Edgar Jaramillo
N14881160
Music Education
Summer 2006
E85.1505
Performing Arts in Western Civilization
Summary of Ferrara Chapter 2

Each successful method of musical analysis define its’ own task. The question proposed in the introduction is, should it? Roman Numeral analysis is an example of this type of pervasive success. In whole, the method enables the analyst to accomplish their task within that method. This is success by that criteria. A different way of analysis is to consider responsiveness to musical sound, from, and reference. In so many words, it is suggested that the work should determine the method. Therefore, a musical analysis would benefit from an eclectic method that supports the disclosure of multiple levels of musical significance.
According to Hans-George Gadamer, the temporal present is part of a stream of history that f=grows from the past and moves towards the future. That one’s tradition comes into play in every act of analysis. This type of pre-understanding is what makes pure listening and understanding of music impossible. Gadamer believes this is indisputable but is necessary and can be a positive force in one’s life. Prejudice must be defined in terms of contemporary language and/or concepts. The meaning of a musical work corresponds to it’s original past meaning to the analyst’s present historical being. One cannot suspend their present or step out of the context of his cultural time and place as Martin Heidegger refers to as ontological world. On the other hand, the benefits are that in understanding a past historical context lends to gaining a fuller understanding of their present one. In an analysis, it cannot restore an old work to its’ original meaning in an absolute way. Rather, meaning is derived to what it can mean in the present. Gadamer’s view is that pure historical objectivity is a myth. On the other hand, the composer’s sense of his own work should not be dismissed for it may provide insight in that work from the insight in their shared life-world. Gadamer concludes that there may be more problems with contemporary analysis than earlier works. This is because he felt that there would be too much present prejudices that may affect the work’s potential and what it can mean to them (composer). Not impossible but problematic in interpretive understanding with the work being so close to one’s being.
Since attitude can affect an analysis, the difference is between the music object as an aesthetic object or as an art object. The example of the millionaire with the Rembrandt is a great example to clear that up. If the millionaire sees it as a status symbol (financial investment) and locks it up, then the aesthetic aspect is not permitted while remaining an art object. If a friend of the millionaire visits it with an aesthetic attitude, then the art object is allowed to be an aesthetic object. Secondly, the clouds example brings it even more home. If you look at them to see if it is going to rain, then it is not an aesthetic object. If you look at the clouds and notice their fluffy texture as well as it colors, then the aesthetic attitude allows the clouds to be an aesthetic object. The clouds never change. It is the viewer (through attitude) that makes the difference. Yet, viewers cannot make an aesthetic object into an art object. The clouds are not created by an artist and therefore cannot be made to be an artwork. Thus, art objects require a creator in addition to an appreciator. However, it is possible that a viewer may lack the inventiveness (such as the millionaire example) to allow an art object to become an aesthetic object. Therefore, not all art works necessary are aesthetic objects as well.
A listener’s attitude profoundly impacts musical understanding. The listener, as a cultural and historical being, understands musical work through his historical present. This temporal distance that separates them from works of the past must be overcome. Gadamer’s provides grounding for questioning whether any method can suspend the human-cultural-historical involvement when it comes to collecting knowledge. The scientist must have control in order to perform a study. Can it be possible that control is even placed in what is to be observed? There is clearly a point illustrated here that the answers are then controlled if the method of inquiry is from a preconstructed schematic of what music can mean. This is not to condemn it but rather illustrate that the significance is only revealed to the extent of degree that the method allows. A thorough syntactical analysis is vital to the success of any eclectic method of musical analysis. This value is to be referenced later when discussing Heidegger’s position that referential meaning in music is only forthcoming when the analyst remains “open” and responsive to the life-world of the composer.
The need for methodology that includes more than one kind of analysis is apparent. Philosophical approaches to musical understanding at the levels of sound (descriptive phenomenology), and reference (hermeneutic phenomenology) will provide an orientation for asking alternative questions. These aforementioned philosophies that will be include in the eclectic methods are rooted in phenomenology. What is phenomenology? The correct answer would be to ask which phenomenon are they referring to. None can be as significant in this regard of phenomenology as Husserl and Heidegger. Descriptive and hermeneutic phenomenology respectively.
The difference between them is that Husserl feels man discovers his own conscious first. Then man encounters the outside world next. For Heidegger, man is “thrust” into the world and becomes historical through means characterized by the present status of their tradition. Respectively, the difference in methodology for attaining musical understanding is presented in three broad approaches. First, the conventional. Then the phenomenological. Finally, the hermeneutic.
Relating this to Gadamer, he explains that one does not “conduct’ a conversation but is “involved’ in a conversation is the whole enchilada in a nutshell. Gadamer does not cry over any spilt milk because he can’t quite get it all out there for the reader/listener. Rather he has opened that proverbial can of beans in hopes that we try some and savor the beans rather than just knowing it’s there. Being stocked up is a way different concept to “being full” and describing what full is.