Blog 12: Sun Ra, Genius from Insanity

So I am still decided whether or not I think Sun Ra is out of his mind, you know what that is a lie I definitely think he is crazy.  He is still a genius musician and maybe that is where part of his genius comes from.  His unique perspective on life allows him to see things in a different light, thus making it easier for him to come up with original ideas.  Genius out of insanity has been around from a while, just look for the mad scientist trope in literature.  In his own way Sun Ra is like the mad scientist, at first glance he seems like a crazy wacky guy, but the more you get to know him you begin to realize how much of a genius he really is.

Blog 12

For my final paper, my topic is going to be over the history and philosophy of western music. I think that this will be an interesting topic, and one that I will be able to actually understand because I am most familiar with Western style music. I also found a video that I thought was funny and entertaining over the history of western philosophy.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltuX_DmwPZk

Blog 11

In class the other we were watching a film about jazz composer, Sun Ra. I honestly think that this man is slightly crazy. Every single one of his songs "tell a story," and all them "different." I will say that they are definitely different! Most are about alien abductions or being a king. He also wore very bright and colorful clothes. Most were shiny and sparkling. He also has said that he thinks that he is actually from Saturn. One thing that I found funny, was when he was talking about the white house and how he didn't understand it. He didn't understand how there could be a white house, but not a black house, beause everything has to have something that contrasts with it. Overall, a very interesting film.

Blog 10

During the recent visit from Turkish singer, composer, and scholar, Latif Bolat, our philosophy of music class got a real treat. Not only did Latif play Turkish music, he also gave a very interesting lesson on sufism. He went into great detail on the different meanings of words and explained some things about cuture as well. His music was beautiful and well played. He was funny little fella and didn't seem at all shy or nervous. I am very glad that I got to experience this wonderful music and company.

Blog 12 Film

Today (November 28th) in class we watch a film. Throughout the beginning of the film a group of musicians played their saxophones while a lady sings. While playing their music they were dressed up in interesting and unique costumes that were creatively made. They may not have the best signing voices but they put a lot of emotion into their music. Most of the music they create is supposed to tell a story. The film goes on discussing that they never like to repeat any of their music. The film goes on talking about their band members and how they are some of the best saxophone players in the world. In my opinion when I was listening to Marshall Allen, it sounded as if he was playing out of control. This shows how little I know about saxophones, when they are considered to be the best saxophone players. Even though we haven’t finished the film yet, overall I enjoyed listening to their music.

Blog #9 - Kant's Formalism

In class through Higgin's book, we were given an introduction to Immanuel Kant’s “Four Moments” of aesthetic judgments in the Critique of Judgment. As we learned from the reading, Kant regards form as the basis for an intersubjective experience of an aesthetic object, a social and experiential role. In his “Moments”, Kant characterizes aesthetic experience as a combination of “imagination and understanding.” He applies this idea to his analysis of music, but he retains an intellectual appreciation of music as his central focus (as formalism would suggest). 

We also analyzed Hanslick's view on formalism and contrasted it with Kant's view. In the reading, Higgins proposes that Kant’s formalist account is better since he is more accepting of the experience of music. Through his intersubjective basis of aesthetic value, he describes musical experience in a social aspect. Kant proposes that the “most fundamental aspect of music is something that everyone shares: a state of mind.” Kant does not object that those who are more “musically trained” may have more thought-provoking evaluations of music; however, he does not dismiss the aesthetic evaluations of the other listeners as worthless. Instead, he insists that everyone is capable of an aesthetic appreciation of music, and that this appreciation “proceeds by means of a common ‘state of mind’.” As a result, we can conclude that Kant’s aesthetic theory allows “form” to be described more broadly and realistically than Hanslick’s.

On An Overgrown Path: For Saint Cecilia

On An Overgrown Path: For Saint Cecilia: Many in the world take music as a source of amusement, a pastime: to many music is an art, and a musician an entertainer. Yet no one has ...

