HUM117 the arts the
senses & the imagination
meeting 1 --
January 28, 2008
|
introduction |
detailed discussion of the syllabus. |
|
images discussed in class |
2 paintings in the “allegory of the senses” genre lecture on line in art (PowerPoint
file) Lecture on color in art (PowerPoint
file) Lecture on composition in art (PowerPoint file) Why do humans do art?
(PowerPoint file) |
meeting
2 -- February 4
|
showing looking |
How does a filmmaker show someone looking at
something? Film excerpt shown in
class: the opening few minutes of Artemisia. This film is quite enjoyable to look at
and offers much in the way of fine observational detail about how art was
practiced in the early Baroque era.
The film departs rather freely from the accepted historical facts
about the life and career of Artemisia Gentleschi. |
|
Principles of design |
Lecture on some possible principles of design in art. (large PowerPoint
file). |
|
The Mystery Of The Senses -- Vision |
One installment of a documentary series in the PBS Nova
television show. Originally broadcast
in 1995, and now released on DVD in 2007.
PBS
webpage for the show. In-class writing assignment:
|
Meeting
3 -- February 11
|
Assignment
1 -- vision |
due
meeting 4, 25 February. Available online. |
|
Hearing and Music |
The
various arts seem to be optimized to intensify our experience of the various
senses Ø
painting
intensifies looking Ø
perfume
intensifies our experience of smell but does music
optimize our experience of hearing?
Ackerman writes that "music is perfume for the ears." I disagree. The kind of listening we do in music seems rapidly detached
from the everyday nonmusical world.
The red we respond to in a painting is the same color that we
interpret in a red traffic light. But
consider music. How is recognizing
the timbre of an electric guitar, an oboe or a viola useful in anything but
listening to music? |
|
music -- a
mystery in terms of evolution? |
Being so
detached from the rest of the world, how and why is music meaningful? Charles Darwin was baffled by its
existence, since there seems to be no way evolution could explain the human
proclivity for music. As
neither the enjoyment nor the capacity of producing musical notes are
faculties of the least use to man in reference to his daily habits of life,
they must be ranked among the most mysterious with which he is endowed. Charles Darwin, 1871 My
current guesses about how we listen to music: an immediate timescale and
longer, more culturally determined timescales. |
|
Immediate
reactions to music, within the span of much less than a second to maybe 10
seconds or so. |
Certain musical
sounds seem to be almost imitations or at least closely resemble things like
cries, screams, moans and the like.
These vocal utterances all have deep emotional connections. Immediate sounds might relate to things
like crying babies, soothing voices, or our mother's heart beat in the
womb. We also have physiological
reactions to tempo (a fast tempo quickens our pulse, a slow one slows our
pulse), sudden loud sounds, and loudness itself. We can also have immediate reactions to musical structures that
shade into bodily metaphors-- melodies that rise, tempos that get faster,
music that gets louder effect is differently than melodies that fall, tempos
that slow down, and music that gets softer.
These I believe relate to metaphors of the body that are in our mind
and language. (See Metaphors We
Live By, George Lakoff & Mark Johnson, 1980; see also The Body in the Mind:
The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination, and Reason, Mark Johnson,
1990). |
|
immediate
reactions hard-wired or at least deeply imprinted |
Supporting
evidence Ø
Cross
cultural transmission of emotional meanings.
