Musical thought in the Chinese tradition is frequently discussed in terms of the Confucian discourse on “ritual and music (lǐyuè 禮樂),” but how this Confucian discourse has been viewed by its critics has seldom been addressed. This paper aims to explore musical thought in the Zhuangzi as a serious critique of Confucian musical discourse. Zhuangzian thinkers doubt whether Confucian ritual music can avoid restricting music within a specific musical tradition, impeding the freedom to enjoy (...) music, and distorting the nature of music. Unlike Confucian discourse, which emphasizes music’s external effects, Zhuangzian musical thought ultimately leads us to focus on the essential questions: how to cultivate one’s own sensibility toward musical harmony, how to open one’s mind to comprehend different musical sources, and how to eventually reach musical Dao. (shrink)

Many philosophers and music theorists have claimed that music is a language, though whether this is meant metaphorically or literally is often unclear. If the claim is meant literally, then it faces serious difficulty—many find it compelling to think that music cannot be a language because it lacks any semantic value. On the other hand, if it is meant metaphorically, then it is not clear what is gained by the metaphor—it is not clear what the metaphor is meant to illuminate. (...) Considering the claim as a metaphor, I take it that what a theorist who speaks in this way is trying to draw our attention to is that there are interesting and illuminating parallels between music and language that might be philosophicallysignificant. Ifthisistheirpoint,thenthequestionis:whatinteresting parallel is it that could be so philosophically significant? (shrink)

In this book the concept of functionalism, well-known in 20th-century architecture and design, is used to investigate the musical thoughts of two of the leading composers at the time of the Bauhaus, the time of Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier. Functionalism may be characterized by the functional treatment of the chosen material, by functional design, and by a focus on the work's intended function. This tripartite requirement also defines the concept of musical functionalism as developed in this study, (...) and it serves as the foundation for a presentation of Schoenberg's and Hindemith's thoughts on the subject. Examined through the lens of musical functionalism, common traits between the two composers become evident, despite all their individual characteristics as artists of noticeable integrity. Discussions of the musical material, of musical form, and of the function of music allow the author to reveal a shared epistemological base underlying the external dissimilarities of the two composers' style and language. (shrink)

"The scholarship of Michael Spitzer's new book is impressive and thorough. The writing is impeccable and the coverage extensive. The book treats the history of the use of metaphor in the field of classical music. It also covers a substantial part of the philosophical literature. The book treats the topic of metaphor in a new and extremely convincing manner."-Lydia Goehr, Columbia University The experience of music is an abstract and elusive one, enough so that we're often forced to describe it (...) using analogies to other forms and sensations: we say that music moves or rises like a physical form that it contains the imagery of paintings or the grammar of language. In these and countless other ways, our discussions of music take the form of metaphor, attempting to describe music's abstractions by referencing more concrete and familiar experiences. Michael Spitzer's Metaphor and Musical Thought uses this process to create a unique and insightful history of our relationship with music--the first ever book-length study of musical metaphor in any language. Treating issues of language, aesthetics, semiotics, and cognition, Spitzer offers an evaluation, a comprehensive history, and an original theory of the ways our cultural values have informed the metaphors we use to address music. And as he brings these discussions to bear on specific works of music and follows them through current debates on how music's meaning might be considered, what emerges is a clear and engaging guide to both the philosophy of musical thought and the history of musical analysis, from the seventeenth century to the present day. Spitzer writes engagingly for students of philosophy and aesthetics, as well as for music theorists and historians. (shrink)

v. 1. Meta-variations : studies in the foundations of musical thought -- v. 2. Compose yourself : a manual for the young.

An Unnatural Attitude traces a style of musical thinking and listening that coalesced in the intellectual milieu of the Weimar Republic and its legacy-the phenomenological style, which involved a search for contact with the world of perception. Resisting the influence of naturalism, figures in this milieu argued for a new understanding and description of the musical experience as something based not in introspection but rather in an attitude of outward, open orientation, where musical experience acquires meaning when (...) the act of listening is physically (materially) shared with others. (shrink)

Husserl famously characterized phenomenology as a science of “infinite tasks.” Among other things, this claim refers to the maximally general scope of phenomeno.

Jairo Moreno adapts the methodologies and nomenclature of Foucault’s "archaeology of knowledge" and applies it through individual case studies to the theoretical writings of Zarlino, Descartes, Rameau, and Weber. His conclusion summarizes the conditions—musical, philosophical, and historical—that "make a certain form of thought about music necessary and possible at the time it emerges." Musical Meaning and Interpretation—Robert S. Hatten, editor.

