Support
Looper's Delight
|
Support |
|
|
this reminds me on an idea i read somewhere, somewhen i can't recall atm... anyway, the idea was essentially that before (what we now consider) language humans communicated in a much wider range of symbols but also much less widely-understood. as language developed as a widely universalized understanding of specific symbols (words), this took one-half of the previous communications content - the literal half, the half containing specific quantifiable meanings. the other half of pre-language communication was, roughly, absorbed into an abstract form we now call music. so, according to my semi-hazy recollection of this idea, music is communication, but of a more abstract type than language (spoken or written). there are complex emotions and ideas that can be communicated in music but not in language. and vice-versa of course. to me it seems they both have their needs and uses, strengths and weaknesses, etc. for example, something like communicating "pass me the potatoes" might be hard to do in music and easy in language, whereas the exact feeling of sadness one has being gone from home for a while is easier to communicate in music. in music it seems more possible to communicate an individuals feelings specifically, whereas in language it is necessarily more impersonal and generic. i'm not saying this is true or false, right or wrong, communist or anarchist - just an interesting idea. </end rambling> -3nki On Apr 6, 2006, at 4:16 AM, Stefan Tiedje wrote: > a k butler wrote: >> I'm not at all sure that one has to understand music to enjoy it. >> Rather the opposite, if anything. > > There is also an emotional understanding, which is required. To > quote Xenakis: Music is not a language. > But it has an aspect of communication. The musician does express > some feelings, the listener will resonate if there is an emotional > understanding. The feelings of the performer and the feelings of > the listener do not need to be the same, (no language with clear > mappings) but it needs to have a common space of resonance > otherwise nothing would happen. > I did not refer to intellectual understanding, this could even > distract the resonances, but sometimes it can also help... > > If I don't like music, I should consider not understanding it, to > be able to finally find the beauty in it. But still if I > understand, I could dislike it... If I don't, I don't know yet if I > could like it. > > Stefan > > -- > > [][] [][][] [][] [][][] > [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] > > Stefan Tiedje > Klanggestalter > Electronic Composition > & > Improvisation > > /~~~~~\ > \\\ /|() ()|\ > ))))) )| | |( \\\ > /// \ \_/)/ ))))) > \___/ /// > > -------------------------x---- > --_____-----------|----------- > --(_|_ ----|\-----|-----()---- > -- _|_)----|-----()----------- > ----------()------------x----- > > 14, Av. Pr. Franklin Roosevelt, > 94320 Thiais, France > Phone at CCMIX +33-1-57 42 91 09 > > >