Music Aesthetics and Philosophy of Music

Nasuprot aktuelnim studijama iz filozofije muzike, prema kojima je elektronska muzika izvršila potpunu reviziju tradicionalnih muzičkih pojmova, među kojima su i pojmovi kompozitora i interpretarora, u ovom radu izložiću tezu prema kojoj ele ktron ska muzika ne odbacuje sasvim tradicionalnu muzičku koncepciju. Razmatrajući različita izražajna sredstva, kojima se koriste stvaraoci klasične i elektronske muzike, dolazim do zaključka da je u elektronskoj muzici zvučni zapis, odnosno sam zvuk, osnovna jedinica građe muzičkog dela, a ne ton kao temelj klasične muzike. Iz tog razloga, kompozitor elektronske muzike je muzički producent. S obzirom na to da se delatnost disk-džokeja zasniva na kreiranju disk-džokej seta, koji se sastoji od gotovih elektronskih muzičkih numera, pri čemu se nad tim numerama izvode intervencije nalik promeni tempa, tumačenju raspoloženja numere i slično, ova delatnost se približava delatnosti interpretatora klasične muzike. Takođe, sličnost sa interakcijom kompozitora i inter pretatora klasične muzike potvrđuje i to što producenti prilagođavaju elektronsku numeru disk-džokejevom izvođenju.
Ključne reči: elektronska muzika, zvučni zapis, producent, disk-džokej, stvaralac, interpretator.


Many studies in philosophy of music claim that electronic music has completely revised the traditional musical concepts, such as the composer or performer. In this paper we will try to explain that electronic music does not entirely reject these traditional concepts. Taking into consideration the units of expression creators of classical and electronic music use, we conclude that the sound recording, and therefore sound itself, is the primary creative element of electronic music - not the tone, as is the case in classical music. Consequently, a composer of electronic music is a music producer. A DJ creates a DJ set which includes the pieces of electronic music that could be altered in terms of the tempo, mood, etc., which is the same as the classical performance. Also, the electronic piece is made to be adequately used in a DJ performance, like in the case of classical music notation and performance.
Keywords: electronic music, sound recording, producer, DJ, composer, performer.

Estetski doživljaj popularne muzike i njegova uloga u Šustermanovoj odbrani popularne umetnosti

Američki estetičar Ričard Šusterman (Richard Shusterman) u knjizi "Pragmatist Aesthetics: Living Beauty, Rethinking Art" razmatra brojne prigovore upućene različitim oblicima popularne umetnosti. U radu se razmatra u kojoj meri je za Šustermanovu odbranu popularne umetnosti relevantno pitanje da li dela ove vrste umetnosti mogu pobuditi estetski doživljaj u svojim recipijentima. Budući da ovaj estetičar ne izdvaja problem estetskog doživljaja dela popularne umetnosti kao teorijski motiv koji je u osnovi prigovora upućenih ovoj vrsti umetničkog stvaralaštva, u radu se navode razlozi zbog kojih bi ovakva interpretacija Šustermanove odbrane popularne umetnosti doprinela razumevanju tog teorijskog poduhvata. Nakon sagledavanja različitih kritika popularne umetnosti, na koje Šusterman odgovara analizirajući produkciju i recepciju popularne muzike, rad se približava zaključku da se najveći deo Šustermanove odbrane popularne umetnosti direktno ili indirektno tiče stava da su u delu popularne muzike ostvareni svi uslovi za odgovarajuće estetsko doživljavanje.

Ključne reči: Ričard Šusterman (Richard Shusterman), popularna muzika, popularna umetnost, estetika popularne muzike


Aesthetic experience of popular music and its role in Shusterman’s defense of popular art

In his book "Pragmatist Aesthetics: Living Beauty, Rethinking Art", American aesthetician Richard Shusterman examines numerous objections to various forms of popular art. The paper deals with the extent to which Shusterman’s defense of popular art is concerned with whether the work of this kind can be experienced aesthetically. Since the aesthetic experience of popular art is not the main theoretical motive underlying the objections analyzed by Shusterman in this book, the paper presents the reasons why such an interpretation of his aesthetics of popular art would contribute to the understanding of his defense of this kind of art. After considering various objections to popular art, to which Shusterman responds by analyzing the production and reception of popular music, the paper concludes that most of Shusterman’s defense of popular art is directly or indirectly based on the view that popular music can be experienced aesthetically, since popular music compositions fulfill all the conditions required for the experience of this kind.