What does it mean to say that music is deeply moving? Or that music's aesthetic value derives from its deep structure? This study traces the widely employed trope of musical depth to its origins in German-language music criticism and analysis. From the Romantic aesthetics of E. T. A. Hoffmann to the modernist theories of Arnold Schoenberg, metaphors of depth attest to the cross-pollination of music with discourses ranging from theology, geology and poetics to psychology, philosophy and economics. The book (...) demonstrates that the persistence of depth metaphors in musicology and music theory today is an outgrowth of their essential role in articulating and transmitting Germanic cultural values. While musical depth metaphors have historically served to communicate German nationalist sentiments, Watkins shows that an appreciation for the broad connotations of those metaphors opens up exciting new avenues for interpretation. (shrink)

More than a century after Guido Adler's appointment to the first chair in musicology at the University of Vienna, Music, Criticism, and the Challenge of History provides a first look at the discipline in this earliest period, and at the ideological dilemmas and methodological anxieties that characterized it upon its institutionalization. Author Kevin Karnes contends that some of the most vital questions surrounding musicology's disciplinary identities today-the relationship between musicology and criticism, the role of the subject in analysis and the (...) narration of history, and the responsibilities of the scholar to the listening public-originate in these conflicted and largely forgotten beginnings. Karnes lays bare the nature of music study in the late nineteenth century through insightful readings of long-overlooked contributions by three of musicology's foremost pioneers-Adler, Eduard Hanslick, and Heinrich Schenker. Shaped as much by the skeptical pronouncements of the likes of Nietzsche and Wagner as it was by progressivist ideologies of scientific positivism, the new discipline comprised an array of oft-contested and intensely personal visions of music study, its value, and its future. Karnes introduces readers to a Hanslick who rejected the call of positivist scholarship and dedicated himself to penning an avowedly subjective history of Viennese musical life. He argues that Schenker's analytical experiments had roots in a Wagner-inspired search for a critical alternative to Adler's style-obsessed scholarship. And he illuminates Adler's determined response to Nietzsche's warnings about the vitality of artistic and cultural life in an increasingly scientific age. Through sophisticated and meticulous presentation, Music, Criticism, and the Challenge of History demonstrates that the new discipline of musicology was inextricably tied in with the cultural discourse of its time. (shrink)

Musicians generally believe that memory differs from one person to the next. As a result, memorizing strategies that could be useful to almost everyone are not widely taught. We describe how an 18-years old piano student (Grade 7, ABRSM), learned to memorize by recording her thoughts, a technique inspired by studies of how experienced soloists memorize. The student, who had previously ignored suggestions that she play from memory, decided to learn to memorize, selecting Schumann’s “Der Dichter Spricht” for this purpose. (...) Rather than explicitly teaching the student how to memorize, the teacher taught her to record her thoughts while playing by marking them on copies of the score, adapting an approach used previously in research with experienced performers. Over a 6½ week period, the student recorded her thoughts during practice (five times) and while performing from memory for the teacher (three times). The student also video-recorded 3 weeks of practice, three performances, and the reconstruction of the piece from memory after a 9½-weeks break. The thoughts that the student reported were prepared during practice, stable over time, and functioned as memory retrieval cues during reconstruction. This suggests that the student memorized in the same way as the more experienced musicians who have been studied previously and that teaching student musicians to record their thoughts may be an effective way to help them memorize. The speed and durability of her memorization surprised the student, inspiring her to perform in public and to use the same technique for new pieces. (shrink)

What, exactly, is knowledge of music? And what does it tell us about humanistic knowledge in general? _The Thought of Music_ grapples directly with these fundamental questions—questions especially compelling at a time when humanistic knowledge is enmeshed in debates about its character and future. In this third volume in a trilogy on musical understanding that includes _Interpreting Music_ and _Expression and Truth_, Lawrence Kramer seeks answers in both thought _about_ music and thought _in_ music—thinking in tones. (...) He skillfully assesses musical scholarship in the aftermath of critical musicology and musical hermeneutics and in view of more recent concerns with embodiment, affect, and performance. This authoritative and timely work challenges the prevailing conceptions of every topic it addresses: language, context, and culture; pleasure and performance; and, through music, the foundations of understanding in the humanities. The publisher gratefully acknowledges the Joseph Kerman Endowment of the American Musicological Society, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. (shrink)

