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For anyone who listens reverentially in the half-light to Robert Johnson, Nick Drake, or Morrisey, who wait anxiously for new albums from The Cure, Leonard Cohen, or The Blue Nile, who buy up catalogs of Nina Simone, Johnny Cash, or Scott Walker, who search the Web for rarities by Radiohead, Elliot Smith, and Miles Davis, this is the book they've been waiting for. "This Will End in Tears" is both a compendium of the greatest sad songs and artists of the modern era and a collection of essays that attempts to explain what exactly draws us to sad music, and how sad music actually makes us happy. Adam also makes an argument, based partly on the structure of operating systems and popular sites like Pandora, for the existence of a miserablist genre, one that's becoming increasingly more important than traditional genres such as blues, rock, country, etc., one that's organized around the rather more amorphous principle of cosmic grief. Specifically, "This Will End in Tears" will include an A-Z list of entries of the masters of melancholy (from Samuel Barber to Patsy Cline, George Jone to Joy Division, Nico to Hank Williams), a top-100 list of the saddest songs of all time, essays explaining the power of particular songs and artists, and essays explaining particular types of sad music and their effects on the listener. There will also be recommended playlists throughout.
We communicate multimodally. Everyday communication involves not only words, but gestures, images, videos, sounds and of course, music. Music has traditionally been viewed as a separate object that we can isolate, discuss, perform and listen to. However, much of music's power lies in its use as multimodal communication. It is not just lyrics which lend songs their meaning, but images and musical sounds as well. The music industry, governments and artists have always relied on posters, films and album covers to enhance music's semiotic meaning. Music as Multimodal Discourse: Semiotics, Power and Protest considers musical sound as multimodal communication, examining the interacting meaning potential of sonic aspects such as rhythm, instrumentation, pitch, tonality, melody and their interrelationships with text, image and other modes, drawing upon, and extending the conceptual territory of social semiotics. In so doing, this book brings together research from scholars to explore questions around how we communicate through musical discourse, and in the discourses of music. Methods in this collection are drawn from Critical Discourse Analysis, Social Semiotics and Music Studies to expose both the function and semiotic potential of the various modes used in songs and other musical texts. These analyses reveal how each mode works in various contexts from around the world often articulating counter-hegemonic and subversive discourses of identity and belonging.
This collection presents a range of essays on contemporary music distribution and consumption patterns and practices. The contributors to the collection use a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, discussing the consequences and effects of the digital distribution of music as it is manifested in specific cultural contexts. The widespread circulation of music in digital form has far-reaching consequences: not least for how we understand the practices of sourcing and consuming music, the political economy of the music industries, and the relationships between format and aesthetics. Through close empirical engagement with a variety of contexts and analytical frames, the contributors to this collection demonstrate that the changes associated with networked music are always situationally specific, sometimes contentious, and often unexpected in their implications. With chapters covering topics such as the business models of streaming audio, policy and professional discourses around the changing digital music market, the creative affordances of format and circulation, and local practices of accessing and engaging with music in a range of distinct cultural contexts, the book presents an overview of the themes, topics and approaches found in current social and cultural research on the relations between music and digital technology.
This book examines Electronic Dance Music (EDM) scenes in 18 cities across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. It focuses on the historical development of these scenes, with an emphasis on the post-2000 context, including the COVID-19 pandemic and its far-reaching effects. Expert contributors highlight the influence of geographical contexts, as well as cultural and political histories, in the development of mainstream EDM scenes and underground Electronic Dance Music Cultures. This expansive work offers additional insights on cultural and creative policies, planning interventions and regulations associated with nightlife management, and provides a detailed analysis of current challenges inherent to the governance of EDM scenes in contemporary cities.
The first new survey of the field in more than 60 years, this study concentrates on the basics of music criticism. Because it focuses on core issues and proven principles, the book is likely to become the standard work on the subject. It is written for the audience that reads music criticism in newspapers and popular journals: professional and amateur musicians, scholars, teachers, researchers, librarians, students, music lovers, journalists, and critics. The topics are covered in depth and observations are thoroughly documented, yet the material is enjoyable to read because the writing is easy to understand and special terminology is held to an absolute minimum. The commentary addresses the function of music criticism, the qualifications and training of a critic, the relationship between music criticism and other aspects of journalism, and the principles behind value judgments. Three chapters are devoted to the concert and opera review, one to reviewing recordings, another to radio and television criticism, and one to reviewing ethnic music. Thirty-eight reviews are quoted and analyzed, and 13 are presented in their entirety, along with critical commentary. Index. Appendix. Bibliography
Providing a general overview of comic music, this reference outlines the history of important comic musical genres, considers interconnections among seemingly disparate humorous repertory, and includes an extensive bibliography and discography. The narrative challenges the notion that serious works are more important than comic works. Many supposed tragic works include comic elements and abstract genres, such as the symphony or string quartet. The narrative discusses almost 1,000 works, each cross referenced to publication information. The bibliography includes over 800 books, dissertations, reference sources, and articles. By tracing the development of major comic genres, this unique guide to comic music also examines how absurdity influenced the avante-garde developments of the 20th century. This study of comic music will appeal to musicologists, musicians, and music students. The relationships drawn between familiar and obscure works allow for a fuller understanding of the aesthetics of comic expression. Cross-referenced throughout, this resource is a much needed and useful guide to further research.