Keywords: Richard Shusterman, popular music, popular art, aesthetics of popular music

This volume brings together scholars and artist-researchers to explore the nature and function of musical instruments in creative practices, and their role in musical culture. Through historical, theoretical, critical, practical-artistic perspectives and case studies, the contributors here examine identities and affordances of acoustical, electronic and digital musical instruments, the kinds of relationships that composers and performers establish with them, and the crucial role they play in the emergence of musical experiences and meanings.

A survey of definitions and characterizations of popular music, leading to my own proposal that the concept is essentially contrastive, and functions only in musical cultures where there is also a field of music ("art music") that is valued primarily for its capacity to deliver aesthetic pleasure as a reward of focused, attentive listening. In contrast, popular music is multi-functional and (relatively) more accessible.

This article deals with the philosophical idea of worldmaking pursued through techné, meaning the fusion of the technical means of artistic creation, theorizing, and analysis, but specifically occurring in a feedback loop involving introspection and computation (cybernetic phenomenology). The discussion ranges over a wide variety of topics, including (1) the history of music theory from Ancient Greece to the present (including a rebuttal to Daniel Chua’s (2001) account of music history); (2) emergent properties in music arising from self-organization (explored through the Ancient Chinese abstract strategy board game go); (3) the ontology of musical qualities (properties) and categories (including their relation to visual, tactile, and olfactory qualities and categories). 
Various repertoires, artists, and philosophies are referenced. The essay analyzes aspects of Ligeti’s Violin Concerto, Carter’s String Quartet No. 5, and Lachenmann’s Kinderspiel.  Connections to the author’s own previous analytical and theoretical work are also discussed in relation to his interactive algorithmic audio-visual works (such as Fluxations and FluxNOISations). The techné of these is discussed in terms of logistics as well as aesthetic influences, including Wagner, Liszt, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Crawford, Babbitt, Carter, Xenakis, Parker, Reich, Ligeti, Truax, Oliveros, Kandinsky, Miro, Pollock, Pollock, Hofmann, Rothko, Louis, Frankenthaler, Moholy-Nagy, Newman, Richter, and Brakhage.  The essay touches on philosophical ideas of Bergson, Whitehead, Deleuze, Harman, and Bogost, and more fully engages the philosophies of Nelson Goodman and Hannah Arendt in connection with artistic creation as relating to the theorizing and analysis of artistic works.     

Contact the author at jmailman@alumni.uchicago.edu
Download the article through JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7757/persnewmusi.54.1.0005
or http://tinyurl.com/zdvkllr

Historical survey and analysis of the concept of authenticity as it has been applied to demarcate rock music from the rest of popular music, together with analysis of related concepts of creativity and originality. Chapter includes a very extensive bibliography.

The Allman Brothers Band is surprisingly neglected in academic
scholarship. In this essay I argue that the band was, from 1969 to 1975,
a paradigm case of Romanticism in rock. To this end I advance three
arguments. First, by rejecting a teleological model of music’s history, we
can defuse Adorno’s criticism that their deployment of Romantic musical
strategies is merely a recycling of earlier achievements. By emphasizing
their improvisatory performance practice, we can defuse the idea that
they set out to create autonomous art. Second, classification as twentieth-
century Romantics does not involve an appeal to necessary or sufficient
conditions for Romanticism. Instead, it is established by reference
to a cluster concept analysis of Romanticism. Third, the improvisational
project that was the Allman Brothers Band combined well-established
Romantic tropes with the quintessential Romantic musical genre, the fantasy,
in which conventional musical elements can contribute to unconventional
music. Although rooted in simple and familiar material, Allman
Brothers improvisations retained a spontaneous expressivity, especially
for an audience unfamiliar with their historical precedents. Together,
these features result in musical performances that were, like most jazz,
resistive to musical convention in a manner that communicated resistance to prevailing social norms.