Example in class: Peruvian song for a dead baby. Ø
Common
forms of instrument construction around the world. While there is a great variety from culture to culture in
musical instruments, there are some that appear again and again in many,
although not all, cultures. For
example, the oboe, defined as a double reed wind instrument, appears in many
cultures. Examples played in class
were from China and Europe (the Balkans, and the Beethoven example). While I do not want to always make the
oboe = baby crying equation, it seems to me that the musical usefulness of
this timbre is not just convenience or coincidence, but something common in
human psychology. Ø
Mirror
neurons -- when we see a human doing a physical activity, the same neurons
fire in the observer's mind, and other neurons inhibit the observer from
actually moving. I believe this is
also the case in music. Trained
singers when listening to singing have their mirror neurons firing. From this accepted fact, I extrapolate and
speculate that all musical sounds, including instrumental ones, trigger some
kind of recognition within us about how it would feel to produce that
sound. When we hear a singer
screaming, we know what that would feel like, and we also know what emotions
being felt would produce such a gesture; similarly, when we hear an electric
guitar screaming, we can map that into our own physical and emotional
imagination. Our reactions go beyond
obviously imitative sounds and sounds that physiologically grab us. Video
clip of the conversation between Daniel Levitin and David Byrne. Electric guitar
& scream examples from Megadeth, Killing
Is My Business . . . and Business Is Good! “Rattlehead,” "Skull beneath the Skin." c. 1985. |
|
harmonicity &
inharmonicity |
We track the
spectral content of sounds, probably for auditory continuity; similar to
vision and our recognition of objects instead of just visual surface
patterns. A sound is usually composed
of many frequencies (the speed of vibrations). Usually the components of the
sound are mathematically related to each other through the harmonic series,
and the lowest component is perceived as the “pitch” of a musical tone. However, a physical system (such as a
screaming voice) or an electronic system (such as a guitar amplifier) can be
pushed to the point where the components of the sound don’t line up in a neat
mathematical way, and this is defined as distortion. Why track spectral content of sounds in
the context of evolution? It is part
of auditory scene analysis. Like the
visual perception of objects, we can hear the continuity of sounds even when
interrupted by other sounds. This is
the “cocktail party effect” that allows us to track conversation even when
the voices we focus on are softer than the ambient noise level. Steven Feld’s recordings of the rain
forest in Papua New Guinea suggests why this evolved before the invention of
cocktail parties. · Piano demonstration in class – harmonics · Steven Feld’s recordings of the rain forest in Papua
New Guinea: Voices of the Rainforest, Rykodisc. |
|
more enculturated
and body-metaphor responses |
Other emotional responses rely
more on enculturation and operate on longer timescales, ranging from the length
of a musical phrase to much longer constructions such as symphonies. See Emotion
and Meaning in Music, 1961, Leonard Meyer, for a discussion of the
relationship between expectations and emotion in music. While these emotions may connect to our
everyday emotional world, I feel that many musical emotions are emotions
about music itself. Ø
Example
played in class: the first movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. (Recording by George Szell and the
Cleveland Orchestra.) (See also the video of Carlos Kleiber
conducting this work.) The opening of this
piece is full of ‘elemental elements.’
The most simple elements of music, such as short loud chords,
producing a startle effect, falling melodies that flow down the notes of a
chord, and rising scales are combined in a way that sweeps out a large-scale
musical space with these very simple ideas of up-ness and down-ness. This has meaning for us beyond
physiology. It has meaning for us because
we have learned patterns. We move
from hearing into musical imagination.
When we have a feel for the existence of a scale or a chord, these are
constructs in our minds that we have learned from our culture. |
|
more elaborate emotional
associations |
Layered on top of
musical feelings about music, we can have emotional interpretations that
connect back to our intrapersonal emotional world. As a conclusion to the class, we viewed a portion of the
Michael Tilson Thomas documentary (Keeping
Score: mtt on music) on preparing a performance of
Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony. MTT
discusses the "primal moods" used by this piece. Some of these primal moods correlate to
what I was talking about at the beginning, the moan or the sigh, as being
something that we feel, almost even hear, with our whole bodies. Others are more cultural, such as the
notion of the archetype of "the fanfare." |
18 Feb -- Holiday! Think about
your favorite presidents.
Meeting 4 -- 25 Feb
|
The impact of
music – Jaws |
Nothing about the
music signifies “shark,” but we soon learn the association, and will probably
never forget it. Metaphors are at
work: ·
as the music wells up from the low
register to the high “surface” of the orchestra as the shark swims up from
the depths. ·
The power of the orchestra-shark
is in strong contrast to the tinny puny music of human harmonicas, guitars,
radios, school marching bands and a child’s song |
|
Musical form |
Form – music in time
and across time engages more than the immediate senses – it engages the
imagination. The notion of form or
structure seems to be a metaphor about the creation of a musical space,
spaces or a journey. ·
This metaphor is easily visible in
this video of a Prince song, “Diamonds and Pearls.” The song structure is verse-chorus-
verse-chorus-BRIDGE-verse-chorus.
Musically and visually, we are in a place; in the bridge, we are
outside, and we come back inside.
Statement-departure-return. ·
“Fantasy,” Earth, Wind & Fire,
(Maurice White, Eddie del Barrio & Verdine White), 1977; formal
expectations disrupted |
|
Textpainting in
music |
A
musical gesture reflects the specific sense of the text Considering the relationship
of the sung words to the music, textpainting often uses the deep body-based
metaphors of our thought. Are we
singing about rising up, and feeling up?