From Beethoven To Shostakovich The Psychology of the Composing Process By MAX GRAF PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY NEW YORK To Dagobert D. Runes TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I. SOURCES OF MUSICAL IMAGINATION I. The Magic in Music 3 II Artistic Fancy 23 III. Classical and Romantic Fantasy 35 IV. The Erotic Forces of Fantasy 52 V. The Subconscious 77 VI. Forms and Figures in the Subconscious 118 VII. Childhood Memories 155 VIII. External and Internal Experiences 177 IX. Retrospect The Origin of Beethovens Ninth Symphony 221 PART II. THE WORK. OF MUSICAL FANTASY X Organizing the Musical Fantasy 245 XL Productive Moods 273 XIL Musical Conception 308 XIII. The Beginning of Critical Work The Sketches 329 XIV, The Composition Process 377 XV, Retrospect The Path of Musical Imag ination The Musical Work of Art 448 Index 462 PART I. Sources of Musical Imagination CHAPTER I. L Cagic in THE AVERAGE music lover, listening to one of the great music works, does not give a thought to how these compositions may have originated. He enjoys their grand musical constructions, the sym phonies, sonatas, chamber music, songs and choruses. He derives pleasure from the tonal beauty and from the musical expression and feels his whole being elevated, his sensual powers augmented and his entire personality transformed. The world in which he ordinarily moves, and which is the scene of his activity, seems to vanish. He feels himself transplanted to another world wherein every thing that would normally catch his interest ceases to exist his work, his human relations, his worries and hopes and fears, his plans and his everyday sentiments. In this new and exalted world there are only sound ing forms, and within the tones only thelustre of beau ty a lustre that has always been sensed by all susceptible individuals by some more clearly than by others as a light coming from a loftier region, Even those who seek in the enjoyment of music mere ly the sensual pleasure of sounds, still sense in music firm order and a lawful form which elevate the simplest melody far above the tumult of everyday life. The attitude of musical audiences in the concert hall demonstrates most effectively the transformation of a m FROM BEETHOVEN TO SHOSTAKOVICH crowd of people from its commonplace conduct to a new form of existence. Before the program starts, the audiences gossip and discuss their private affairs they laugh, exchange pleas antries., flirt, tell one another vicious or witty or mean ingless matters about life and society. As yet there is no audience in the concert hall, and no unity only groups or individuals. Then the conductor or the soloist makes his appear ance on the stag cmd as if at a given command, the conglomeration of listeners changes to a single audience that listens as if with a single ear. At the first sound of a tone or chord the attention of thousands converges in one direction. The listeners are transformed into a single being whose entire emo tional life is changed. It f 5 eems as though the souls of thousands would merge fn a new, uniform soul that permits music to penetrate. There is a new tension in the souls of all those present sensations take on a higher degree of warmth emotions move more rapidly than in ordinary life. At this moment an event takes place in the concert halls similar to that in Catholic churches when, at the moment of Transubstantiation the music becomes si lent as the little bellrings through the high room. At this point the pious kneel down as the priest raises the monstrance, and out of hundreds of devout there emerges a single congregation in whose collective soul lives the identical mystic awareness of the presence of their God. One can observe something similar at every theatrical show, every mass meeting and at every sports event the transformation of a gathering of people, and of life and C4 THE MAGIC IN MUSIC sentiments of thousands into a new, more strongly braced, intensified emotion...
In his memoir, Dr. George E. Allen looks back at a career spanning more than five decades of teaching music to Philadelphia students. Early on in life, he learned about many styles of music, and he took his love of the art to college, where he earned multiple degrees before joining the Philadelphia School District. There, he earned the respect of students, fellow music teachers, and music administrators. It wasn't easy, but he did it his way and enjoyed positive results. He inspired the same type of dogged effort in his students, relying on a phrase that he placed at the beginning of all his syllabi: "It is better to know than to think you know." He first heard that on the phone from Ellis Marsalis, the father of jazz musician Wynton and a well-known musician in his own right. Allen adopted the phrase as one of his own mantras, never allowing his students to say "I think" or "I can't." Whether you are someone who loves music, an education professional, or someone thinking about becoming a teacher, you can find inspiration in Allen's love for music, education, and his students. It was time for me to begin serious work on writing about my experience as a music educator in Philadelphia because I did it differently with satisfying results.
