This is a blog for the community of Rhetoric 108—On the Philosophy of Music: "Music to Hear"—in the Department of Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, Spring 2011 and Fall 2011.
DYLAN BUCK DESCRIPTION: The video is of the notable hardcore band Have Heart, in one of the best-recorded performances of the song "Watch Me Sink". The truly interesting part of the video, and where we can see most clearly the will to live, is around the 1:45 mark, in which the distinction between audience and musician is blurred, and as Schopenhauer might say, the distinction between subject and object as well.
As the audience shouts to the vocalist his own lyrics as if he were the listener ("of a world/that's doing its best, night and day/to make me everybody else"), the song itself appears to become an objective piece of music, not belonging to any one artist or performer, but to all in the crowded room. They all share in the emotive and lyrical power of the music equally, despite the supposed designation of "listeners" and "musicians." The individual becomes just a part of the whole, figuratively and quite literally, and the will to live is manifest in the sound of rage and hope.
DYLAN BUCK DESCRIPTION: The video is of the notable hardcore band Have Heart, in one of the best-recorded performances of the song "Watch Me Sink". The truly interesting part of the video, and where we can see most clearly the will to live, is around the 1:45 mark, in which the distinction between audience and musician is blurred, and as Schopenhauer might say, the distinction between subject and object as well.
ReplyDeleteAs the audience shouts to the vocalist his own lyrics as if he were the listener ("of a world/that's doing its best, night and day/to make me everybody else"), the song itself appears to become an objective piece of music, not belonging to any one artist or performer, but to all in the crowded room. They all share in the emotive and lyrical power of the music equally, despite the supposed designation of "listeners" and "musicians." The individual becomes just a part of the whole, figuratively and quite literally, and the will to live is manifest in the sound of rage and hope.