"Toute musique qui ne peint rien n'est que du bruit."
-Jean Le Rond d'ALEMBERT,
Encyclopédie, Discours préliminaire, première partie
D'Alembert's quote translates as: "Any music that paints nothing is only noise." This very enlightened, rational concept of music's role is also surprisingly unassuming when juxtaposed against grandiose theories of Absolute Music, music that stands alone and independent of any imagery, stories, or other "non-musical" considerations. Brahms was a big proponent of this. Personally, I throw in with D'Alembert. As a musician, I simply can't believe that music needs to exist in some autonomous, abstract state devoid of interpretation and meaning in order to be True Music. In fact, what enhances the experience of music is each listener's ability to assign personal meaning and visualizations to the auditory revelation of a performance. For example, this week I'm practicing in the evening with the Reno Philharmonic. We're polishing up Brahms' First Symphony at the moment. Every time that I play it, I come away with a different set of inner dialogues and imaginings. But, there is still the same overriding emotional impression - a pulling away of the soul to infinite heights. (Sorry, maybe that's a BIT over the top!)
Anyway, this blog has been created for the purposes of GEOG 701H and will explore issues related to Advanced Cartography as well as my own academic struggles toward placing music.
I heard someone give a talk recently and he mentioned a particular spiritual text that he's read over 100 times and he *swears* that he finds new stuff in it all the time. I think music is the same way--we all hear different things and we provide context--sometimes an ever-changing context--that alters the experience.
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