Music and the Numinous

Music and the Numinous PDF Author: Richard Elfyn Jones
Publisher: Rodopi
ISBN: 9042022892
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 126

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Book Description
The continuum of music--what is it, what does it do, how does it do it--has taxed countless philosophers over recorded time, and even the verb for what it does (express? arouse? evoke? symbolize? embody?) meets with no universal agreement. Not always is music admired: in the Book of Ezekiel, the prophet likens the skilled musician to an ineffectual preacher. Richard Elfyn Jones brings new ideas to the conundrum by taking up certain philosophers not usually cited in connection with music, in particular Alfred North Whitehead and the classical Greek notion of process (as opposed to event), and thus of process theology. The book opens up an original approach to the transcendent and, to many, the sacred quality heard in music, drawing both upon authorities concerned with the numinous (that feeling of awe and attraction behind religious experience) and upon his own lifelong engagement with music as scholar, teacher and composer. - Peter Williams, former Dean of Music, University of Edinburgh

Philosophical and Cultural Theories of Music

Philosophical and Cultural Theories of Music PDF Author: Eduardo de la Fuente
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004193405
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Music is a ubiquitous and hard to grasp cultural form. It is semiotically and aesthetically open-ended; yet even a 'non-musical' person is able to follow the basics of rhythmic structure and flow. Its presence in social and cultural life is further complicated by its multiple forms of existence - as both 'live' and 'technologically mediated', as self-referential language and as accompaniment to text, dance and other cultural expressions. This collection brings together philosophers, sociologists, musicologists and students of culture who theorize the multiple roles of music through cultural practices as diverse as opera and classical music, jazz and pop, avant-garde and DIY musical cultures, music festivals and isolated listening through the iPod, rock in urban heritage and the piano in contemporary Asian societies.

Traces of the Spirit

Traces of the Spirit PDF Author: Robin Sylvan
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 081479808X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
Sylvan examines the religious dimensions of popular music subcultures, charting the influence and religious aspects of popular music in mainstream culture today.

Music and Transcendence

Music and Transcendence PDF Author: Ferdia J. Stone-Davis
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317092236
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Music and Transcendence explores the ways in which music relates to transcendence by bringing together the disciplines of musicology, philosophy and theology, thereby uncovering congruencies between them that have often been obscured. Music has the capacity to take one outside of oneself and place one in relation to that which is ’other’. This ’other’ can be conceived in an ’absolute’ sense, insofar as music can be thought to place the self in relation to a divine ’other’ beyond the human frame of existence. However, the ’other’ can equally well be conceived in an ’immanent’ (or secular) sense, as music is a human activity that relates to other cultural practices. Music here places the self in relation to other people and to the world more generally, shaping how the world is understood, without any reference to a God or gods. The book examines how music has not only played a significant role in many philosophical and theological accounts of the nature of existence and the self, but also provides a valuable resource for the creation of meaning on a day-to-day basis.

Dialectics and the Sublime in Underhill's Mysticism

Dialectics and the Sublime in Underhill's Mysticism PDF Author: Peter Chong-Beng Gan
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9812874844
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
This book represents a study of Evelyn Underhill’s premier work on mysticism, using Hegel’s dialectics and Kant’s theory of the sublime as interpretive tools. It especially focuses on two prominent features of Underhill’s text: the description of the mystical life as one permeated by an intense love between the mystic and infinite reality, and the detailed delineation of stages of mystical development. Given these two features, the text lends itself to a construction of a valuable discourse predicated on dialecticism, sublimity, and mysticism. The book also articulates a number of insights into the content and nature of the writings of Christian mystics.

Mama Don't Allow

Mama Don't Allow PDF Author: Thacher Hurd
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781484476741
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
For use in schools and libraries only. Miles teams up with three other musicians to form the Swamp Band, in a tale inspired by an American folksong.

Advocate for Music!

Advocate for Music! PDF Author: Lynn M. Brinckmeyer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190219157
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
This guidebook is filled with strategies and ideas to help educate the general public, and political decision makers, about the long-term benefits of music education. It is ideal practical companion for all music educators.

Expression and Truth

Expression and Truth PDF Author: Lawrence Kramer
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520273958
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
“Vintage Kramer: Musicology at its best and most responsible. Expression and Truth is a tour de force that continues the author’s longstanding commitment to understand music as a form of knowledge, a critical but often marginalized element of the ‘fundamental grammar of culture.’ This singularly original extended essay shows why and how music—expression in its most concentrated form—is the key to deciphering that grammar. Above all, as Kramer’s new book puts it, ‘we need not only to think about expression but also to think with it.’ Amen, and bravo.”—Richard Leppert, Regents Professor, University of Minnesota

The Musical Human

The Musical Human PDF Author: Michael Spitzer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1635576253
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 481

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Book Description
"Michael Spitzer has pulled off the impossible: a Guns, Germs and Steel for music." --Daniel Levitin A colossal history spanning cultures, time, and space to explore the vibrant relationship between music and the human species. 165 million years ago saw the birth of rhythm. 66 million years ago was the first melody. 40 thousand years ago Homo sapiens created the first musical instrument. Today music fills our lives. How we have created, performed and listened to this music throughout history has defined what our species is and how we understand who we are. Yet music is an overlooked part of our origin story. The Musical Human takes us on an exhilarating journey across the ages – from Bach to BTS and back – to explore the vibrant relationship between music and the human species. With insights from a wealth of disciplines, world-leading musicologist Michael Spitzer renders a global history of music on the widest possible canvas, looking at music in our everyday lives; music in world history; and music in evolution, from insects to apes, humans to AI. Through this journey we begin to understand how music is central to the distinctly human experiences of cognition, feeling and even biology, both widening and closing the evolutionary gaps between ourselves and animals in surprising ways. The Musical Human boldly puts the case that music is the most important thing we ever did; it is a fundamental part of what makes us human.

The Altars Where We Worship

The Altars Where We Worship PDF Author: Juan M. Floyd-Thomas
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 1611647800
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
While a large percentage of Americans claim religious identity, the number of Americans attending traditional worship services has significantly declined in recent decades. Where, then, are Americans finding meaning in their lives, if not in the context of traditional religion? In this provocative study, the authors argue that the objects of our attention have become our god and fulfilling our desires has become our religion. They examine the religious dimensions of six specific aspects of American culturebody and sex, big business, entertainment, politics, sports, and science and technologythat function as “altars†where Americans gather to worship and produce meaning for their lives. The Altars Where We Worship shows how these secular altars provide resources for understanding the self, others, and the world itself. “For better or worse,†the authors write, “we are faced with the reality that human experiences before these altars contain religious characteristics in common with experiences before more traditional altars.†Readers will come away with a clearer understanding of what religion is after exploring the thoroughly religious aspects of popular culture in the United States.