Editing Cantometrics (section)

==History of the theory==

Lomax first publicly proposed the Cantometrics project in 1959 and launched a group project in conjunction with the Anthropology Department at Columbia University to implement his vision. Early collaborators included musicologist Victor Grauer, who was the first co-creator with Lomax of the Cantometrics computer coding system. Subsequent project members included distinguished [[Columbia University]] anthropologist [[Conrad M. Arensberg]],<ref>Author of the pathbreaking ethnographic classic, ''The Irish Countryman: An Anthropological Study'', (1937), Arensberg helped shift the focus of anthropology from the study of exotic primitive peoples to the examination of complex modern societies. See his [https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/16/nyregion/conrad-arensberg-86-dies-hands-on-anthropologist.html  1997 ''New York Times'' obituary.]</ref> a founder of [[applied anthropology]]; anthropologists Edwin Erickson and Barbara Ayres; and statistician Norman Berkowitz. [[Laban Movement Analysis|Laban shape notation]] specialist [[Irmgard Bartenieff]]<ref>Pioneer physical therapist and developer of [[Bartenieff Fundamentals]], [http://www.culturalequity.org/alanlomax/ce_alanlomax_profile_irmgard_bartenieff.php Irmgard Bartinieff] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121102617/http://culturalequity.org/alanlomax/ce_alanlomax_profile_irmgard_bartenieff.php |date=2010-11-21 }} is profiled on Lomax website [http://www.culturalequity.org/ Culturalequity.org].</ref> and dancer and movement therapist Forrestine Paulay co-created the Choreometrics movement coding system, for analyzing dance, mapping the movement of the torso, hands, feet, and use of performance space. In 1968 Lomax's research team published a book, ''Folk Song Style and Culture'', in which they stated that, "for the first time, predictable and universal relationships have been established between the expressive and communication processes, on the one hand, and social structure and culture pattern, on the other".

Gideon D'Arcangelo, a member of the Cantometrics team, described their work this way:<blockquote>Using 37 criteria of observation, the Cantometrics team analyzed over 4,000 songs – around 10 representative songs from over 400 cultures. Each song profile they made was recorded on a computer punch-card and loaded onto the Columbia mainframe. A companion study of dance, Choreometrics, produced analyses of over 1,500 dance performances. Only a computer was capable of handling this enormous data set and looking for the patterns hidden within. The team, led by programmer Norman Berkowitz, developed a powerful set of statistically driven software tools to sort, separate, and group the performance data. Their analyses resulted in the first ever taxonomy of human performance style and in a series of maps showing the dis-semination of culture across the planet. These were presented to the American Association of Science (1966) and later published in the collaborative volume, ''Folk Song Style and Culture'' (1968).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://aln2.albumlinernotes.com/Popular_Songbook.html |title=Gideon D'Arcangelo, "Alan Lomax and the Big Story of Sound" in liner notes to ''The Alan Lomax Popular Song Book'' Rounder CD 82161-1863-1 (2003) |access-date=2012-02-10 |archive-date=2011-10-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006181236/http://aln2.albumlinernotes.com/Popular_Songbook.html |url-status=dead }}</ref></blockquote>