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Ian, Yeah, my feeling is that we might do music a disservice by relating it to "stories", as Per points out many instrumental pieces are more of an emotional journey, with some structure and development. But tio try to relate that to "story" which for my implies word and plot and narrative elements seems strange. Rather we try to get into the feel you get from following the development of a story without the narrative elements. Its perhaps more that certain kinds of music and narratives/stories are going for the same emotional response but with very different means.. for me music, and painting, have the advantage that it can go way beyond words, directly to our emotions... Anders Anders,
But what do we mean when we say that an abstract instrumental peice of music tells a STORY!! It can't really, can it? I agree. I've always been a bit wary of 'storytelling' with relation to music. A bit too PoMo for my liking.
Music can have structure and development - even reference and syntax.. But these are only analogous to the form of textual narrative. There's no actual story going on. What I find fascinating about music is that it can evoke an emotional response *without* any actual concrete emotional content. IOW without any 'story'. Just soundwaves impinging on neurons.
Ian
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