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Originality, Music and Noise: Some References

May 30, 2014 by Katie 5 Comments

I am a regular listener of the show, and my dad, Jonathan White, has even been a guest (episode 72, "Terrorism"). I am a music history professor at Mercer University and became very excited when the discussion on episode 94 focused on music and, in particular, two major issues: 1) music and noise; 2) music and the cult of originality (which in turn suggests an exploration of the topic of musical borrowing). I've often thought that it would be fascinating to have a musicologically driven PEL discussion and thoroughly enjoyed hearing everyone's thoughts in this episode.

On the subject of noise, I, like Schopenhauer, am glad that we don't have to worry so much about the cracking of whips (from people with or without their horses) outside in the street. After this observation, the discussion focused on how so many of us are so often lost in our headphones and internal, "private" musical worlds. At the same time, one wonders if music has become so ubiquitous (at the grocery store, or loudly blaring at the coffee shop, at the gym, at the gas station) that it is at times impossible to separate music from noise. A few books shed light on this subject. One is Jacques Attali's Noise: The Political Economy of Music (1985). Two others come from Mark Katz at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who has written extensively about the "phonograph effect," or the tendency for recorded sound to shape how we experience events in our lives (Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music, 2004; Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the DJ, 2012). In a recent seminar that I taught, the students considered the possibility that "phonograph effects" might also include non-musical elements (such as a recorded voice-mail or video of a loved one who has departed). I haven't even mentioned John Cage, who wrote extensively about music and noise (and silence): one compilation appears as Silence: Lectures and Writings (1961). Cage's 4'33" famously challenges the listener to contemplate silence in the concert hall, and many of Cage's works feature silence as a contemplative device.

On the subject of music and the cult of originality, which began in the 18th century and has since thrived in the wake of copyright law, there are also many wonderful readings that might be useful. I took a seminar on musical borrowing at Indiana University with J. Peter Burkholder that dealt with many of the issues mentioned in the show (including a discussion by Joseph Straus on the "anxiety of influence" in twentieth-century music). In his article on musical borrowing in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Burkholder characterizes multiple types of borrowings and the level of complexity involved in talking about how one piece might sound like or resemble another. In doing so, he asks several questions: 1) "What is the relationship of the existing piece to the new piece that borrows from it?"; 2) "What element or elements of the existing piece are incorporated into or referred to by the new piece, in whole or part?"; 3) "How does the borrowed material relate to the shape of the new piece?"; 4) " How is the borrowed material altered in the new piece?"; 5) "What is the function of the borrowed material within the new piece, in musical terms?" As Burkholder has written, often there are more specific terms than simply saying that one piece "borrows" musically from another, including allusion, arrangement, modeling, quotation, and transcription.

These texts and my ramblings are just barely scratching the surface here, but I wanted to share them after my excitement in hearing the musical discussion on the Schopenhauer episode. Thank you for reading (if you've read this far), and have a harmonious day!

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Filed Under: Web Detritus Tagged With: Arthur Schopenhauer, cult of originality, Mark Katz, Music, philosophy blog

Comments

  1. Daniel David says

    May 30, 2014 at 8:49 pm

    That Attali book looks really interesting. Hopefully I can get around to reading it soon. The “commodification of music” or of art in general is a topic I’d love to explore in a group here sometime, mainly just to see how well my snobby opinions about the effect of marketing on music hold up under real examination.

    The questions you bring in from Professor Burkholder have me curious about whether you have any thoughts on the “retromania” trend that Simon Reynolds has written about. Seems like there might be some potential overlap there.

    Reply
  2. dmf says

    June 1, 2014 at 1:08 pm

    recent update/lecture by:
    https://soundcloud.com/musicdpt/20140421-hearing-modernity-jacques-attali

    Reply
    • Daniel David says

      June 6, 2014 at 9:42 pm

      Thanks for this. I just got around to listening to it, and it did have some interesting ideas. Made me feel more confident that his book is probably one I should take a look at, though I’m irritated to hear that the much updated second edition was never translated.

      Reply
      • dmf says

        June 9, 2014 at 2:37 pm

        sure, for better and worse the budgets of academic publishing is quite limited these days but lots of recent stuff out there about noise and philo:
        http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/immersion-into-noise.html

        Reply
        • Daniel David says

          June 22, 2014 at 11:46 pm

          Alright, thanks, it’s going on the reading list. Extra points for being a free download.

          Reply

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