Summary and Reaction #1

First off, for those of you who read my other blog and somehow stumbled upon PAWC CHAT, this is for a class called Performing Arts in Western Civilizations. We have the option to do our assignments in blog form so, being someone who is already familiar with the form, I decided blogging my assignments, projects, insights, etc... would be an exciting and more interesting way to spend this semester-long class. These reactions and summaries will mostly involve the book Philosophy and the Analysis of Music by the illustrious Dr. Lawrence Ferrara (or Larry F., as I call him... never.) So without further ado, here is a summation of the introduction.

SUMMARY

Dr. Ferrara is mostly concerned with what the subtitle of his book clearly states: Bridges to musical sound, form, and reference. In this chapter, Ferrara basically defines the various ways one can analyze a piece of music. There is, of course, the Formal Analysis, which is what we music students have had extensive experience with over the course of our theory and aural comprehension training. You know what this is -- it's harmonic analysis or the "This is in sonata form." Obviously, it gets more complex than that, but you understand the basic sentiment. Past that, there is what Ferrara calls "phenomenological methods... used to describe the sound-in-time." By this, he means describing the sound as simply that -- sound. Finally, we have Referential Meaning, which refers to the "psychological associations" we have as a reaction to music. Ferrara breaks this down to include both the historical context of the piece, as well as the feelings and emotions that are evoked. Even those who worship at the Formal Analysis Only altar can admit that Referential Meaning cannot be ignored -- as Ferrara puts it, "...music does exemplify extra-musical phenomena," as in something exciting and different and meaningful happens to us beyond the fact that we hear and register "Oh, that's right. Music is playing now." We get goosebumps, we want to hear more, we think about things it reminds us of. All of this is referential meaning.

The crux of what Ferrara means to explore in the following chapters is a gap between these three factors he wants to "bridge," hence the subtitle of the book. Ferrara wants to discover what he calls an "eclectic method" of analysis, one that somehow incorporates all factors of music that leaves nothing to be desired. Form and syntax can be understood, sure, but sometimes committing oneself to the understanding of music in a very conventional way can suddenly make the listener lose their connection to its referential and phenomenological meanings (more on that later...) Ferrara believes there is a place for all of these factors to coexist harmoniously and he means to discover that place. As he puts it, "It is the guiding principle of the present study that musical analysis and understanding should be for the sake of the music, not the method."

NOW, WHAT DO I THINK?

Immediately, Dr. Ferrara's points struck a chord with me. After years of music theory training, deconstructing music, listening in aural comprehension with the idea that if I can just pick out the bass line, soprano line, inner voices, I can get an A, I have somewhat lost the ability to notice the Big Picture. I envy friends of mine who listen to music with the simple criteria that it "Just sounds good." I can't even jog on the treadmill without trying to do a chordal analysis in my head based on what I can hear in the bass line and the warbly lead singer's voice. Of course, this is frustrating, because I'm not even good at it.

So basically, I see Ferrara's point and I am eager to learn what he and other philosophers say is a way to combine these various different analytical styles. The only thing I somewhat disagreed with was that Referential Meaning could be used to include both historical context as well as emotion and feeling. Although he explained his point well, that everything we listen to goes through our present state as a "filter," and that we immediately register historical style and expression, I still think that context and the evocative power of music shouldn't be so hastily grouped into one category. Historical context can be changed by outside knowledge -- learn a little about the composers life and you will inevitably find you think about the piece in a different way -- but what you feel when you listen to something is much more dependent on how you are feeling, what is going on inside of you. It is a personal and private thing, on a completely different plane or spectrum than the formal analysis and certainly in a different ballpark than historical context. However, knowing that Dr. Ferrara is very intelligent and well-read (and, might I add, an excellent pianist...) I am eager to hear him and his colleagues delve into this idea more as I keep reading his book.

Till then, I know, you'll wait with bated breath for another summary.