Reading today Iliad 3, Aeneid 6, Cicero, Is 44, Rev 18, and The Thing. Read over the weekend Where Angels Fear to Tread and The Academic Sermons of Aquinas.
J, being the thoughtful and observant person that she is, told me I ought to clarify why I said music is not as important an academic discipline as literature and mathematics. Apparently my argument of "it just isn't" failed to convince. Plato argues correctly that what he calls mousika is the most sovereign of arts, and as I pointed out, his mousika bears little resemblance to our music. To the Greek, mousika contains the record of his meaningful cultural essence, and itself is the primary medium in which this essence will be passed on. To the speakers of English, our essential cultural has been passed along primarily in books. We create music, and we create very good music; but even our best music is usually an interpretation of the ideas of our littera. We were a people of letters, even if now we are becoming a people of the screen. In that sense it may be infinitely more valuable to demand educational courses on how to watch television than how to sing; but best of all would be to learn to read, feel, and think.
In response to your last sentence--I can think of few mediums better than music to explore feeling. And there is some extremely meaningful music out there created in cultures that have no books.
ReplyDeleteCultivating feeling is a tricky thing to describe, isn't it? I've sat here for the past few minutes trying to figure out the best way to say this, and I'm still not sure I have it. You are right, of course, that music is one of the best media to explore feeling; but you are also a person of letters, and in Western classical music you can't have the music without the letters. Children can pick up on certain feelings in the classics, like the glory of the 1812 finale or the terror of Valkyrie, but there are great long passages of Mozart Piano Concerto 2nd movements or Minuets or Mahler that go over their heads. To put it another way, they might be properly affected by the opening of Beethoven 5, but they will also be affected by the tuning notes. They are indiscriminate, and they miss much of the intent. It takes a better-read person to understand the opening of Beethoven 5 and the 2nd movement as well. Again, music is great for exploring feeling; but it's best after other education. What cultures are you thinking of that create music without books? (Every culture creates music, but I can't think of any that advance to form, harmony, subtle emotions, etc. without having letters as well)
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