American Society for Aesthetics Graduate E-Journal, Feb 1, 2017
Musical expressiveness is commonly explained by connecting it with emotions. However, what we now... more Musical expressiveness is commonly explained by connecting it with emotions. However, what we now know about emotions shows more differences than similarities between them and musical experience. In this thesis, I propose a better account of musical expressiveness on which emotional expression is supplemented by the expression of other affective processes, like feelings. The idea that music is expressive of emotions has been challenged on the basis that it does not present an intentional object, nor an evaluation of the situation, which are the elements that permit an individuation of the emotions. A popular reply to this problem is given in the Resemblance Theory, according to which music resembles characteristics of emotional gestures. Even though this theory successfully faces the problems derived from the lack of intentional object, it also reduces the scope of musical expressiveness to those emotions that have distinctive acoustic gestures. My proposal is to extend the Resemblance Theory to include feelings, as these both do not require an intentional object, and are capable of better explaining music’s subtle expressiveness. In support of this, I present some musicological examples that show that the search for resemblance between musical elements and feelings has formed a practical basis for the composition and performance of expressive music throughout history. Going further, I suggest that the relationship between music and what it expresses is not an iconic relationship, but an indexical one. Using a simulation theory of musical experience, based on the activation of mirror neurons, I argue that music indexically presents a sonic landscape that the listener explores offline, thereby triggering the associated feelings. This permits us to construct a concept of musical gestures that is consistent with contemporary theories of emotions, musical practices, and philosophical rigor.
American Society for Aesthetics Graduate E-Journal, 2017
Musical expressiveness is commonly explained by connecting it with emotions. However, what we now... more Musical expressiveness is commonly explained by connecting it with emotions. However, what we now know about emotions shows more differences than similarities between them and musical experience. In this thesis, I propose a better account of musical expressiveness on which emotional expression is supplemented by the expression of other affective processes, like feelings. The idea that music is expressive of emotions has been challenged on the basis that it does not present an intentional object, nor an evaluation of the situation, which are the elements that permit an individuation of the emotions. A popular reply to this problem is given in the Resemblance Theory, according to which music resembles characteristics of emotional gestures. Even though this theory successfully faces the problems derived from the lack of intentional object, it also reduces the scope of musical expressiveness to those emotions that have distinctive acoustic gestures. My proposal is to extend the Resembla...
AVANT. The Journal of the Philosophical-Interdisciplinary Vanguard
I suggest that emotions are not the primary affective attitude towards music. If we are to explai... more I suggest that emotions are not the primary affective attitude towards music. If we are to explain music's expressiveness according to the Resemblance Theory, that theory should be extended to include feelings. Because of the lack of intentionality in music and the dearth of universal emotional gestures to explain the subtlety of music's expressive power, explaining this expressiveness by making recourse to music's relationships with emotions is bound to face challenges. I will argue that, even though the movements in music associated with musical expressiveness might not necessarily be associated with emotions, they might very well be associated with certain feelings of the movement itself.
American Society for Aesthetics Graduate E-Journal, Feb 1, 2017
Musical expressiveness is commonly explained by connecting it with emotions. However, what we now... more Musical expressiveness is commonly explained by connecting it with emotions. However, what we now know about emotions shows more differences than similarities between them and musical experience. In this thesis, I propose a better account of musical expressiveness on which emotional expression is supplemented by the expression of other affective processes, like feelings. The idea that music is expressive of emotions has been challenged on the basis that it does not present an intentional object, nor an evaluation of the situation, which are the elements that permit an individuation of the emotions. A popular reply to this problem is given in the Resemblance Theory, according to which music resembles characteristics of emotional gestures. Even though this theory successfully faces the problems derived from the lack of intentional object, it also reduces the scope of musical expressiveness to those emotions that have distinctive acoustic gestures. My proposal is to extend the Resemblance Theory to include feelings, as these both do not require an intentional object, and are capable of better explaining music’s subtle expressiveness. In support of this, I present some musicological examples that show that the search for resemblance between musical elements and feelings has formed a practical basis for the composition and performance of expressive music throughout history. Going further, I suggest that the relationship between music and what it expresses is not an iconic relationship, but an indexical one. Using a simulation theory of musical experience, based on the activation of mirror neurons, I argue that music indexically presents a sonic landscape that the listener explores offline, thereby triggering the associated feelings. This permits us to construct a concept of musical gestures that is consistent with contemporary theories of emotions, musical practices, and philosophical rigor.
American Society for Aesthetics Graduate E-Journal, 2017
Musical expressiveness is commonly explained by connecting it with emotions. However, what we now... more Musical expressiveness is commonly explained by connecting it with emotions. However, what we now know about emotions shows more differences than similarities between them and musical experience. In this thesis, I propose a better account of musical expressiveness on which emotional expression is supplemented by the expression of other affective processes, like feelings. The idea that music is expressive of emotions has been challenged on the basis that it does not present an intentional object, nor an evaluation of the situation, which are the elements that permit an individuation of the emotions. A popular reply to this problem is given in the Resemblance Theory, according to which music resembles characteristics of emotional gestures. Even though this theory successfully faces the problems derived from the lack of intentional object, it also reduces the scope of musical expressiveness to those emotions that have distinctive acoustic gestures. My proposal is to extend the Resembla...
AVANT. The Journal of the Philosophical-Interdisciplinary Vanguard
I suggest that emotions are not the primary affective attitude towards music. If we are to explai... more I suggest that emotions are not the primary affective attitude towards music. If we are to explain music's expressiveness according to the Resemblance Theory, that theory should be extended to include feelings. