Friday, May 23, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Excerpt
Augustine’s Ambivalence
February 2, 2008
[excerpt from my first draft of a first draft below. I have no puppy yet, so I'm posting]
How did cantus become separated from the whole community of saints, to emerge only from the vocal chords of a select few? Was it, as Phillips seems to suggest, merely an unintended consequence of the development of ornate four-part singing?
To uncover clues that may lead us to the answer to this question, we return to Guthrie. Guthrie notes that in contrast to the command to sing in Ephesians 5:19, some have offered reasons not to sing. A widely accepted reason among Evangelicals originates with a reading of Augustine of Hippo’s Confessions. “Augustine observes,” writes Wren, “that when sacred words are joined to pleasant music, ‘our souls [animos] are moved and are more religiously and with a warmer devotion kindled to piety than if they are not so sung.’”[1] Augustine notes the affective nature of music, its seeming power to move us emotionally. Augustine’s neo-platonic leanings are noted in his observations about this affective quality: “my physical delight [delectation carnis], which has to be checked from enervating the mind [mentem], often deceives me when the perception of the senses [sensus] is unaccompanied by reason [rationem], and is not patiently content to be in a subordinate place.”[2] He concludes, therefore, that there is a danger inherent in the pleasure of song:
I fluctuate between the danger of pleasure and the experience of the beneficent effect, and I am more led to put forward the opinion (not as an irrevocable view) that the custom of singing in Church is to be approved, so that through the delights of the ear the weaker mind may rise up towards the devotion of worship. Yet when it happens to me that the music moves me more than the subject of the song, I confess myself to commit a sin deserving punishment, and then I would prefer not to have heard the singer.[3]
The Greek philosophers considered music a powerful force. Augustine shares this view and the ambivalence about music that goes along with it. Music appeals to the senses; the Greeks believed we should be led by reason, not by bodily sense. While Augustine does not claim the body is bad, he does accept the Greeks’ notion that body must be under the control and direction of reason at all times. Music, then, presents a threat to this hierarchy. Music “arouses both spirit and body, and so its benefits are always accompanied by hazards,”[4] writes Guthrie. “Yes, Christians do sing… but perhaps they should not. Or at least, they should sing very carefully indeed - attending to the words, not the music itself. This, it would seem, should particularly be the case where there is some tendency toward irrationality, foolishness, sensuality or sexual immorality.”[5]
Guthrie ask, it this is the case, why not just read the text, particularly if music is so “dangerously” tangled up with our sensual selves? “If words are really the important thing,” he writes, “why not just speak rather than sing them? Why risk distracting the community from that which is central?”[6] Indeed, perhaps this was Zwingli’s conclusion, and motivation for barring song and music from worship? Perhaps music had become too “emotional” ?
Wren affirms the opinion that music’s emotion-arousing qualities are what makes it powerful. Certain tunes are appealing because of the emotions they arouse, not because of the words, necessarily. He writes, “…the tunes people sing in worship mimic bodily movements and the ebb and flow of emotional states. They have the power-at least potentially - to give meaningful, flowing progression to life’s chaos; to beautify and elevate our purposeful but uncoordinated activities; and to mimic the flow of emotion.”[7]
Wren, too, quotes Augustine of Hippo’s ambivalent musings on the value of music. But Wren doubts there is much danger in being carried away by emotion, declaring that “…sometimes our hearts surely ought to be carried away with the sound, as they are offered to God in song.”[8] Guthrie notes an important contrast, however, between. Paul of Tarsus and Augustine of Hippo: “to a Christian community surrounded by ignorance and immorality; to a people who were themselves prone to the blindness and indulgence of their former way of life; at the conclusion of a passage warning against irrationality and sins of the flesh - Paul urges singing and music”[9][referring to Ephesians 5:17-19]. Augustine says: ‘Irrationality is bad. Sensuality is bad. Therefore be careful about music.’ Paul on the other hand says, ‘Foolishness is bad. Sensuality is bad. Therefore, you had better sing.’”[10]
Christian tradition has tended to pit body against spirit, but Guthrie contends the Holy Spirit is not interested only in our minds or our souls, or some hierarchy thereof, but in our whole person. The Holy Spirit is the “incarnating Spirit - the One who creates, vivifies, and restores bodies….not delivering humanity from their bodies, but bringing dead, decaying bodies to full and vigorous life - putting living flesh on dry bones.”[11]
Guthrie contrasts the neo-platonic views of the Augustinian tradition with a biblical view of what it means to grow spiritually. The Augustinian tradition accepts the Greek’s hierarchical view of the components of a human being, therefore contending that “growth in the spiritual life means directing one’s attention away from the body upward toward the mind and the soul. The biblical tradition however, demonstrates the Holy Spirit works to bring the whole person, body and soul, to life and wholeness.”[12]
February 2, 2008
[excerpt from my first draft of a first draft below. I have no puppy yet, so I'm posting]
How did cantus become separated from the whole community of saints, to emerge only from the vocal chords of a select few? Was it, as Phillips seems to suggest, merely an unintended consequence of the development of ornate four-part singing?
To uncover clues that may lead us to the answer to this question, we return to Guthrie. Guthrie notes that in contrast to the command to sing in Ephesians 5:19, some have offered reasons not to sing. A widely accepted reason among Evangelicals originates with a reading of Augustine of Hippo’s Confessions. “Augustine observes,” writes Wren, “that when sacred words are joined to pleasant music, ‘our souls [animos] are moved and are more religiously and with a warmer devotion kindled to piety than if they are not so sung.’”[1] Augustine notes the affective nature of music, its seeming power to move us emotionally. Augustine’s neo-platonic leanings are noted in his observations about this affective quality: “my physical delight [delectation carnis], which has to be checked from enervating the mind [mentem], often deceives me when the perception of the senses [sensus] is unaccompanied by reason [rationem], and is not patiently content to be in a subordinate place.”[2] He concludes, therefore, that there is a danger inherent in the pleasure of song:
I fluctuate between the danger of pleasure and the experience of the beneficent effect, and I am more led to put forward the opinion (not as an irrevocable view) that the custom of singing in Church is to be approved, so that through the delights of the ear the weaker mind may rise up towards the devotion of worship. Yet when it happens to me that the music moves me more than the subject of the song, I confess myself to commit a sin deserving punishment, and then I would prefer not to have heard the singer.[3]
The Greek philosophers considered music a powerful force. Augustine shares this view and the ambivalence about music that goes along with it. Music appeals to the senses; the Greeks believed we should be led by reason, not by bodily sense. While Augustine does not claim the body is bad, he does accept the Greeks’ notion that body must be under the control and direction of reason at all times. Music, then, presents a threat to this hierarchy. Music “arouses both spirit and body, and so its benefits are always accompanied by hazards,”[4] writes Guthrie. “Yes, Christians do sing… but perhaps they should not. Or at least, they should sing very carefully indeed - attending to the words, not the music itself. This, it would seem, should particularly be the case where there is some tendency toward irrationality, foolishness, sensuality or sexual immorality.”[5]
Guthrie ask, it this is the case, why not just read the text, particularly if music is so “dangerously” tangled up with our sensual selves? “If words are really the important thing,” he writes, “why not just speak rather than sing them? Why risk distracting the community from that which is central?”[6] Indeed, perhaps this was Zwingli’s conclusion, and motivation for barring song and music from worship? Perhaps music had become too “emotional” ?
Wren affirms the opinion that music’s emotion-arousing qualities are what makes it powerful. Certain tunes are appealing because of the emotions they arouse, not because of the words, necessarily. He writes, “…the tunes people sing in worship mimic bodily movements and the ebb and flow of emotional states. They have the power-at least potentially - to give meaningful, flowing progression to life’s chaos; to beautify and elevate our purposeful but uncoordinated activities; and to mimic the flow of emotion.”[7]
Wren, too, quotes Augustine of Hippo’s ambivalent musings on the value of music. But Wren doubts there is much danger in being carried away by emotion, declaring that “…sometimes our hearts surely ought to be carried away with the sound, as they are offered to God in song.”[8] Guthrie notes an important contrast, however, between. Paul of Tarsus and Augustine of Hippo: “to a Christian community surrounded by ignorance and immorality; to a people who were themselves prone to the blindness and indulgence of their former way of life; at the conclusion of a passage warning against irrationality and sins of the flesh - Paul urges singing and music”[9][referring to Ephesians 5:17-19]. Augustine says: ‘Irrationality is bad. Sensuality is bad. Therefore be careful about music.’ Paul on the other hand says, ‘Foolishness is bad. Sensuality is bad. Therefore, you had better sing.’”[10]
Christian tradition has tended to pit body against spirit, but Guthrie contends the Holy Spirit is not interested only in our minds or our souls, or some hierarchy thereof, but in our whole person. The Holy Spirit is the “incarnating Spirit - the One who creates, vivifies, and restores bodies….not delivering humanity from their bodies, but bringing dead, decaying bodies to full and vigorous life - putting living flesh on dry bones.”[11]
Guthrie contrasts the neo-platonic views of the Augustinian tradition with a biblical view of what it means to grow spiritually. The Augustinian tradition accepts the Greek’s hierarchical view of the components of a human being, therefore contending that “growth in the spiritual life means directing one’s attention away from the body upward toward the mind and the soul. The biblical tradition however, demonstrates the Holy Spirit works to bring the whole person, body and soul, to life and wholeness.”[12]
Narrative Number 2.
It was nine in the afternoon and unbearably hot. Pears of sweat started forming on his forehead. He was anxious because thirty minutes from now he will be standing on a stage in front of hundreds of people.
Nervously he was rocking back and forth on his chair, playing with his necklace. He lifted the silver necklace off his chest and slightly brushed his lips over it. He could feel the warmth of the metal spread through his body. The necklace had a silver cross on it with a ruby stone attached. It was his lucky charm. Not one day went by without him wearing it. What made his necklace so special was the fact that it had been a present; a present from his best friend. She gave it to him right before she got taken away. It was all he had left of her. That, and her dream for him to become famous. He has always been an amazing singer and all of the years they were friends she fantasized about him making it to the top. He never thought it possible, but now he sat in the dressing room behind the stage, waiting to perform in front of the biggest crowd ever.
He was nervous. No, he was terrified. His legs were shaking and he could barely sit still. But then, as his fingers softly stroked over the rough surface of the necklace, he knew what he had to do. With a deep breath he got up and walked out the door to the stage. As he stepped onto the stage and looked into the hundreds of cheering faces, he knew that she had always been right. With this in his mind, he put all of his energy together, singing all of his pain and anger out, silently dedicating the song to his one true best friend.
Nervously he was rocking back and forth on his chair, playing with his necklace. He lifted the silver necklace off his chest and slightly brushed his lips over it. He could feel the warmth of the metal spread through his body. The necklace had a silver cross on it with a ruby stone attached. It was his lucky charm. Not one day went by without him wearing it. What made his necklace so special was the fact that it had been a present; a present from his best friend. She gave it to him right before she got taken away. It was all he had left of her. That, and her dream for him to become famous. He has always been an amazing singer and all of the years they were friends she fantasized about him making it to the top. He never thought it possible, but now he sat in the dressing room behind the stage, waiting to perform in front of the biggest crowd ever.
He was nervous. No, he was terrified. His legs were shaking and he could barely sit still. But then, as his fingers softly stroked over the rough surface of the necklace, he knew what he had to do. With a deep breath he got up and walked out the door to the stage. As he stepped onto the stage and looked into the hundreds of cheering faces, he knew that she had always been right. With this in his mind, he put all of his energy together, singing all of his pain and anger out, silently dedicating the song to his one true best friend.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Exerpts.
The sound of music.......
The sound of music gives us so much emotionsand that plays a melody deep in our heart greatlyAll the sound on the earth are like musicand the music brings love and enjoyment to our lifeMusic expresses universal language of the worldand brings people together where ever they liveThe music is the best gift of God to all of uswhere its fills our soul with peace and mind with creativityEvery music has its own rhythmand it's creates a great sound of music Music in the mountain brings peace in our heartand music in the ocean fills our soul with loveWhen I hear the sound of musicthen I begin to write a song as a soul of musicIf you don't love the sound of music then your soul will be unsungBecause music can put life in to a dead man
Ravi Sathasivam / Sri Lanka
Music, In A Foreign Language by Andrew Crumey
In a cafe, once more I heardYour voice - those sparse and frugal notes.Do they not say that you spoke your native GreekWith an English accent?Briefest of visions: eyes meet across the cafe;A man of about my age - eyelids heavy,Perhaps from recent pleasures.I begin the most innocent of conversations.Again I see that image;Ancient delight of fleshAgainst guiltless flesh.Sweeter still, in its remembering.Most innocent of conversations: once more, I am mistaken.He leaves; the moment lost - and to foregoThe squalor of this place, I read again your lines; those sparse and frugal notes.In a taverna, you found beauty, long ago.And when you draw, with your slim, swift penThe image of that memory - time's patient hostage;Then how can I forget him, that boy whom you could not forget,Or that music, in a foreign language?
Andrew Crumey, USA
No More Music by Robert William Service
The Porch was blazoned with geranium bloom;Myrtle and jasmine meadows lit the lea;With rose and violet the vale's perfumeLanguished to where the hyacinthine seaDreamed tenderly . . . "And I must go," said he.He spoke in that dim, ghostly voice of his:"I was a singer; then the Was . . . and GAS."(I had to lean to him, no word to miss.)"We bought this little café nigh to Grasse;With sun and flowers my last few days will pass."And music too. I have my mandolin:Say! Maybe you can strum on your guitar . . .Come on - we two will make melodious din,While Madame sings to us behind the bar:You'll see how sweet Italian folk-songs are."So he would play and I would thrum the while;I used to there every lovely day;His wife would listen with a sunny smile,And when I left: "Please come again," she'd say."He seems quite sad when you have one away."Alas! I had to leave without good-bye,And lived in sooty cities for ayear.Oh, how my heart ached for that happy sky!Then, then one day my café I drew near -God! it was strange how I was gripped with fear.So still it was; I saw no mandolin,No gay guitar with ribbons blue and red;Then all in black, stone-faced the wife came in . . .I did not ask; I looked, she shook her head:"La musique est fini," was all she said.
The sound of music gives us so much emotionsand that plays a melody deep in our heart greatlyAll the sound on the earth are like musicand the music brings love and enjoyment to our lifeMusic expresses universal language of the worldand brings people together where ever they liveThe music is the best gift of God to all of uswhere its fills our soul with peace and mind with creativityEvery music has its own rhythmand it's creates a great sound of music Music in the mountain brings peace in our heartand music in the ocean fills our soul with loveWhen I hear the sound of musicthen I begin to write a song as a soul of musicIf you don't love the sound of music then your soul will be unsungBecause music can put life in to a dead man
Ravi Sathasivam / Sri Lanka
Music, In A Foreign Language by Andrew Crumey
In a cafe, once more I heardYour voice - those sparse and frugal notes.Do they not say that you spoke your native GreekWith an English accent?Briefest of visions: eyes meet across the cafe;A man of about my age - eyelids heavy,Perhaps from recent pleasures.I begin the most innocent of conversations.Again I see that image;Ancient delight of fleshAgainst guiltless flesh.Sweeter still, in its remembering.Most innocent of conversations: once more, I am mistaken.He leaves; the moment lost - and to foregoThe squalor of this place, I read again your lines; those sparse and frugal notes.In a taverna, you found beauty, long ago.And when you draw, with your slim, swift penThe image of that memory - time's patient hostage;Then how can I forget him, that boy whom you could not forget,Or that music, in a foreign language?
