Music to Hear on Here: Time to Shine

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Time to Shine

Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond (live)

It is important to take a moment to sit back and enjoy the music, especially during the hectic times...like finals week. Over the past semester I have battled with a personal physical attack, illness of loved ones, a serious breakup, and some deep psychological issues which is why this song spoke to me. I feel so much like the "Crazy Diamond". I see a new year and a new beginning on the horizon...it is time to "Shine On"! I enjoyed sharing this blog with all of you. Thank you for your offerings and insights every week...I am grateful for you!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Course Description

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." Martin Mull (or Elvis Costello)

Thinking about the meaning and value, intellectual, affective and neurological experiences, and aesthetics of music has occupied an important position in modern and contemporary philosophical writings. Central to the philosophy of music is a questioning of what music is insofar as it is an art form and practice, akin to but different from other arts, such as drama, literature, painting, sculpture, to name but a few examples. Claims have been made, in fact, that music’s effect, when performed and listened to, surpasses those of the other arts because of its abstact purity, of its universality, and of its singular capacity to express, represent and incite emotions. This course will explore such issues in 19th-20th century philosophy. We will begin with introductory readings of what composes the field and discipline of the philosophy of music. We will read—among other philosophers, novelists, critics and musicologists—Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Barthes and Adorno’s writings on music. Finally, we will have the occasion to read about and listen to specific musicians, both high and low, and explore the contexts of their work, concentrating on the historical and political dimensions of the practice, performance and art of making music.