Why should musical compositions and artistic images be included among the types of expression covered by free speech principles? One way to answer this question is to show how expression in nonverbal media can be functionally similar to other types of verbal expression. But this leaves us with an intuitively unsatisfying explanation of why free speech principles cover nonverbal creative expression that does not functionally emulate literal speech. In this article, as an alternative justification, we develop and defend the (...) idea that musical and pictorial expression‚ much like literal speech, can be media through which people think aloud, as opposed to mere tools for the transmission of thought. We use this proposal to provide a more robust justification for including nonverbal creative expression in the scope of free speech coverage, and we outline some of the practical policy implications that come with adopting this justificatory strategy. (shrink)

What is postmodern music and how does it differ from earlier styles, including modernist music? What roles have electronic technologies and sound production played in defining postmodern music? Has postmodern music blurred the lines between high and popular music? Addressing these and other questions, this ground-breaking collection gathers together for the first time essays on postmodernism and music written primarily by musicologists, covering a wide range of musical styles including concert music, jazz, film music, and popular music. Topics include: (...) the importance of technology and marketing in postmodern music; the appropriation and reworking of Western music by non-Western bands; postmodern characteristics in the music of Górecki, Rochberg, Zorn, and Bolcom, as well as Björk and Wu Tang Clan; issues of music and race in such films as The Bridges of Madison County, Batman, Bullworth, and He Got Game; and comparisons of postmodern architecture to postmodern music. Also includes nine musical examples. (shrink)

In classical music, the immediate canon is Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Mozart. With Bach and Beethoven it is hard to go wrong. But my short list there would be Bach's B Minor Mass and St. Matthew's Passion, The Art of the Fugue, Well-Tempered Klavier, some of the organ music, the Brandenburgs, the Partitas, the Goldberg Variations, and the solo violin works.

Wei-Jin period is characterized by neo-Daoism ( xuanxue 玄學), and J I Kang lived in the midst of this philosophical exploration. Adopting the naturalism of the Zhuangzi , J i Kang expressed his socio-political concerns through the medium of music, which was previously regarded as having moral bearing and rectitude. Denying such rectitude became central for J i Kang, who claimed that music was incapable of possessing human emotion, releasing it from the chains of Confucian ritualism. His investigation into the (...) name and reality of musical expression gave music an “aesthetic turn” lacking in Qin and early Han thought, and by making use of concepts such as natural harmony and spontaneity, J i Kang was able to turn away from the negative aesthetics of earlier thinkers such as H e Yan and W ang Bi to one cherishing the naturalism espoused by Zhuangzi. (shrink)

This book provides instances of what the technology and semantic field of music have contributed to the development of epistemology, logic and the early modern sciences of developmental biology, continuum mechanics anatomy and physiological psychology, as well as what some other domains have given back to the philosophy and theory of music.

Roger Scruton's 530-page blockbuster The Aesthetics of Music was published by Oxford University Press in 1997. A paperback edition followed two years later. Neither received more than a handful of notices, a few appreciative, but some grudging and some actually hostile. As its quality has come to be recognized, and as the resentments it provoked have either died down or found newer targets, the book has gradually achieved a certain canonical, even classic, status. Students of the subject now seem to (...) feel that, however unpalatable some of its conclusions may have been, it can no longer safely be ignored. The questions, it appears, are the right ones, even if we don't care for Scruton's answers. (shrink)

Resumo: A música tradicional chinesa tem uma longa história, repleta de conceitos estéticos ricos e extensos. A integração da música tradicional e das ideias estéticas tem um impacto significativo na formação do sistema musical tradicional da China. Este artigo explora a influência interativa da música tradicional e das ideias estéticas, analisando as ideias musicais da estética tradicional chinesa, buscando promover a integração e o desenvolvimento da música tradicional e das ideias estéticas. Discute o conteúdo das ideias estéticas musicais do (...) confucionismo, taoísmo e moísmo, bem como a posição das ideias estéticas na música tradicional chinesa. Ao combinar e analisar a literatura relevante, livros antigos e materiais históricos, é possível compreender a evolução histórica e a influência mútua da música tradicional e do pensamento estético. Os conceitos estéticos tradicionais não só desempenharam um papel importante no desenvolvimento da música chinesa, mas também na promoção do desenvolvimento da música chinesa, ao longo de milhares de anos de história. Na avaliação da interação entre a música tradicional e o pensamento estético, pode ocorrer uma situação em que o conceito seja demasiado simplificado. A relação entre a música tradicional e o pensamento estético é muito complicada, envolvendo muitas escolas, períodos históricos e regiões. Pode não ser capaz de cobrir totalmente todos os fatores de influência, se for resumido apenas pelo confucionismo, taoísmo e budismo. Sugere-se que a educação e a herança da música tradicional e das ideias estéticas sejam fortalecidas, na educação musical. Artistas musicais mais tradicionais e os teóricos da estética devem ser cultivados, a fim de poder transmitir a música tradicional e as ideias estéticas às gerações futuras e continuar a desenvolver-se e a inovar, na sociedade contemporânea. (shrink)

