Normal Science

In his influential 1962 book "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" American historian and philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn challenged the commonly held notion of scientific progress as a gradual accumulation of knowledge. According to Kuhn, scientists typically operate within a paradigm (a term which he popularized), conducting experiments based on the accepted theories and methodologies of their era. He referred to this approach as puzzle-solving, a type of routine scientific work focused on resolving small problems, without fundamentally questioning the paradigm's underlying assumptions. Actual scientific progress, says Kuhn, occurs when anomalies arise that cannot be explained by the existing paradigm, similar to when a piece of the puzzle just won’t fit. When these odd occurrences accumulate to a point where they can no longer be ignored or explained within the current paradigm, a crisis arises, which in turn leads to a scientific revolution — a fundamental shift in the underlying theories and methods of a field. In Kuhn’s parlance: a paradigm shift.

In my string octet, Normal Science, commissioned by the 2024 Lumières d’Europe festival, I drew inspiration from the festival’s multidisciplinary theme, “Beethoven and the Revolutions,” to explore how Kuhn’s concept of paradigm shift might relate to music. The initial “paradigm” of the piece is the persistent repetition of a Baroque-inspired harmonic sequence. Within this structure, the octet operates in a puzzle-solving manner, experimenting with different interpretations of the underlying harmonic structure, while maintaining the motion and integrity of the sequence. Gradually, anomalies accumulate, disrupting and fragmenting the flow of the sequence, thus challenging the existing paradigm. This disruption leads to a moment of crisis, prompting the emergence of a new paradigm—perceived as a change in musical genre—that offers a fresh perspective on the earlier material.