Keywords: Allman Brothers Band, Romanticism, improvisation, popular
music, aesthetics

Popular music is a neglected topic in philosophy, and only recently have philosophers examined it sympathetically and with concern for its positive attributes. The distinction of some music as popular music is infrequent in Western culture before the eighteenth century and only became common in the nineteenth century. The category arose in contrast to the development of the music we now label as classical music. As with many cultural categories, its essential and common features are highly contested. In the late twentieth century, philosophers of music became more supportive of the position that popular music can be aesthetically and artistically meritorious. This trend accelerated a shift away from generalised positions on the nature of value of popular music in favour of focused explorations of specific issues and examination of specific genres and their attendant issues. Philosophical discussions of popular music frequently stress that its value extends beyond its stereotyped status as simple, pleasurable entertainment. Popular music often merits complex audience engagement with the performance and the performer, inviting reflection on its social and political uses by performers and audiences. Finally, there is debate about ways that work instantiation and performance practices differ in the fields of popular and classical music-a debate that carries the implication that classical music should not be regarded as the norm for developing general theories in philosophy of music.

Jani Christou (1926–1970) was among the most exciting and provocative figures of the twentieth-century musical avant-garde, introducing a body of work of rigorous consistency that integrates philosophical aspects and notions. His contribution to the sonic world goes beyond the strictly musical innovations in terms of technique and style. This article explores the intellectual notions that this great thinker embodied functionally in his compositions, offering a broader inspiration that relates to human expressive needs. Having been educated under philosophers rather than musicians, Christou manifested a unique attitude towards art which interconnects music, contemplation and one’s way of living.

Sažetak: U radu se sagledava Platonovo i Aristotelovo viđenje udela koji muzika ima u moralnom vaspitanju, s posebnim osvrtom na one delove "Države" i "Politike" koji se tiču muzičke harmonije i muzičkih lestvica kao formalnih aspekata muzike. Upoređivanjem stavova ovih autora, najpre dolazi do izražaja različiti pristup samoj muzičkoj umetnosti, koji ima konsekvence kako u slučaju njihovog koncipiranja vaspitanja, tako i u pogledu određenih estetičkih postavki koje oni prihvataju. Ukazivanjem na razlike u njihovom izboru muzičkih lestvica i instrumenata pogodnih za vaspitanje, u radu se razmatra da li se razlozi zbog kojih ove razlike postoje tiču filozofskih uvida ove dvojice mislilaca ili konvencionalno ustanovljenih obrazaca muziciranja u njihovoj epohi, obrazaca na koje ovi autori referišu, iako dolaze do suprotnih stavova.

Ključne reči: Platon, Aristotel, Država, Politika, vaspitanje, muzika, muzičke lestvice

Theodor W. Adorno published in the decades of the 40s and 50s a few items that are sort of a beginning for future studies on popular music. Although the tone was especially critical, ideas and arguments of Adorno today are still used, also in the field of popular music, as critical to the marketability of certain music as strongly rationalist current musical analysis.

This essay does two things. First, it unpacks the central element of Stravinsky’s theory of performance, namely the ideology of execution. The logistics of this ideology are discussed by invoking the discipline of Ergonomics, with its tripartite performative mantra of efficacy, efficiency, and effectiveness. Secondly, it unpacks the indeterminacy at the heart of Stravinsky’s ideology. Showing that execution exists in a dialectical relationship with interpretation, it argues that the indeterminacy within this dialectical relationship is what affords the deliverance of expressiveness from Stravinsky’s music.