Resumo: Sendo um dos tesouros da cultura chinesa, a música tradicional chinesa tem carregado ricos pensamentos morais desde os tempos antigos. sendo uma parte importante do sistema de valores da cultura tradicional chinesa. No entanto, com o desenvolvimento da sociedade e a diversificação da cultura, o rápido ritmo social e a popularidade da música popular trouxeram grande impacto à música tradicional, que foi gradualmente esquecida devido ao seu abandono. Ao explorar a aplicação e o valor da música tradicional chinesa na (...) educação moral e no cultivo da virtude neste artigo, combinamos a cultura musical tradicional com os hábitos de vida dos residentes modernos, tais como educação, eventos sociais de grande escala, competições e festivais de música. Através da educação escolar e de atividades comunitárias regulares, buscamos fornecer novas ideias e experiências práticas para a herança e inovação da cultura tradicional. Através da integração dos meios de comunicação modernos e das formas de arte, o conceito moral da música tradicional está ligado à sociedade moderna, formando uma nova ecologia cultural mais moderna e inclusiva. Ao fazer uso dos ricos recursos de pensamento moral da música tradicional chinesa, mostramos que o seu papel e valor insubstituíveis na educação moral e no cultivo da virtude. (shrink)

German jazz and the metronome of race -- The jazz paradox: race and totalitarian politics in German jazz reception -- The jazz machine: Brecht and the politics of jazz -- The monkey's trick: Herman Hesse and the music of decline -- The music of fascism: Adorno on jazz -- Jazz-Heinis: Klaus Mann and jazz ontology.

Tippett is often cast as a composer with a strong visionary streak, but what does that mean for a twentieth-century artist? In this multi-faceted study, David Clarke explores Tippett's complex creative imagination - its dialogue between a romantic's aspirations to the ideal and absolute, and a modernist's sceptical realism. He shows how the musical formations of works such as The Midsummer Marriage, King Priam, and The Vision of Saint Augustine resonate with the aesthetic and theoretical ideas of key figures (...) in modern Western culture - some known to have been influential to the composer, others not usually associated with him. Analyses of late works such as the Triple Concerto and Byzantium also speculate on Tippett's sexuality as a critical element in his creative and political consciousness. (shrink)

Resumen: El piano, de origen europeo, es la cristalización de la civilización musical occidental y es conocido como el rey de los instrumentos musicales. Después de cientos de años de desarrollo, ha desarrollado un sistema relativamente completo de creación, interpretación y enseñanza. En este proceso, se puede ver que hay muchas obras de música para piano con el estilo y el encanto únicos del pensamiento tradicional chino, utilizando el método de la música folclórica china y la melodía con características (...) chinas. La combinación de pensamientos tradicionales y piano demuestra el encanto único de la música china, con una fuerte herencia cultural y atractivo artístico. Por lo tanto, las obras de música para piano infiltradas en el pensamiento tradicional chino no son sólo un tesoro de China, sino también un elemento indispensable en la interpretación y educación del piano chino. El propósito de este artículo es comprender y reflexionar profundamente sobre las obras de música para piano en la cultura tradicional china, explorar la singularidad y el encanto de las obras de música para piano chinas y comprender la encarnación de los pensamientos tradicionales chinos en la creación de música para piano, explorando así la singularidad y la innovación. de la creación de música para piano china, proporcionando referencia y apoyo para promover el desarrollo de las obras de música para piano china. (shrink)

Music is an artistic cultural innovation, and therefore it may be considered as intuitive thought expressed in symbols, which can efficiently convey multiple meanings in learning, thinking, and transmission, selected for and passed on through cultural evolution. The symbolic system has personal adaptive benefits besides social ones, which should not be overlooked even if music may tend more to the latter.

