Alterenate second paper topic

ALTERNATE PAPER TOPIC PLUS WHAT WE'LL DISCUSS NEXT TUESDAY

Next week, we'll discuss Levinson's performance means criterion as laid out in section III of  What a Musical Work Is.". Take a look at his discussion of Beethoven's Hammerklavier sonata in subsection (a) of section III. Then look at Kivy's criticism of Levinson on the Hammerklavier, p. 88-90 of "Orchestrating Platonism," and Levinson's reply to Kivy on p. 240-241 of "What a Musical Work is Again." I want us to come up with a good recap of the exchange.

Now, here's a paper topic that comes out of the discussion we'll have. If you're wrirting on fine individuation, you don't have to write on this.:

TOPIC
Levinson's Hammerklavier argument for the performance means criterion commits him to the position that any performance of the Hammerklavier is on a historically accurate fortepiano (and not on the piano). Discuss, with attention to the exchange between Kivy and Levinson on Hammerklavier.

Try to be as concise as possible. Stick to the point. Use quotations to show that you've intepreted L and K correctly. Feel free to use our discussion of the topic in class. Due Friday November 24.

VW

The VW date is this Wednesday. If you have concerns, email me or come see me before class.

NEXT PAPER TOPIC

Here's a paper topic. I'll provide an alternate topic within a few days. I'll also get Rosa to photocopy Kivy's "Orchestrating Platonism" (publisheed in his anthology, The Fine Art of Repetition) By, the way, if any of you find the Kivy paper online, please blog how we can access it. The Kivy paper is directly relevant to the alternate paper-topic. I hope to finish up Levinson's IND condition next week and at least make a start on PER (the performance means constraint). The Kivy paper concerns PER.

A few of the papers handed in a couple of weeks ago were too long. Some of you tried to present fairly ambitious theses justified by fairly long and complicated chains of argument, with the results that i) your arguments for the individual bits didn't hold together and ii) you lost control of the large-scale structure of your paper. Therefore, I want you to scale back for this paper. Keep the length to six pages at most. Also, bear in mind that a treatment of the following question depends more on small-scale tactics than big-picture theoretical narrative. When you present someone's view, make absolutely sure that you back your interpretations up with quotations, some of which only need to be a few words long. If you're unclear about what I want, email me or talk to me. Let's set a due date of Tuesday, November 20.

Topic: In "Fine Individuation," Matheson and Caplan argue that Levinson's IND condition is unstable. Present Levinson's case for IND and then present  M&C's argument that it is unstable. Respond to M&C.

John Frusciante is the old guitarist from the Red Hot Chili Peppers (I'm not a huge fan of the Peppers, but he has some great solo stuff, I think). Anyways, I don't think he really offers much new insight, but insofar as he is a man who has dedicated his life to "creating" music and holds that all he is doing is discovering.. well, it bodes well with me. He's a bit of a rambler; speaking is certainly not his strong point, but I think he has some interesting things to say.

Watch from 2:25 to about 5:00.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DGr0TUd6U4

Also, check out:

Can a Musical Work Be Created? Caplan, Ben, Matheson, Carl. British Journal of Aesthetics, 44(2), 113-134, 22 p. April 2004. Abstract Available (AN PHL1780092

and

Fine Individuation Matheson, Carl, Caplan, Ben. British Journal of Aesthetics, 47(2), 113-137, 25 p. April 2007.

Both are evailable. BTW, I don't know what's going on with the italics.

Readings

I left papers with Rosa for you to pick up:

Jerrold Levinson: What a Musical Work Is, Again
Peter Kivy: Platonism in Music: A Kind of Defence

Also, read the following, which are evailable:

Levinson: What a Musical Work Is
Kivy: Platonism in Music: Another Kind of Defence

Sorry for the tardiness. Please tell others who might not be checking out the blog very often! It would be good for everyone to have picked the papers up before the weekend.

"I've been doing a lot of abstract painting lately, really abstract. No brush, no paint, no canvas. I just think about it" --Steven Wright

(As an editorial note: I think it is very telling that this comment was intended as a joke)