Alberto Ginastera: A Research and Information Guide is the first bio-bibliographic study of the composer and the only published book on the subject in English. This work fills a critical gap in contemporary music studies by enriching our knowledge of one of the most compelling creative voices of the Americas. Given the lack of prior systematic attention to Ginastera, this book establishes a firm foundation for future scholarship. It includes a detailed biographical sketch of the composer that quotes extensively from his letters. It summarizes the defining features of his style and encompasses his infrequently explored late works. It offers the most comprehensive catalogue of Ginastera's music to date and provides an annotated list of his published writings. This book contains over 400 annotated bibliographic entries that refer to critically selected sources in English, Spanish, French, German, and Italian. The last chapter offers new information about archival holdings and internet resources that facilitates research on this composer. An appendix featuring a detailed chronology of Ginastera's career completes this work.
This book presents an overview of the emerging field of emotion in videogame soundtracking. The emotional impact of music has been well-documented, particularly when used to enhance the impact of a multimodal experience, such as combining images with audio as found in the videogames industry. Soundtracking videogames presents a unique challenge compared to traditional composition (for example film music) in that the narrative of gameplay is non-linear - Player dependent actions can change the narrative and thus the emotional characteristics required in the soundtrack. Historical approaches to emotion measurement, and the musical feature mapping and music selection that might be used in video game soundtracking are outlined, before a series of cutting edge examples are given. These examples include algorithmic composition techniques, automated emotion matching from biosensors, motion capture techniques, emotionally-targeted speech synthesis and signal processing, and automated repurposing of existing music (for example from a players own library). The book concludes with some possibilities for the future.
Van Morrison is primal but sophisticated; he's accessible but inscrutable; he's a complex songwriter and a raw blues shouter; he's a steady influence on the musical scene but wildly unpredictable as well, and it's these complex and often conflicting qualities that make him such a compelling subject for the Singer-Songwriter series. Journalist Erik Hage here eschews a cold, empirical study of structures and influence, and seeks instead more natural and intuitive means of appreciating all that is unique, eclectic, and surprising about Van Morrison's impressive output. In addition to covering almost all of Van Morrison's musical work and offering new readings of many iconic songs, Hage also provides a biographical introduction and a complete discography that can help listeners find new perspective on Morrison's body of work. Even in his darkest and most naked moments-in "Astral Weeks" for instance-Van Morrison's songs can still suggest something uplifting. Sometimes these two poles are present simultaneously, and at other times they each find distinct expression in a different musical moment. Even on his first solo album, "Blowin' Your Mind" (which contained the iconic Brown-Eyed Girl) Van Morrison was wrestling with something thornier and deeper, as evidenced by the wrenching T.B. Sheets - a nine-minute opus about the discomfort of visiting a lover in a small room as she lies in bed, wracked with Tuberculosis. Those two songs, at artistic odds with each other and on the same album, are representative of the oppositional forces that fuel much of his work. Hage here provides a guide through all the layers of emotional meaning and musical resonance present in Morrison's work.
Claudio Arrau was one of the most distinguished and influential concert pianists of the twentieth century. His particular approach to the creation of sound was legendary. Concert pianist Ruth Nye studied with Arrau in New York and maintained a very active professional and personal relationship with the maestro until his death some 30 years later. Ruth Nye's performance career continued for many years until she developed Dupuytren's contracture of the fifth finger of her left hand, which left her unable to play professionally. Ruth Nye, MBE, FRCM, is now one of the most highly regarded piano teachers in the UK. This is the story of her life and her musical philosophy.
The first and only collection of its kind, "Sacred Symphony" contains 100 transcriptions of muscial excerpts from the chanted sermons of contemporary black preachers. In his introduction to the pieces that follow, author John Michael Spencer argues that there is an observable correlation between the chanted sermons of today's black preachers and the antebellum spiritual. He shows that the pieces collected here, each of which spontaneously evolved during the course of a sermon or prayer service, are themselves spirituals containing similar musical components--melody, rhythm, call and response, counterpoint, harmony, form, and improvisation.
This volume looks forward and re-examines present day education and pedagogical practices in music and dance in the diverse cultural environments found in Oceania. The book also identifies a key issue of how teachers face the prospect of taking a reflexive view of their own cultural legacy in music and dance education as they work from and alongside different cultural worldviews. This key issue, amongst other debates that arise, positions Intersecting Cultures as an innovative text that fills a gap in the current market with highly appropriate and fresh ideas from primary sources. The book offers commentaries that underpin and inform current pedagogy and bigger picture policy for the performing arts in education in Oceania, and in parallel ways in other countries.
