Aesthetic Experience with Music Part 1

 

 Aesthetic Experience with Music Part 1

An aesthetic experience is a deep encounter with music that is beyond mere knowledgeable awareness of the nuts and bolts of the music.  It is a private experience that a knowledgeable listener or performer has when experiencing a musical performance that reveals import that is deeply revealing and satisfying to the auditor or performer.  Since this experience is personal and private many writers have found it difficult to explain it with specificity.  They also find it even more difficult to even suggest how often a listener or performer has one of these elusive experiences.  It is also argued whether or not a neophyte is capable of having such an experience with music since it is generally believed that one must be knowledgeable of music in order receive musical import at this deep level.  Others contend that aesthetic experiences are possible at different levels of knowledge and experience with music and musicing. 

Some music philosophers and music educators believe that those who are not knowledgeable concerning a style of music being performed are able to have aesthetic experiences with the music.  As a matter of fact the MEAE (music education as aesthetic education) movement purports that aesthetic experiences should be one of the major goals of music education.  Those who follow this philosophical belief believe that young children should have these elusive experiences with music. Those who follow this philosophical path believe that listening, enjoying and evaluating music is the path to MEAE.