[English below]:
A discussão sobre o valor expressivo dos modos (ou, mais tarde, tons) remonta aos dias de Platão e Aristóteles. Mesmo com a atribuição de significados presente na teoria e estética musical tanto no início como no declínio do sistema tonal, não existe um consenso pleno entre os estudiosos sobre qual sentido deveria ser atribuído a um modo (Dórico, Lídio, etc.) ou a uma tonalidade (Dó maior, Ré menor, etc). A divergência entre os estudiosos nunca permitiu a criação de uma teoria universal da semântica dos modos e das tonalidades, tal como ocorre num dicionário ou léxico. Tendo isso em mente, é crucial estar consciente da semântica dos modos ao interpretar composições da common practice. No caso de Beethoven a sua profunda sensibilidade sobre a expressão tonal, assim como a sua consciência (também histórica) dos significados das to-nalidades são muito bem documentadas. Em sua última fase criativa, Beethoven também procurou aplicar modos gregos em suas composições (por exemplo, na sua Missa solemnis, ou Quarteto op. 132). Contudo, ao lado das propriedades expressivas de cada tonalidade ou modo, em numerosas obras de Beethoven era mais frequente a organização da sequência de tonalidades ou o resultado do contraste entre elas, que permitia, por meio de sua expressão, produzir significados. O objetivo deste artigo será, então, considerar os possíveis fatores importantes para Beethoven que formaram a sua consciência da ex-pressão tonal.

The discussion about the expressive value of modes (or, later, keys) goes back to the days of Plato and Aristotle. Even though the attribution of meanings has been present in theory and aesthetics of music both at the beginning and in the decline of tonal system, there is no full consensus among the authors as to which meaning should be attributed to a mode (Doric, Lydian, etc.) or to a key (C major, D minor, etc.). The divergence among scholars never allowed the creation of a universal theory of the semantics of modes and tones, as occurs, for example, in a dictionary or lexicon. Bearing this in mind, it is crucial to be aware of the semantics of keys, while interpreting compositions from the common practice period. In the case of Beethoven, his profound sensitivity to tonal expression, as well as his awareness (also historical) of the meaning of keys, are well-documented. In his last creative phase, Beethoven also sought to apply Church modes in his works (for example, in his Missa solemnis, or String Quartet Op. 132). However, alongside the expressive characteristics of each key or mode, in many works of Beethoven it is more frequently an organization of the sequence of keys, or contrast between them, that participates in the creation of expressive meanings. Therefore, the purpose of this article will be to consider the possible factors important to Beethoven that formed his awareness of tonal expression.

Domestic space, music technology and the emergence of solitary listening 105 Domestic space, music technology and the emergence of solitary listening Tracing the roots of solipsistic sound culture in the digital age Tobias Pontara and Ulrik Volgsten As has been repeatedly pointed out, musical culture has changed radically with the development of digital technology and the Internet. These changes have affected both the way music is produced and consumed. With regard to the latter, the possibility of instantly accessing enormous quantities of music at any time of the day in whatever location imaginable has put the consumer of music in a situation that only ten or fifteen years ago was unimaginable. Today one can download as many playlists as one wants from any preferred streaming site and turn them into a virtually unlimited music library that can be brought to almost any corner of the world, whether it is the North Pole, a busy city like New York or Mumbai, or the shopping mall around the corner. In addition, modern noise-cancelling headphones effectively block out any unwelcome environmental sounds, making it possible to stage one's own personal sound-and musicscapes at will. This possibility to constantly carry around a plurality of more or less carefully designed sound worlds has created a situation where many people in modern society increasingly live in their own privatised sound bubbles. It is a situation above all characterised by what has been described metaphorically as a 'solipsistic' sound culture, in which indi-vidualised and solitary listening has become the norm (Bull, 2007, pp. 26-33). Although digital technology has enabled a radicalisation of solipsistic sound culture, the kind of solitary listening characteristic of this culture was in place well before the invention of portable compact disc players, iPods, mobile phones and the Internet. The possibility of creating and carrying along one's personal sound bubbles became a reality with the Walkman in 1979, although the way was already paved by the pocket transistor radios of the mid-fifties (portable crystal receivers with headphones being available a couple of decades earlier). In this article we develop some hypothetical considerations that concern the broader contours of a process in which, during the course of the 20th century, technological developments in conjunction with transformations of domestic space enabled a new way of listening to music that has been taken to its logical conclusion © STM-SJM and the authors.