The melody is likely to rise (or the music will rise in register) and
the tempo is likely fast. More ideas
and notes
in .doc format. |
|
A concert choice
that includes my music |
A program called
Doors & Mirrors – scroll down on the nohspace website for
more info. Doors
& Mirrors – an evening of song, dance & film that will include
selections from the Albion
Diety Songbook sung by Meghan Dibble; in San Francisco. PlayWorks
Productions Presents An Evening of Art Song, Dance Theater, and Film Doors
and Mirrors February 29-March 1, 2008, 8 pm NOHspace, 2840 Mariposa
Street, San Francisco Reservations: (415)
621-7978 www.nohspace.org Tickets: $10-20 sliding
scale Hamlin
House Songs by Jude Navari, Albion Deity Songs by DC Meckler,
Deborah Hull's dance film Undone and PlayWorks’ new dance theater
piece Atlas on Skids.
Featuring John Baumann, Lisi DeHaas, Meghan Dibble, Christy Funsch,
Deborah Hull, Adnan Iftekhar, Elizabeth Ingber; Erin Neff, Sarah Sass, and
Jenny Schaffer PlayWorks
Productions is a fiscally sponsored project of Dancers' Group |
|
Hearing DVD |
From the The Mystery Of The Senses Nova
series. In-class
writing: what most interests
you in this documentary? |
|
ASSIGNMENT – Hearing |
.
10 pts total 1. (2 pts) BRIEFLY describe the chapter on hearing. 2. (3 pts) Describe
an idea in the chapter that you find most interesting and explain why. 3. (5 pts)
Describe a favorite sound, one that is not language or music, and what it is
about the sound itself you like. You
may also comment on associations with the sound, but try to focus most on the
qualities of the sound itself. 1 point off (10%) if not typed.. |
meeting 5 – 3 March
|
class
discussion |
hearing – group
discussion of #3 |
|
3 kinds of
hearing |
sounds, language
& music interesting perspectives
from science. Oliver Sacks video
clips about his book Musicophilia . |
|
word-deafness
and other examples |
from The Singing
Neanderthals, Steven Mithen, 2006. |
|
difficult
distinctions |
What are the differences between speaking
and singing? What is the difference
between ordinary speech and poetry (or prose)? |
|
examples |
spoken words in a
language that is not English (Stravinsky’s opera Oedipus Rex). Why is this music or not music? “I Sing of Brooks,”
Robert Herrick, 1648 “On that shore dimly
seen . . . “ an unfamiliar part of a well-known (if not well sung) poem. John Ashbery
poems. What is the difference between ordinary speech and poetry (or prose)? Lions Are Growing, James A. Moorer. Text by Richard Brautigan, read by Charles
Shere. Robert Ashley,
Improvement Top Hat |
|
Robert Ashley,
American experimental composer |
on writing words for his operas: I discovered that I could sort out in the pile of typed paragraphs those that had come from different rhythmic sources, and by that I mean paragraphs of repetitions of certain simple phrases in a variety of different word combinations, some of which made sense and others not so much -- even without finding anywhere the rhythmic "germ" itself (e.g. " ' there is something y' can always count on, Alice gets the blame"). I suppose poets have this down to a science, and I have just invented the wheel, but maybe it's not that simple. There is a hard line between speaking and singing, hard to find, but hard, nevertheless, imposed from somewhere. It is an obligation. Studying it or where it is teaches us something. It keeps moving "toward" speech, at least in our time, but the quality of the line and the quality of the obligation have not changed, and, so, depending which side of the line you put your work, for whatever reason, you are required to find a form for what amounts to ranting (which violates the line and is against the law, therefore) either in the world of music, or, I can only suppose, in whatever the other world calls itself (poetry?). Robert Ashley, And So It Goes, Depending, 1981; Postscripts to,”And So It Goes, Depending”, 1986; http://www.o-art.org/history/70's/Composers/Ashley/So_It_Goes/SoItGoes1.html |
Meeting
6 – 10 March 2008
|
TASTE |
Lecture PowerPoint files |
Spring
Break 17 March
Meeting
7 – 24 March 2008
|
DANCE |
The sense?