Blog 13

Something that was said in class not too long ago really got me thinking. It was, anything heard in the right way is music. That got me thinking about what exactly that means, because it won't mean the same thing to everyone. What exactly is the right way to hear music? And who determines what the right way is? Everyone is different, and not everyone will agree on what the right way is. People definitely don't want to be boxed in to one idea. I know for me music is what I like, and what I enjoy hearing, which is probably pretty general of an idea. Other then that, I'm not sure what the right way is. I don't think there is any one right way to hear music. But I don't think that's a bad thing either.

Robot Aesthetics?

We have asked often enough whether animals have some kind of aesthetic experience, but what about machines? The video below, titled Worker's Playtime and created by video artist David Theobald, playfully suggests an answer. Thanks to On An Overgrown Path for the link. And see here for Theobald's own reflections on the film.

Blog #13: Whirling Dervishes

  I found our discussion in class today to be very interesting.  The whirling dervishes are a Sufi tradition and they are a way of prayer.  These dances create a state of being that is one with the divine and the people participating in the dances take them to be very serious matters.  For the Sufi's, the music is not simply for entertainment.  The music is much more than that for them.  Music is a good thing and can even help the Sufi's in purification as well.  It is so interesting how much music means to some cultures.  It is such a diverse thing.  The Sufi's definitely would agree with Higgin's and her belief that music is ethically important to listen to.  The music for the Sufi's is definitely an ethical thing and promotes morality.  The music is very different, but it is still very beautiful and interesting to hear.  I love listening to different cultural music.  I think it is very interesting to see how others respond to music and use it in their lives. 

Blog 12

Ambient music was unusual for me, but at the same time I also enjoyed it. When we were listening to some ambient music, it reminded me that on my first cell phone I had a ring tone called ambient. It was very similar to what we listened to. I've always thought this music was kind of calming, but after hearing some different examples, I can see that is not always the case. Whereas it does have a typically slow, constant sound, it can definitely keep your attention. I thought it was interesting how Eno used sounds from the outside world in his ambient compositions, and turned them into music. I think that was very creative, and if he didn't point it out I wouldn't have known it wasn't something from his sound board. Ambient music is definitely different, and probably something I wouldn't listen to all the time, but perhaps once in a while to switch things up.

Episode 10

In regards to the ethical standing of music, all I can think about is this scene from Footloose. Yes this speech is about dancing, but the same message can be applied to music.

Blog 8: Music from Nature

There are many CDs out there that claim to be sounds directly from nature, meant to be soothing and peaceful, a connection to the world around us. Comparing those, such as the Nightinggale CD in class today, to the work of Lopez shows a fairly large difference. They represent the ideal nature to us humans, while Lopez shows the "real" nature, presenting to the listener everything to be heard in a setting, even including human sounds. The CDs with edited nature sounds can fulfill their purpose, letting the listener idealize nature and have peaceful background music. They aren't necessarily meant to show real nature. Lopez, on the other hand, has a different goal altogether, which, In my opinion, is why they shouldn't compete over their purpose, being entirely different things all together. Lopez isn't trying to make the sounds ideal. He is representing them as recorded, with little to no editing, as close actually being there as possible.

Blog Post 11: The Halo 4 Soundtrack

Last week one a my favorite games series Halo, released a new game Halo 4.  The soundtracks of the Halo games for the Halo series are considered to be some of the best in video game History.  The music for the Halo games have been praised by both the gaming and international music community for its high quality and composition.  

Halo 4 is the first game of the series that Marty O'donnell did not compose.  I have always enjoyed the Halo music and I was worried that without Marty behind the wheel the music would just be a rip off of his work.  My doubts were happily proven wrong.  The music for Halo 4 was unique in its own right, but stayed true to the style of previous Halo games.  I will happily be buying myself a copy of the Halo soundtrack.