RÉSUMÉ
Ce second volume de la Phénoménologie du dialogue répond conceptuellement à l’élan d’une recherche philosophique comparative tendue vers le concret, dont la tonalité fondamentale est l’espérance. Opérant la suspension des préjugés du discours réducteur sur le religieux, l’auteur déploie la perspective d’une phénoménologie de l’expérience religieuse qui répond à la primauté impérative du dialogue spirituel et illumine la  transcendance génératrice de la personne. L’orchestration de cette méditation comprend quatre mouvements : la grammaire de l’expérience mystique ; l’exemple philosophique et praxique de la pensée de Jacques Maritain ; la phénoménologie de la résonance religieuse selon les phénomènes de conscience, et enfin la mise en perspective sémantique du concept d’harmonie. Son style intellectuel émane d’une enquête conduite à la croisée des chemins de pensée philosophiques, théologiques et esthétiques, authentique « répons » au commandement du dialogue spirituel.

The author suggests that music harbours a special capacity for its listeners to sympathetically relate to foreign sets of values. Music has the ability to function as a limit-transgressing and unifying link at both a collective and individual level. That music is particularly suited for this has to do with the emotional power of music, the affective impact by which music in its very specific way becomes a felt experience in time. On the one hand we may be affectively addressed by (in principle) any music, irrespectively of cultural differences. But above all, music – one’s “own” music – has the possibility to become a confirming self-object, enhancing a self-confidence that enables critical assimilation, rather than authoritarian dismissal. This may thereby facilitate and enable constructive and enriching encounters with others. Listening to and learning about the sets of aesthetic values that define different cultures, styles and genres of music – but also others’ individual preferences and aesthetic appraisals – may thus function as cultivation of social competence in an aesthetic context. However, for this sympathetic function of music to come off on the individual level, certain requirements must be met.

Abstract
It is widely assumed that the perception of the musical work changed radically around the beginning of the 19th century. Not only aestheticians and music theorists, but listeners too, started to listen to music as if the sounds heard were the aural signs of autonomous musical works. Works became heard as structurally unified wholes represented by composers in scores—the works, once created, were assumed to exist like Platonic entities after their creators had died, irrespectively of whether they were performed or listened to at any given time. This picture of 19th century listening can be questioned on many grounds. Here it is done by studying the music criticism of the daily press in Stockholm during the years 1835, -55, -85, and 1905. Although Stockholm can be considered peripheral on both geographical and cultural grounds, as such it may nevertheless give a reasonable idea of what the lay listener of the average audience may have heard. To this end, it is argued, examination of the daily criticism may be a more plausible source of information than the scholarly journals more commonly examined by musicologists and music historians. Should the Stockholm case turn out to be an anomaly among the cities of Europe (a question not answered here), this in itself would call for an explanation. Here the no less challenging question is limited to asking if, and if so by which terms, the Stockholm audience of the 19th century listened to musical works?

This chapter deals with the control of imagination. Three thematically distinct aspects of sonic imagination are investigated-archive, context, and identification-together with two modes of connection with the environment-metaphorical projection and affect attunement. It is argued that much of the available work on sonic imagination, music perception, and embodied cognitive science suffers from a one-person perspective, unable to explain either the difference between environmental sound and culture-specific music, or the dominant role of feelings in our musical experiences. In its stead an approach is suggested that assigns central importance to affect attunement in our encounters with sound and music. Through a case study, different types of sonic control are exemplified, showing that control of sonic imagination may be both negative and positive for the listener.

The French composer, Olivier Messiaen, tried to bring specific references to texts in Thomas Aquinas and other writers by means of various methods of coding notes to letters. He also tried to express such meaning through the music itself. This paper explores how he went about these tasks.

