I believe that we all started this course with the knowledge that there is universality in the nature of music, yet is experienced in a uniquely subjective manner. Whether we are born with that knowledge or we acquire it experientially through osmosis, I believe any open-minded individual reflecting on the topic would agree with us. Levitin provides us with the neurobiological and cultural reasons for music’s uniquely subjective and universal nature, yesterday’s class provided a wonderful illustration of it. Groups of us enjoyed some of the same pieces of music – but it appeared that the scale of enjoyment or appreciation of the same work varied between us. The same is true for pieces that we didn’t enjoy – from it doesn’t do anything for me to dislike. The common denominator seems to be that we all have a reaction to music, an emotional response to it. We have some immediate response when exposed to new music. We can find a musical piece tolerable, likeable, fun, rapturous, distasteful, disturbing, or execrable.
My questions are: Can human beings with sufficient functioning aural and neurobiological systems be “indifferent” to music? Can we be totally non-responsive to music, or do our neurobiological systems require an autonomic response?
Could our natural responses to music, whether culturally influenced, or introduced post-maturity, be a biological recognition system, programmed to predispose us for openness with culturally-like Others? Could it be an elastic recognition system – allowing for the evolutionary possibilities of potential future allies in recognizing some acceptableness in culturally new, never exposed to, extremely different music?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Great questions; I hope someone takes them on.
Post a Comment