Rousseau's extensive writings on music provide an important, though underutilized perspective on his political thought. In this article the author argues that Rousseau's understanding of music provides him with a critical standpoint, political ideal and educative tool for evaluating and reshaping political communities. Through his insistence that music's emotional appeal derives from melody rather than harmony, Rousseau ties music to language and to the shared sentiments that underlie and define a given society. By emphasizing the affective basis of social (...) bonds, Rousseau draws on the qualities of musical melody to articulate a vision of politics in which societies are held together by persuasion and agreement rather than force or self-interest. Reading Rousseau's political thought in light of his views on music, the author suggests, makes it possible to distinguish between formal and substantive conceptions of freedom in his work and highlights the complementary roles that music and the lawgiver play in forging the shared sentiments that constitute political freedom. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Journal of Aesthetic Education 38.1 (2004) 89-104 [Access article in PDF] The Ethical Power of Music:Ancient Greek and Chinese Thoughts Yuhwen Wang Both the ancient Chinese and Greeks from around the fifth century B.C. to around third century A.D. recognized the immense impact that music has on the development of one's personality, and both regarded it as crucial in cultivation for the proper disposition in youth. Music's power (...) over one's ethos 1 — that is, human disposition — was emphasized by Plato and by Chinese authors of various documents. 2 As will become clear, music in both cultures was considered an important means for a proper education and a powerful tool for cultivating and controlling the people of a nation-state. In both cases, the power of music was further connected to the way the universe works. Yet despite their similar views about music, the reasoning strategies used in the two cultures differ enormously. Observing how the two remote cultures conceived the relationship between music and the ethos may give us some insight to music's role in aesthetic education among us modern listeners.In this essay, I investigate how the power of music was understood and explained in these two ancient cultures, and the similarities and differences in their explanations and reasoning strategies. What mechanisms were thought to be at work behind this musical power? How close are ancient Greeks and Chinese in their conceptions of musical power upon the ethos? In particular, the Yue Ji (Record of Music, from the Li Ji) and the Yue Shu (Book of Music, from the Shi Ji) from ancient China, and Plato's writings from ancient Greece will be taken as the foci of the comparison.The Yue Ji and Yue Shu are two of the most important documents in ancient Chinese musical philosophy, respectively included as individual sections in the Li Ji (Record of Rituals) and Shi Ji (Records of the Grand Historian). Both are believed to be later versions of the same source document, which has never been found. In the Chinese textual tradition, the Yue Ji is the earliest fully developed treatise on music that has come down to us. Its authorship has been debated for centuries, but scholars generally agree that [End Page 89] it was completed prior to the middle of the Western Han dynasty (second and first centuries B.C.) The entire contents of the Yue Ji are included in the Yue Shu. The latter contains additional material, is organized in a more logical way, and is also thought to have been compiled during the Western Han dynasty. 3In the first part of this essay, I will use the Yue Ji, the Yue Shu, and Plato's writings to show how the concept of music's power over the ethos evolved in the two ancient cultures. This is closely related to their views on music's effect in regulating human behavior, its educational value, its benefits for governing a state, and its close association with Nature and the universe. Then in the second part, I will focus on the ways that Plato and the authors of the Yue Ji and Yue Shu explained this power, and the reasoning strategies that they used. Essential Belief in Music's Power The close relationship between music and the ethos is explicitly announced in the Yue Ji and the Yue Shu. Both documents state approvingly that "music represented (made clear) virtue" for the ancient rulers (SSJ, 5, 678). 4 Various kinds of music are then pointed out as having different effects upon human ethos and emotion: Men have powers of the body and powers of the mind but they cannot remain stable with regard to grief, pleasure, joy, and anger. They are moved by external causes. Thus originates the appearance of the various affections. Therefore, if feeble, trivial, and rushed music prevails, people will be sad. If harmonious, peaceful, varied but simple music prevails, people will be gratified and happy. If vigorous, violent, and forceful music prevails, which arouses people to... (shrink)

Resumo: A filosofia contribui significativamente para a herança do pensamento humano e do espírito humanista. As explorações tradicionais da filosofia, geralmente racionais e abstratas, podem ter dificuldade em se envolver profundamente com as emoções e experiências humanas. Este artigo investiga a expressão de ideias filosóficas, por meio da música vocal, especialmente durante a era romântica, para preencher essa lacuna. Ao examinar a integração de conceitos filosóficos, nas composições vocais do século XIX, o estudo destaca como a música vocal pode servir (...) como um meio potente para o discurso filosófico. O estudo explora a relação simbiótica entre a música vocal e a filosofia, analisando como as árias expressam e perseguem questionamentos filosóficos. Esta pesquisa avalia o papel da música vocal na exploração filosófica, através de três dimensões: expressão emocional, comunicação conceitual e impacto inspirador. As descobertas visam a demonstrar o poder transformador da música, para transmitir pensamentos filosóficos, inspirando uma contemplação mais profunda da vida, da existência e dos valores, além de incentivar uma reavaliação da capacidade única da música vocal de comunicar ideias profundas. (shrink)

A provocative book explores the relationship of music and the natural world.

Between present and past, visible and invisible, and sensation and idea, there is resonance—so philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty argued and so Jessica Wiskus explores in The Rhythm of Thought.