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On Music (Thinking in Action) by Theodore Gracyk
Opinionated and example-filled, this extremely concise and accessible book provides a survey of some fundamental and longstanding debates about the nature of music. The central arguments and ideas of historical and contemporary philosophers are presented with the goal of making them as accessible as possible to general readers who have no background in philosophy. The emphasis is on instrumental music, but examples are drawn from many cultures as well as from Western classical, jazz, folk, and popular music.
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First published January 1, 2013
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February 9, 2014
It has taken me a long time to finish this small book. Partly that was due to my travelling too much and not carrying the book. Partly it was due to my own lassitude and disappointment because it is not the book I wanted it to be. The book is well written, clear and extremely concise. I had trouble staying with it however.
Generally, the book is well laid out. Gracyk takes us through numerous historical and modern theories of music. He puts up various arguments and then deals with them succinctly. He leads the reader down a path that looks at why we enjoy music to bring us finally to a discussion of the "sublime". The sublime can be interpreted as a religious experience or a feeling of being at one with the universe. It is a moment of complete knowledge and it is ineffable. My problem is that I believe that Gracyk has left out too much of what music is in our daily lives. It serves as the background to so much that we do. When we listen actively, it brings us numerous little joys that we can describe. Indeed, it is obvious that the more one knows about music, the more joy there can be. The author never really tries to explain that.
I usually have a problem when I read books about music. The problem is that I'm looking for what I get out of music in the book and what I get out of a book in music. Much of my life is made up of words and music. I spend a great deal of time most days reading deeply and listening actively. Without these two activities, I doubt that I should long survive.
With the words, I must admit, I am searching for something. I briefly searched for 'spiritual' answers to life's hardships. I quickly realized that I had no sense of the spiritual. I find the word to be meaningless in my life and have not needed the concept to explain my reality. I am still looking for the best way to live my life (at my advanced age). I am searching for those entities in my past, in our western cultural past, which will tell me why I am who I am and even, perhaps, identify where I can change. Words continue to bring me something new, something to be examined, resolved, understood. Even some moments of the 'sublime'.
With music, it used to be that way also. As a true product of the sixties, I belonged to the Church of Rock'n Roll and worshiped at the feet of the guitar gods. I sought redemption through music. Although I can still find moments of what Theodore Gracyk refers to as the "sublime" (I prefer "moments when my synapses all start talking at once"), I actively listen to music now to find an equilibrium, to stop the fall. Put simply, it fends off the deep depression that pounces on me as I awaken every morning and attempts to drag me into that deep, dark, dank hole. Music as therapy. Not only does Gracyk not deal with that, he does not seem to have left room for it. Wittgenstein said that doing philosophy was therapy. I'm not sure that Gracyk would agree but I have long done so. I approach all words and all music for that therapeutic effect. The sublime is just icing on the cake.
I wonder if the book I want to read on music exists or can be written. (See my review of David Biddle's 'Beyond the Will of God: A Jill Simpson Mystery'.)
Generally, the book is well laid out. Gracyk takes us through numerous historical and modern theories of music. He puts up various arguments and then deals with them succinctly. He leads the reader down a path that looks at why we enjoy music to bring us finally to a discussion of the "sublime". The sublime can be interpreted as a religious experience or a feeling of being at one with the universe. It is a moment of complete knowledge and it is ineffable. My problem is that I believe that Gracyk has left out too much of what music is in our daily lives. It serves as the background to so much that we do. When we listen actively, it brings us numerous little joys that we can describe. Indeed, it is obvious that the more one knows about music, the more joy there can be. The author never really tries to explain that.
I usually have a problem when I read books about music. The problem is that I'm looking for what I get out of music in the book and what I get out of a book in music. Much of my life is made up of words and music. I spend a great deal of time most days reading deeply and listening actively. Without these two activities, I doubt that I should long survive.
With the words, I must admit, I am searching for something. I briefly searched for 'spiritual' answers to life's hardships. I quickly realized that I had no sense of the spiritual. I find the word to be meaningless in my life and have not needed the concept to explain my reality. I am still looking for the best way to live my life (at my advanced age). I am searching for those entities in my past, in our western cultural past, which will tell me why I am who I am and even, perhaps, identify where I can change. Words continue to bring me something new, something to be examined, resolved, understood. Even some moments of the 'sublime'.
With music, it used to be that way also. As a true product of the sixties, I belonged to the Church of Rock'n Roll and worshiped at the feet of the guitar gods. I sought redemption through music. Although I can still find moments of what Theodore Gracyk refers to as the "sublime" (I prefer "moments when my synapses all start talking at once"), I actively listen to music now to find an equilibrium, to stop the fall. Put simply, it fends off the deep depression that pounces on me as I awaken every morning and attempts to drag me into that deep, dark, dank hole. Music as therapy. Not only does Gracyk not deal with that, he does not seem to have left room for it. Wittgenstein said that doing philosophy was therapy. I'm not sure that Gracyk would agree but I have long done so. I approach all words and all music for that therapeutic effect. The sublime is just icing on the cake.
I wonder if the book I want to read on music exists or can be written. (See my review of David Biddle's 'Beyond the Will of God: A Jill Simpson Mystery'.)
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