Andrew Crumey, USA
No More Music by Robert William Service
The Porch was blazoned with geranium bloom;Myrtle and jasmine meadows lit the lea;With rose and violet the vale's perfumeLanguished to where the hyacinthine seaDreamed tenderly . . . "And I must go," said he.He spoke in that dim, ghostly voice of his:"I was a singer; then the Was . . . and GAS."(I had to lean to him, no word to miss.)"We bought this little café nigh to Grasse;With sun and flowers my last few days will pass."And music too. I have my mandolin:Say! Maybe you can strum on your guitar . . .Come on - we two will make melodious din,While Madame sings to us behind the bar:You'll see how sweet Italian folk-songs are."So he would play and I would thrum the while;I used to there every lovely day;His wife would listen with a sunny smile,And when I left: "Please come again," she'd say."He seems quite sad when you have one away."Alas! I had to leave without good-bye,And lived in sooty cities for ayear.Oh, how my heart ached for that happy sky!Then, then one day my café I drew near -God! it was strange how I was gripped with fear.So still it was; I saw no mandolin,No gay guitar with ribbons blue and red;Then all in black, stone-faced the wife came in . . .I did not ask; I looked, she shook her head:"La musique est fini," was all she said.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Links that are relevant to my topic
http://library.thinkquest.org/10400/html/music.html
http://www.chordpiano.com/articles-chord-piano/music-emotions-4.htm
http://ezinearticles.com/?Music-and-Emotions:-Can-Music-Really-Make-You-a-Happier-Person?&id=40634
http://www.poemhunter.com/poems/music/
http://www.lyrics.com/
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/
http://www.poemhunter.com/poems/music/
http://www.music.com/
http://www.scaruffi.com/history/
http://www.quotegarden.com/music.html
http://allphilosophy.com/topic/1045
http://www.chordpiano.com/articles-chord-piano/music-emotions-4.htm
http://ezinearticles.com/?Music-and-Emotions:-Can-Music-Really-Make-You-a-Happier-Person?&id=40634
http://www.poemhunter.com/poems/music/
http://www.lyrics.com/
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/
http://www.poemhunter.com/poems/music/
http://www.music.com/
http://www.scaruffi.com/history/
http://www.quotegarden.com/music.html
http://allphilosophy.com/topic/1045
My Declaration
Music is “an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color”, as it is defined on Dictionary.com. An unknown author defines music as “what feelings sound like”. This explains my reason for choosing emotions expressed through music in the simplest way. As I signed up for this class, I knew from the start that I wanted to do something unique and challenging. I wanted people to doubt my ability to make a good concept folio with my topic. I tried to think of something that was important to me, so I decide upon music. Since music is really broad, I had to narrow it down. The first thing that came to my mind when I was brainstorming was emotions. Kurt Cobain once said “Thank you for the tragedy. I need it for my art”. This quote indicates that music is based on emotions and feelings. Music without emotions doesn’t exist. I personally relate to this a lot. There is not one day that I don’t listen to music. I listen to it on car rides, on the bus to school, and before I go to bed. I decide on what I want to listen to by how I’m feeling. If I feel happy and content, I’ll most likely listen to something like Cute Is What We Aim For, The Academy is or Hellogoodbye. When I'm in a thoughtful mood, I might be listening to The Scene Aesthetic. If I’m sad, depressed, or just not in a good mood, I will listen to something that goes into the direction of My Chemical Romance, Chiodos, or Vanna. So not only are the artists emotions represented in the music, but also the listeners. Besides listening to music, I also make music. I play the guitar and the keyboard, and I used to play the flute. This also helps me express my feelings, because I adjust the way and what I play to my mood. I express my emotions through my music. Besides making music, I also write lyrics, which is another great way of expressing my feelings. I can put all my thoughts and emotions in them. The ability to express oneself through it is what makes music so great, and is why I chose this topic.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
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