Time comprises, in the classical-romantic tradition, a theme of paramount importance. Its understanding is seen as a basic pre-requisite for the reproduction of a given musical work to be deemed as successful. There are, however, among the critics and interpreters, deeply set disagreements as to the criteria for application of time to the interpretative practice. Such divergences are also noticeable in the history of Philosophy, this being the reason why we shall primarily undertake a bibliographical survey through the notion of time in Augustine, Newton, Leibniz and Kant. In this task, we ascertain how different visions of time can influence musical practice. At a second step, time is analyzed as a theoretical category of musical interpretation. Finally, two models of time perception to be applied in musical practice are presented. Bearing, especially, an investigative purpose, the present article aims to clarify the notion of musical time and provide theoretical subsidies for interpreter-musicians and analysts. At the same time, I aim to point out alternatives to current models of musical time.
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Na tradição musical clássico-romântica, o tempo constitui um tema de suma importância. Sua compreensão é vista como pré-requisito fundamental para que a reprodução de uma determinada obra musical possa ser considerada bem-sucedida. Existem, no entanto, entre críticos e intérpretes profundas divergências sobre os critérios de aplicação do tempo na prática interpretativa. Tais divergências notam-se também na história da filosofia, razão pela qual faremos primeiramente uma pesquisa bibliográfica que passeia pela noção de tempo em Agostinho, Newton, Leibniz e Kant. Nessa tarefa, verificamos como diferentes acepções de tempo podem influir na prática interpretativa. Num segundo passo, o tempo é analisado como categoria teórica da interpretação musical. Por fim, são apresentados dois modelos de percepção temporal para serem aplicados na prática interpretativa. Tendo, sobretudo, um fim investigativo, o presente artigo pretende contribuir para a elucidação da noção de tempo musical e oferecer subsídios teóricos para músicos-intérpretes e analistas. Ao mesmo tempo, pretende-se apontar alternativas a modelos vigentes.

Ce premier chapitre de la section Mots clés de la série « Anthologie du phem » s’intéresse à une des questions cruciales du débat musicographique parisien dans l’entre-deux-guerres, à savoir les rapports entre musique et internationalisme (ou cosmopolitisme). Les trois articles sélectionnés expriment trois positions très différentes et articulées : l’universalisme francocentrique, la condamnation de l’internationalisme considéré comme illusoire et l’utopie cosmopolite. À une époque traversée par l’idéal d’une coopération internationale pacifique et par les nationalismes les plus exacerbés, les discours développés dans ces articles permettent de faire la lumière sur les enjeux politiques et esthétiques qui sous-tendent le débat musical.

We shall be considering here the problem of how meaning arises in the instrumental music of Claude Debussy. Let us immediately impose upon ourselves a certain restriction: we will not be interested in intended meaning, that is, we will pass over all imitative elements, such as gusts of wind or rising mists, although it is a singularly rewarding subject. I would like, instead, to deliberate the meaning of some of the structural features of Debussy's music, which he himself placed above the evocative powers of his musical language-be it only due to the con tinual corrections which he felt obliged to make towards those who de fined his music with the epithet pittoresque. Let us remember that in the final years of his output, he wrote works which contained increasingly fewer allusions to the extra-musical world. These works-the Etudes, En blanc et noir, sonatas-also cast a peculiar light on his earlier output. Whilst bypassing programmatic meanings, I would not like to isolate Debussy from that which was occurring during his lifetime in other arts. On the contrary, this context is of primary significance, as it allows us to link musical phenomena with others that are easier to interpret, and via this circuitous route to draw closer to an understanding of music. I will, however, maintain the same restriction with regard to those other arts: we are interested in 'distant' meaning, that is, the way in which a work is or ganised, and we will pass over 'near' meaning, connected with immediate content. Another reference point, which will allow me to crystallise my ideas, will be Leonard B. Meyer's theory of musical emotion and meaning.

Disagreeing with Jerrold Levinson's claim that being conscious of broad-span musical form is not essential to understanding music, I will argue that our awareness of musical architecture is significant to achieve comprehension. I will show that the experiential model is not incompatible with the analytic model. My main goal is to show that these two models can be reconciled through the identification of a broader notion of understanding. After accomplishing this reconciliation by means of my new conception, I will close the paper by discussing some reasons to accept an enhancing notion of musical understanding that includes levels and degrees of understanding.

in Will Daddario & Karoline Gritzner (eds.), Adorno and Performance (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), 82-97

From the editors' introduction:

"Adorno’s life-long preoccupation with music is duly noted by Anthony Gritten whose chapter focuses on a recurrent metaphor in Towards a Theory of Musical Reproduction, namely what Adorno terms “culinary music-making.” His critique of this phenomenon is unpacked with an ear for the metaphor’s potential to act as the basis of a critical theory of performing. Aspects of Adorno’s theory of “performing” are contrasted dialectically with Jon McKenzie’s theory of “performance,” in which the term “performance” is a paradigm against which all singular actions – including those of musical performing – are measured and to which they must contribute."