Proprioception? Vision? Movement made strange (defamiliarized) |
|
Dance |
examples for some ideas
about dance from the Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers film Top Hat Reasons I show it: ·
I love the transition
between speech and singing at the start of “No Strings” ·
Great dancing! Movement made strange; transformed;
utterly not everyday motions ·
Synchronous movement
is movement made strange “Isn’t It a Lovely Day (To Get Caught in the Rain)” ·
Dance as explicit
metaphor for sex “Isn’t It a Lovely Day (To Get Caught in the Rain)” ·
Dance as transgression
“Top Hat” |
|
Alvin Ailey example |
Excerpts from Revelations,
from the DVD An Evening with the Alvin
Ailey American Dance Theater (1986). |
|
TASTE |
From the The Mystery Of The Senses Nova series
with Diane Ackerman. In-class writing:
what most interests you in this documentary? |
Meeting
8, 31 March 2008
|
Lecture |
Lecture
on food symbolism in art. Many of the
ideas and examples were from Food and
Feasting in Art by Silvia Malaguzzi, trans. Brian Phillips, a book in the
Getty Museum Guide to Imagery
series. PowerPt
images. |
|
Film |
Babette’s Feast In-class writing
(may be turned in 7 April) – Describe the symbolism in this film (food,
color, music). |
|
ASSIGNMENT |
|
Meeting
9, 7 April 2008
|
Discussion |
Smell & memory – your examples |
|
SMELL |
From the The Mystery Of The Senses Nova series
with Diane Ackerman. |
|
Film |
Perfume: The
Story of a Murderer, 2006, a film by Tom Tykwer. Film
website. Based on the 1985
Patrick Süskind novel. In-class writing: how is the sense of smell
conveyed in the film? Is it
successful? |
Meeting
10, 14 April 2008
|
TOUCH |
From the The Mystery Of The Senses Nova series
with Diane Ackerman. In-class writing:
what most interests you in this documentary? |
|
supplemental lecture |
touch, pain, humor – lecture notes in
pdf format architecture gardens Umberto Eco, “Lumbar Thought,” 1976, in Travels in
Hyperreality, trans. 1986. Uta Hagen – Clothes discussed in A Challenge for the
Actor (1991) |
Assignment
|
1.
Write a brief description of the chapter on Touch. 2.
Consider the clothes that you have in your closet and pick two
extremes–something very nice or formal and something very informal. If you're wearing such clothes how do you
feel? How do you change when you
change your clothes? Write about how
the materials feel to your touch, and how they garment feels around your
body. |
Meeting
11, 21 April
|
Architecture, Part 2 |
Sketches of Frank Gehry (documentary film) |
|
2 assignments |
On synesthesia. The chapter review (due 28 April) & a
creative writing task (May 12). |
Meeting
12, 28 April 2008
|
Synesthesia |
Assignment due (see above). |
|
A famous
composer with synesthesia |
Messiaen (PowerPt slides;
the same in pdf format). |
|
Literature and
the senses |
Class activity reading excerpts. Related Engagement
activity. |
5
May 2008
NO CLASS |
POWER FAILURE |
12
May 2008 penultimate class
|
final essay assignment |
final essay assignment (take home exam) posted on
web. Due by NOON 2 June if submitted
via e-mail; 7 p.m. 2 june if by hard copy. |
Creative Writing |
assignment due;
in-class reading & discussion [discussion skipped due to power
failure] |
|
Poetry and sound |
Stop reading poetry!
Poetry is a performing art!
Listen to poetry! T.S. Eliot recording of his poem “The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock.” The text and the audio is widely
available on the web. Galway Kinnell performance on video. This video is available in the Burlingame
Public Library. We watched about 20
minutes of it, including such poems as “The Bear” and concluding with
“Blackberries.” I performed “Dog,” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti,
c. 1958. Published in his book A
Coney Island of the Mind. |
Dance & Music |
In the earlier discussion of dance, the
relationship of dance & music was not discussed. Mark Morris has a reputation as the most
musical of choreographers (some actually criticize his work for being too
tied to its music). After seeing a
few of his works, I felt like I haven’t really heard a piece of music until
I’ve seen it choreographed by Mark Morris! We watched a portion of Part 3 of the 6-part series Inspired
by Bach, featuring Yo-Yo Ma. This
series is available in most public libraries in video or DVD format. |
|
Opera & Theater Production |
bumped by power failure |
|
taking apart a film scene |
Notorius, 1947, Alfred
Hitchcock, director. |
19
May 2008
|
in-class |
Citizen Kane |
|
|
happy engagements! |
Spring 2008
DC Meckler
HUM117 The Arts,
The Senses & The Imagination