Thursday, February 19, 2009
Music Lessons
I'm always so taken by that last stanza of "To Autumn," even though I'm never quite able to articulate its power and meaning fully enough -- I feel its truth more than I understand it sometimes, you might say. In any event, I'm fascinated by the fact that it seems to be nature's music that, above all, has something to teach the speaker. What and how does it teach is, I guess, the big question? It reminds me of a wonderful quote by the great composer/musician, Daniel Barenboim, which I had on the board for the afternoon (but not the morning) class: "Music provides the possibility, on the one hand, to escape from life and, on the other hand, to understand it much better than in many other disciplines." Do you agree with that, I wonder? It's easy to buy into the part about escape (how many of us turn to the ipods when our airplane hits some turbulence, for example, or when we need to unwind after a taxing day, or when we need to keep ourselves motivated during a workout, etc.), but in what sense do you think music helps us to understand life better? Somehow answering that question might help attune us to the mindset of Keats's speaker in that serene and yet foreboding final stanza ...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Id like to comment on the 2nd stanza. It seemed to me as if autumn was relaxing in the abundance of it all. Taking a moment to relax and enjoy all of it. Taking in the moment.
ReplyDeleteI've often heard people make the assertion that music is the highest form of communication and understanding. It encompasses a universality that spans all languages, cultures, and peoples. A few days ago, I saw a documentary about traditional African communication through music during the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In order to prevent massive slave revolts, traders would intentionally place slaves from one culture with those of another to prevent verbal communication, and therefore quell any potential uprising. However, the slaves eventually began to communicate collectively through music. They would use plantation tools (scythe, pitchfork, etc.) to beat the ground and create a sort of massive percussion ensemble, which evolved into a language in itself. Being a percussionist, I'd like to think that playing the drums opens a secret vortex that allows one to tap into their primeval nature and elicit the language of the universe... Anyway, just some food for thought.
ReplyDeleteI was also struck by the last stanza. Contrary to what some people said in class, I don't think the sounds represented in the final stanza are grating or annoying. I certainly don't think that the sound of crickets chirping is unpleasant to listen to. Lines 25 until the end of the poem remind me of summer nights just at dusk, when the sun is setting, on my ranch. The images contained in those lines bring powerfully peaceful, comforting memories and emotions for me. I think music teaches us by giving us access to the emotion and feeling of an experience, and also by evoking certain thoughts and feelings, whether through lyrics or orchestral sounds.
ReplyDeleteMusic is a powerful force of awe inspiring proportions. Music can shape perceptions; enhance and change moods; influence creative elements of physical life. It can relax, enhance, excite, horrify, intrigue, and enlighten, sometimes simultaneously. Music is an exploration into the unknown, as well as a validation of the absolute. Music can build reason in arguments; it can facilitate unfamiliar emotional journeys (breakups, funerals - grieving process).
ReplyDeleteMusic can shape events in history - in 1989 US government troops entered Panama to try to force dictator Manuel Noriega out of hiding - they deployed PsyOps (psychological operations) to the task, who used speakers wired to helicopters to blast AC/DC and other rock music in the sky above the barricaded stronghold.
Music in score - if Kubrick had used something sinister sounding in place of "The Thieving Magpie" by Gioacchino Rossini in the warehouse fight scene of "Clockwork Orange," how would we perceive the mood of the scene?
Music has been so overused in manipulating our emotions that at this point a more striking impact can be made by omitting music almost altogether (The Coen brothers did this with, “No Country For Old Men”).
Music theory is the building and releasing of tension. If a composer should desire his audience to feel tense, he can simply choose not to resolve the phrase or hit the desired keynote. Theory is built around anticipations and expectations - such is life, as hopes and desires drive our daily actions and attitudes. This use of creating expectations and feeding anticipations through music is built around the variable cultural understanding of harmony that each society grows within. The seven modes of the major scale, for example, all sound different. In the west our cultural understanding is built around Aeolian and Ionian (major and minor) but unorthodox modes, (phrygian, dorian, etc.) tend to be used more by Middle Eastern cultures of the Islamic musical tradition - hence they sound more middle eastern to our ears when played in the context of western music. So by subtly violating and reaffirming the cultural harmony one can create emotional tension and release within the listener. The manipulations of patterns of notes does more than simply stimulate within us contexts for their use (middle eastern modes and instrumentation in Disney’s Aladdin) but can add emotional color shades that haven’t yet been explored in the contexts of western music.
Equally important is the orchestration of a piece - the story of the piece. Be it lyrically, emotionally, or theoretically, all musical pieces have a story. But what kind of story it is and how the audience is presented with it is the occupation of orchestration. Most music heard on the radio follows the Verse-Chorus Paradigm (VCP)1. This is the standard, “classic hollywood 3 act structure” used by the music industry today. It is as predictable as Old Faithful, as boring as a high school math class, and as unimaginative as a steamy romance novel. It sells because of it’s simplistic nature - a piece that is understood is a piece that we ourselves have mastery over. SO by this token, music that does not follow the traditional models of orchestration (Bjork, Autechre, Mahavishnu Orchestra) facilitates imagination, inspires creativity and stimulates complex thought processes. Exploration breeds exploration and imagination thrives on creativity.
The link between music and emotional experience cannot be overstated. When a composer writes a piece of music, they take into account the world around them and their own beliefs and emotional state; surely Beethoven’s last few piano sonatas are a tribute to his own advancing deafness, their mourning cry and inevitable downward motion a testament to his loss. Likewise, the bombastic refrain from the 1812 Overture brings to mind visions of war and battle, generals desperately directing troops about in a thick veil of smoke, fanfares from army bands blaring over the chaos. Only by listening to the music that remains from older times can we hope to understand, in any intuitive sense, the struggle and joy long since gone before us. Music is a window into the conscious mind - like birdsong, it delights in the pleasures of life, and calls forth a message to the world - but it is that transition from true experience to harmonic tension and resolution that evokes, that inspires, that describes what it was like.
Which is not to suggest that the listener’s own experiences lack influence over the power of music to shape thought and emotion. True, to the cultured ear, Beethoven’s 9th symphony brings out feelings of joy and inspiration, the complexity of the full orchestra bringing divine light into the concert hall. But even if a blues guitarist, with no experience of the Classical era, was to hear Beethoven and interpret it as nothing but hollow dusty sounds from a bygone age, his judgment shines light onto his own experiences and values nonetheless.
In this way, music is a sort of sacred bridge between the composer’s mind and listener’s ear - just as written script on paper is literal telepathy for the eyes that absorb it. It is the combined experience of both informing the way the piece is interpreted, and providing insight and contemplation to one’s own life and the society that life exists within.
1. http://zarvoc.wordpress.com/2007/09/21/the-verse-chorus-paradigm/
It is funny how no matter what classes you are taking, they all relate somehow. I am taking Medieval Women and Mysticism, and we discussed the role of music in religion. I mean, these women would sing all day, every day, and it brought them closer to God. It is even used as an explanation for these wild visions they had. I think music is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. It changes us.
ReplyDeleteI also drew a connection between the two classes when reading the last stanza of "To Autumn." It was like the finale of a concert, where you feel a little bombarded by all the noise, but uplifted. Anyway, it reminded me of the "celestial symphony" and the creation of the universe and the earth, as a musical event.