Is Music a Language?—part
4
Everyone
brings something to the listening or performing experience. Part of what each person brings is taken from
his or her previous experiences with music, but part of what a performer or
listener brings is from the real world outside of music. Therefore, I am a
referentialist. Although I do not adhere
to every tenant of the mainstream of philosophical music referentialists, I
contend that everyone musics in reference to the real world experiences that he
or she has encountered outside the realm of music. I do not believe that music’s meaning is its
own meaning with no relationship to what one has experienced in life.
Greensburg refers to music as a “non-verbal language”. When one views the music part of music in this manner it opens new understandings about the power of music without words. This power is at least partially made possible by various unspoken understandings that are molded by the performer’s knowledge of music and cultural and environmental surroundings that will affect that person’s encounter with music.
Greensburg refers to music as a “non-verbal language”. When one views the music part of music in this manner it opens new understandings about the power of music without words. This power is at least partially made possible by various unspoken understandings that are molded by the performer’s knowledge of music and cultural and environmental surroundings that will affect that person’s encounter with music.
Thought for the Day
To deny that everyone brings something is to misunderstand
that people live in a total world. This
means that whether we wish to recognize it or not, what we derive from our life
experiences and from community affects our view of the nature, value and
meaning of music.
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