, traits of their personalities, and then examining the visual power of characters that constitute the modern English alphabet by developing alphabet-based projects linking letters with human characters and human emotions.

Depicting the Nature of Nature

The term “visual data” is often connected with strategies related to developing graphs or other types of quantitative visual data arrays. Visual data provide quantitative statistical information about our natural and constructed worlds. There is great power in the graphical visual data; they can provide portraits of our world that might escape our notice. This chapter focuses on portraying certain qualitative aspects of visual data that allow for a sense of the deeper nature (essence) of selected data sets. This approach can be termed aesthetically enhanced visual data. The data drive image making, while emphasis is given to aesthetic concerns. The goal is to identify and portray the nature of the nature of the aesthetic visual data. In this chapter the artist-author presents aesthetic visual data focused on describing certain aspects of the world. Artworks created through the aesthetic data visualization are presented along with clarifying notations.

Connecting Art, Culture, Science, and Technology

This chapter presents the motivation, background, and implementation of “Living Mandala: The Cosmic of Being 1,” an interactive graphics installation that combines real-time data, multi-cultural mandalas, scientific imagery, and cosmological symbols. Built with an open source programming language and environment, this living contemporary symbol is an exploration into uncharted territories of the human soul sculpted by our present time. Its interactive revolving graphical system visualizes our perceptions of life (microcosm) and the universe (macrocosm); our connections to ancient mythology, cosmology, and cultural heritage; and the relationships among humankind, science, technology, and nature in a globalized society. Merging rich historical, cultural, scientific imagery and symbols with real-time data and relaxing sound, this living organism alters every moment responding to the movement, color, light, sound, and temperature of its surroundings.