It's deadline day, and no one has submitted a paper yet. I'm just saying, that's all.

DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN

Yesterday, we listened to a bit of Miles Davis's "If I Were a Bell" from Live at the Plugged Nickel. Many people who are unversed in late post-bop, will claim that "it all sounds the same" while others will be able to recognize aesthetic variation in performances from the genre. I just Youtubed some Dillinger Escape Plan, which many might find inaccessible, although I must admit that it seemed poppy to me. I did like the video of "Milk Lizard."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMEYLlDThZU

So, let's go to music that is really on the edge. Person 1 is familiar with a certain genre or style, while person 2 isn't. Think about their respective phenomenologies. In general, for instance, will person 1 be able to attribute a full range of aesthetic qualities to the genre in question? Can there be (relatively) lyrical and serene death metal? Does person 1 have to know or even be aware of more facts than Person 2 while listening? What does "Getting it" involve? I'm just throwing off some ideas here, but I am really interested in questions like this. Any thoughts? Any other potentially relevant questions?

ONTOLOGY OF ART – THIRD ASSIGNMENT

 

DUE: MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2012, but feel free to hand in your paper earlier so that I can get a head-start on the grading.

LENGTH: Feel free to make this paper a bit longer than six pages, especially if you haven’t written a longer paper yet. However, never ramble and never lose track of where you are, where you’ve been and where you want to go. Also please remember that my eyes glaze over when I encounter spaghetti structure and/or a parade of cryptic sentences. Chris’s eyes never glaze over, so save the horrible papers for him. 

TOPICS: Those of you who are comfortable to do so may write  on any topic that we’ve discussed this term, especially if it’s one of the topics we’ve discussed in the last few weeks. For those who would like a bit more guidance, here are some suggestions.

1) Tillman’s endurantism. Find a problem and see if it can be solved.

2) Kania’s Ontology of rock music as presented in “Making Tracks”. Find a problem and see if it can be solved. When I think about Kania’s theory I keep coming back to 1)  the nature and centrality for his position of the concept of manifestation and to 2) his account of covers. In addition, I worry about the analogy he draws between film remakes and  cover versions.

3) We really haven’t talked much of the ontology of songs. Kania discusses songs and their relations to tracks. According to Kania, the central works of rock music are tracks, not songs. You could explore a specific or a general question. An example of a specific question would be this: do Kania’s arguments against songs as works succeed? An example of a general question would be this: what are songs? How are they individuated? What is their role and centrality to an ontology of music? Of course, the general question  is huge. It constitutes an extended program of research. A paper on it would have to be pretty long and even then you’d only be making the first few moves in a treatment of the topic. Nevertheless, I find the topic to be fascinating.

4) Take a look at Kania’s refutation of Young and Matheson in “All work and No Play.” SAVE JIM AND CARL!!!

Readings for Tuesday,  December 4.

We'll be looking at the ontology of rock and maybe Jazz. Begin by checking out Andrew Kania's "Making Tracks: The Ontology of Rock Music", JAAC 2006.

http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy1.lib.umanitoba.ca/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=15&sid=7f9a6ad0-5d02-4763-b26e-f38fa83496cf%40sessionmgr10&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=phl&AN=PHL2090287

Also, see Kania's "All Play and No Work: An Ontology of Jazz", JAAC 2011. I have no idea whether the following link works.

http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy1.lib.umanitoba.ca/ehost/results?sid=7f9a6ad0-5d02-4763-b26e-f38fa83496cf%40sessionmgr10&vid=4&hid=15&bquery=kania+AND+jazz&bdata=JmRiPXBobCZ0eXBlPTAmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl

Musical Materialism

I thought I'd post a link to 'Musical Materialism' and also a paper I wrote with Joshua Spencer, 'Musical Materialism and the Inheritance Problem' (it's short) since the plan is to start with some of that stuff for next time. The papers can be found here: https://sites.google.com/site/christillman/home/papers (I believe library access is required to get to them.) Please bring questions, comments, objections or new arguments in favor (one can hope!) for next time.