Here is a link to a playlist for the Halo 4 soundtrack on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_YIRP9JEiohnLgAiTzJIoo-elwijvKxr

Blog #12:  Brian Eno

  I do not know if all of the things that Brian Eno produced would be characterized as music.  It is definitely sound art and some of the compositions have melody and a good rhythm.  The compostitions are very interesting and it is amazing how people can manipulate the sounds of music.  In the video we watched, the controls that Eno was using were so numerous.  It looked so confusing, and it would take much practice for many people to figure out how to get the music to sound just right  and the exact way that they want it to.   Some of the sounds are very mysterious and evoke feelings of uneasiness.  The use of synthesizers is very common in modern music now.  These sounds can be very hypnotic at times and could be played as background music in many situations.  Music can be so many things to so many different people and the different knids of music are very interesting to me.  His music really does cause tension for the listener and is one of the main reasons that it is so interesting to listen to.

blog 12

Digital Music.
wednesday at the end of class you played us some different digital music. I found digital music to be surprisingly good. I enjoyed listening to the different type of music. I actually found it to be completely relaxing and good to the ear. Before we listening to the music I was expecting it to be completely dumb and annoying. It showed me that once you listen and give something different a chance it can be surprising good.

blog 11

Recently we discussed Higgins view that music can be "evil". I think she has a good point with that, because some music really can bring out hatred and anger in people. Certain music can bring out depressing feelings when listening to it. Also some people take music very literally and that can bring evil and anger into people. When listening to music many people let there mind run free and if letting your mind run free in the wrong way could be dangerous.

Blog 11: Brian Eno and Ambient Music

In class we discussed about Brian Eno and his thoughts on Ambient music. Ambient music is defined as music designed for particular times and situations with a view to building up a small but versatile catalogue of environmental music suited to a wide variety of moods and atmospheres. Brian Eno is  best known for his albums, Music for Airports, Music for Films, and Discrete Music. Though this type of music would be ideal for me to sit down and listen to, I believe it's great when roaming around in the mall or airport or while even driving. The great thing about this music is that it can be ignored but also payed attention to at any given time. Also it is music that will not become annoying after long periods of play. Therefore it can be said that ambient music provides an atmosphere, or a surrounding influence that instills ambience.

New Digital Music Part 1

So in this past class, I referred to an artist I had found some time ago who performed music on some heavily modified Game Boy Colors.

With a little Google magic and a drop into the depths of my music library did I find IAYD once more. This is one of his more recent albums, but thought it would do better to show the unique level this guy performs at.

As for something a bit more mellow, I has this other video showing a guy replicate "Strobe" by Deadmau5(Pronounced "Dead mouse" for those of you who don't know). He even gives the courtesy of breaking it down for the viewer on just what he's doing, giving a mix set of emotions on just how easy it looks and how complex it really is to replicate.

Got a few more ideas to churn out before I'll post again, but stay tuned for the weird and wondrous brought to you by me :)

Blog 12: Brian Eno

On Monday, we watched a film on Brian Eno. We have been discussing him and talking about his ambient music. I thought the film was very interesting because of how essential listening is to his pieces. We also listened to some of his works in class. His music is very enjoyable because of the fact that when you listen to it, you realize that the music has a place. It is not just to calm or soothe. It is also not to just be played anywhere. It has a specific space that it fills and I think that is neat. I feel that his music also gives a sense of the behaviors he is going towards with his ambient music. It is interesting that he does not use his voice in his works. I think this makes them so much more unique. It shows that he is focusing more on the actual music and the sounds of it, not just himself or voice. Since we discussed Music For Airports in class, I decided to look up some youtube videos on it. I found a very short interview about Music For Airports and I thought it was neat to listen to.

Blog 11 Brian Eno

Throughout this week of class we watched a film on Brian Eno and discussed Ambient Music. Ambient music is the concept of music designed specifically as a background feature in an environment such as an ariport. Ambient Music must be able to have many different levels of listening without forcing it on someone to much. Ambient music must be ignored as easily as it can be interesting. I thought it would be necessary to post music created by Brian Eno.

 This piece posted below is called By This River by Brian Eno

Blog 11

For the past few days in class we have been talking about how music can illicit different kinds of emotions, recently bad emotions. Higgins addressed how certain types of music can be "evil". I think this is an interesting idea, and I also agree with it to some extent. I think music is highly influential in how people think and see things, I think music definitely has an impact on how people act. Someone who listens to a lot of depressing, emo music all the time tends to follow that kind of lifestyle, however, someone who listens to upbeat music tends to be happier and more positive. Higgins argues in favor of this in so many words, she thinks that "bad" music, whatever she perceives as being bad, can cause the listener to have bad thoughts. This all makes pretty good sense to me, and I can definitely see how listening to certain types of music affects my mood. When I'm listening to positive music I feel good, but when I'm listening to a sad song(s) I sometimes feel down or depressed. Overall, music definitely has some kind of effect, even if it causes the listener to feel nothing, that's still something in the end.

Blog 10

Today in class we discussed seven common arguments that have been offered against music (or some kinds of music) on ethical grounds that I thought were very interesting. The Seven arguments we discussed consist of:
1) Music arouses passions that are harmful or difficult to control.
2) Music encourages the abandonment of reason.
3) Music lowers moral inhibitions.
4) Music excites sexual appetite.
5) Music glamorizes unethical causes.
6) Music encourages emotional support for a questionable status quo.
7) Music distracts from more important concerns.
These seven arguments fall into two different categories, which are Dionysian and Apollonian. Arguments 1-4 are considered to be Dionysian. This means it invites chaos and disruption in the conduct of erotic life. Arguments 5-7 are considered to be Apollonian, which means they argue that music fills conscious mind or encourages our assent to inappropriate ideas.

Blog 9 Malian Music

Recently in class we discussed the banning of music in Mali. I believe the banning of music in Mali is not the right thing to do, and the Mali regime is making a wrong decision. Music in Mali is very important to the community and I believe it is not fair to take something so important away from them. Music is expressions that can make people feel more joyful and happy and to take it away from the Malian people isn’t right. Mali has many up and coming musicians that will now not be able to share their music in ways they use to. Here is a YouTube clip of an up and coming musician from Mali.

Blog #11: Black Orpheus
  I thought that this movie was really interesting, and I am glad that we watched it.  The music was very unique and culturally appropriate.  I liked how the music went along with the movie and portrayed different moods and emotions at the right times.  I also found the guitar to be an important part of the story.  I thought it was very interesting how they made it seem like whoever had the guitar was Orpheus.  When he died at the end of the movie, the guitar was passed on to someone else.  At the end, the children had the guitar and even among the tragedy that had occured there was still room for happiness.  Music in general is passed through time from generation to generation.  It changes and things are added and taken away from it and it becomes a part of who we are.  Music is extremely important in our lives and in the movie it was very important in the characters lives as well.  Music plays an important part in all cultures ,even if it differs from culture to culture in the way that it affects the lives of the people in each society. 

Blog 10: Music and Emotion

In Kathleen Higgins book, The Music of Our Lives, she discusses about music and the emotions that are revealed when listening to music. There are three theories regarding the relationship between emotions and music. The first is the Imitation Theory which states that music imitates emotion, the second is the Arousal Theory which states that music arouses emotion, and the Expression Theory which states that music expresses emotion. Though it is difficult to accurately correlate music and emotion, I believe these three theories are a great start. I believe that different genre's of music causes different emotions to be portrayed or expressed. Now the debate is whether the composer meant to portray those certain emotions or is it the interpretation of the listener? It is also debated whether the emotions of the composer is expressed through their music. I believe it is difficult to answer these questions as well as explain why certain genre's of music are associated with certain emotions. However it is evident that these are emotions are present. It is difficult to not have any sort of emotion when listening to music. Therefore, Higgins poses a great argument in this passage.

Blog 9: Black Orpheus

Upon viewing the film, Black Orpheus, it is evident how prevalent music can be a part of a countries culture, such as that of Brazil. The also presents the myth of Orpheus and Euridice which I was unaware of until I watched this film. I thought the film was a great representation of Brazil's culture and how music influences their lives. However, at one point it, the music that was always playing in the background got to be a little tiresome. Also, I believe the film had a great balance between reality and between the underworld/mystical aspect to it. It is hard to catch onto because it is integrated in the film pretty well. But upon discussion about the film, this was clarified. Overall I thought it was a great film.