It seems excessive…but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. The mass of black curls. The top hat. The cigarette dangling from pouty lips. These are the trademarks of one of the world’s greatest and most revered guitarists, a celebrity musician known by one name: Slash. Saul “Slash” Hudson was born in Hampstead to a Jewish father and a black American mother who created David Bowie’s look in The Man Who Fell to Earth. He was raised in Stoke until he was 11, when he and his mother moved to LA. Frequent visitors to the house were David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Ronnie Wood and Iggy Pop. At this time Slash got into BMX bikes and would eventually turn professional, winning major awards and money, but at 15 his grandmother gave him his first guitar. Sessions with numerous local LA rock bands followed until a fateful meeting with singer W Axl Rose…and the rest was rock history. Guns N’ Roses spent two years builiding their reputation before Appetite for Destruction was unleashed on an unsuspecting world. Chart success and global domination followed but with it came the inevitable fall – addicted to heroin, booze and cigarettes the band imploded in a rift between Axl and Slash that is as deep today as ever. But with a new wife, kids and new band Velvet Revolver, Slash is back on track. As raucous and edgy as his music, Slash sets the record straight and tells the real story as only Slash can.
Based on fieldwork in Kinshasa and Paris, Breaking Rocks examines patronage payments within Congolese popular music, where a love song dedication can cost 6,000 dollars and a simple name check can trade for 500 or 600 dollars. Tracing this system of prestige through networks of musicians and patrons - who include gangsters based in Europe, kleptocratic politicians in Congo, and lawless diamond dealers in northern Angola - this book offers insights into ideologies of power and value in central Africa's troubled post-colonial political economy, as well as a glimpse into the economic flows that make up the hidden side of the globalization.
This book presents sixteen chapters in Volume 1. This Volume I of the Proceedings of the Worldwide Music Conference 2021 offers a smorgasbord of scientific approaches to music. The congress is one of a kind; it is dedicated not to a specific field but to the interdisciplinary developments and the interaction with the representatives from actual scientific disciplines. The languages of mathematics, computer science, semiotics, palaeography, and medicine are in the mix; geography of the studies is also impressive-Greece, Mexico, China, Russia, India, Poland, and USA, to name just a few. The purpose of such juxtaposition is to see how the terminology, categorical apparatus, and interpretations of music vary from science to science and how this can enrich the terminology of music theory. They cover a wide range of topics that the editors divided into four subfields: music in interdisciplinary contexts, music and current technology, musical instruments and voice, and music pedagogy and medicine. The opening section of the Proceedings is thus dedicated to the idea of interdisciplinarity, relationship of creator of theory of harmony Rameau to sciences of his time, the idea of number in music, co-creation, and the category of musical network. Three more chapters here deal with Russian palaeography, Indian musical genre, and the idea of musical semiotics. It is a kind of opening statement from music theorists. Part two, music and current technology, united three chapters, on "zero gravity" concept in modern music, discussion of scales as mathematical networks, and the innovation in digital music making, transforming it from stationary to mobile applications. The third part, musical instruments and voice, is of special interest because it is in the study of the instruments, the design, acoustic characteristics, and tuning, and sciences have cooperated with music theory for centuries. In addition to instruments, one chapter here is dedicated to voice. The last part, musical pedagogy and medicine, takes the reader even further into the interdisciplinary domain. The Proceedings is written in standard English language, prepared for the pleasure of reading of wide circles of professionals in different fields. The purpose of the editors is to bring this rather diverse set of texts into the context of a fruitful dialogue.
The Beatles meet Sigmund Freud. Bob Marley trades ideas with Carl Rogers, and Joni Mitchell shares thoughts with psychological great Erik Erikson. Those aren't actual face-to-face meetings, but a reflection of the fascinating interplay developed for this book by Barry Farber. In a novel look at rock 'n' roll lyrics, Columbia University professor Farber shows us those lyrics that rise above the rest because they are not only clever but also wise in their psychological themes and conclusions. These great lyrics embody enduring truths about topics as diverse as love, identity, money, sex, religion, aging, social justice, and the search for meaning. Join psychologist Farber in a fun and informative journey across rock 'n' roll history to see how we can learn about significant areas of life through the medium of psychologically wise rock 'n' roll lyrics. No other book has treated rock 'n' roll lyrics so seriously, as a source of both creativity and wisdom. No other book has used rock lyrics to help us understand who we are and why we do what we do. This is a fascinating work that will make readers think about their lives and consider where they have been, as well as where they are going. Featured artists include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Eagles, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Alanis Morissette, and more. Rock lyrics from every decade since the 1950s are featured, and intertwined with the theories of such psychological luminaries as Freud, Rogers, Erikson, and John Bowlby. The wisest rock lyrics, says Farber, can teach us something about ourselves that even the greatest psychological figures have sometimes failed to do. |
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