Love and Music

This post probably would have been more helpful a month ago... Levinson explores the relationship between music and love. For those of you who love PhilBites like I do:

http://philosophybites.com/2010/02/jerrold-levinson-on-music-an-eros.html

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)

OK, I'm sensing rebellious sentiments concerning the nickname thing. So Horsehalf doesn't want to be called "Horsehalf" anymore? He wants to be called "Justin?" That's too bad, because he has a great backstory as a pop-culturally dated but savvy foreign exchange student from Mongolia: catchphrase, "Hey Dude, where's my yurt?" Justin, I'll meet you halfway. I won't call you "Horsehalf" any longer... Princess Tippytoes. The rest of you beware.

Full versions of the most unwanted music:

http://www.wired.com/listening_post/2008/04/a-scientific-at/

and most wanted music:

http://www.wired.com/listening_post/2008/05/survey-produced/

ENJOY! Come to think of it, I was in a band named "Shilo" back when I was at Dal. It was not good, despite the fact that we absolutely killed at the Porter's lake Legion Hall.The band's business card gave an idea of its quality: "Dance, Listen, and enjoy to the sounds of Shilo." I was also in a country band named "Whiskey River." I was kicked out for being able to read music. Although these bands did not feature a soprano rapper, they were not good.

READINGS FOR NEXT WEEK

On Tuesday I'd like to finish our discussion concerning the restoration of artworks. I hope that we get around to discussing, among other things, the claim that artworks are the direct bearers of their aesthetic/artistic properties. I also hope that we can begin our discussion of conceptual art. Here's an article that considers when conceptual artworks should be restored:

The Artist's Sanction in Contemporary Art

Authors:Irvin, Sherri

Source: Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 63(4), 315-326. 12 p. FALL 2005.

 

Here is an introduction to the philosophy of conceptual art:

 

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/conceptual-art/

I'll hand out some additional material by the author of the above article in class.

 

Also, read this:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_art

 

In particular examine its list of notable conceptual artwork. Do the artworks on the list conform to the SEP article's characterrization of conceptual art?

 

For instance, think about "The People's Choice" section of this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komar_and_Melamid

 

and this:
http://awp.diaart.org/km/

and this;
http://www.allmusic.com/album/release/the-peoples-choice-music-the-most-wanted-song-the-most-unwanted-song-mr0003320912

Those of you unfamiliar with philosophical debates concerning the definition of art might find this helpful:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/art-definition/

 

By the way, if any of you want to discuss the thoughts you're developing for your paper (regardless of topic) feel free. Discussion could be a good source of new relevant ideas for you. Of course, your paper will have to largely consist of your own thoughts on the topic.

Some of you may feel that the topic I've provided for the first paper fails to provide enough direction for you. Here's another, more specific topic.

Sagoff (beginning on p. 463) asserts the existence of a useful analogy between the appreciation of an artwork and love for another person. Wilsmore (Section 2 of "Authenticity and Restoration") criticizes Sagoff's analogy. Provide and support your evaluation of the analogy. In doing so, consider the exchange between Sagoff and Wilsmore.

4-6 pages. Due Thursday October 18. However, since I've only assigned this topic today, take a couple of extra days if you need to. 

ripped from the headlines!!

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Vandal-defaces-mural-by-Mark-Rothko-at-Londons-Tate-Modern-gallery-173062731.html

ASSIGNMENT TOPIC PLUS ADDITIONAL READING

We'll start discussing the restoration of artworks this coming Tuesday. In a previous post, I assigned papers by Carrier and Sagoff. Also, take a look at the following:

British Journal of Aesthetics, Vol. 26, No } , Summer 1986

AUTHENTICITY AND RESTORATION

S. J. Wilsmore

 

Journal of Aesthetic and Art Criticism 51:3 Summer 1993

The Rationale of Restoration

Anthony Savile

 

The Wilsmore paper consists mainly of a reply to Sagoff. The Savile paper compares tensed and untensed features of artworks.

 

*************************************************

 

The following topic might be fun to write on:

Neither restoration nor willful mutilation affect the aesthetic properties of a painting or sculpture. Discuss. In doing so you may want to consider whether even the destruction of an artwork affects its aesthetic properties.

Write four to six pages on this. We'll talk a bit about it in class so that you won't be approaching it in a vacuum. You can write a slightly longer paper as long as you remain concise and to the point. Don't ramble or go off on tangents. Due Friday. October 19. Feel absolutely free to hand your paper in before the due date.

Within the next couple of days. I'll post another less interesting topic for those of you who find the generality of this topic a bit imposing.