Deirdre Loughridge

Category: Neo- and Paleologisms

  • Word of the Day: Hyperhuman

    Hyperhuman, adj. /ˈhaɪpərˌhjumən/

    Possessing a quality of human presence or expression that has been intensified or heightened by means of technology

    The Levitin Lab study of how musicians communicate emotion produced a hyperhuman performance of Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 55, No. 1 by algorithmically exaggerating the timing and dynamics of a human performance, and finding that listeners perceived this exaggerated performance – never executed by a human – as more emotional.

    Listen to the hyperhuman performance of Chopin’s Op. 55, No. 1 (audio clip)

    Hyperhuman?: Imogen Heap performs “Hide and Seek” with voice and vocoder

  • Word of the Day: Musical Pantechnicon

    “What would Philadelphia be without its orchestra?” cry traditionalists. Good question, but it’s not the only one. Realists are demanding to know exactly what a city of six million wrestling with post-industrial decline gains from having a costly and cumbersome musical pantechnicon.

    Norman Lebrecht, “What Happens When the Band Stops Playing?” Standpoint (July/Aug 2011)

    Musical Pantechnicon, n.

    U. S.  /ˈmjuzək(ə)l/  /pænˈtɛknəˌkɑn/   A collection of all (“pan”) arts and crafts (“techne”) for the production of music; a large and diverse assortment of musical instruments, played by machine or by humans.  Example: the panharmonicon, a mechanical orchestra built by Nepomuk Maelzel in 1811 and for which Beethoven composed Wellington’s Victory, was a musical pantechnicon.

    Brit.  /ˈmjuːzᵻkl/  /panˈtɛknᵻk(ə)n/   An over-sized vehicle for large pieces of furniture music.

    Pantechnicon

    Musical Pantechnicon

    photo by Jordan Fischer

  • Word of the Day: Zankelfication

    Zankelfication, noun /zæŋk(ə)lfəˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/

    etymology: derived from Zankel Hall, the underground multimedia-friendly recital space at Carnegie Hall that programs classical, jazz, world, and pop music; coined by Zachery Woolf in a December 2, 2010 Capital New York article on cellist Maya Beiser

    definition: 1) the incorporation of new values, elements or practices into a tradition – particularly a tradition considered moribund or in need of popularization – so as simultaneously to revitalize and threaten that tradition; 2) hybridization; 3) spectacularization; 4) “cross-over” driven by artistic rather than marketing concerns

    The group [Eighth Blackbird] was founded 15 years ago with the goal of focusing on a relatively small repertory, with theatrically charged performances and memorized music. (The Zankelfication of classical music in action). (Capital New York, Feb 18, 2011)

    back formation: zankelfy (verb)

    Zoe Keating zankelfies Beethoven.

  • Word of the Day: Technasma

    Technasma – trick, artifice, device

    In his Phonurgia Nova (1673), Athanasius Kircher described a technasma he claimed could broadcast music to listeners two to three miles away:


    Technasma.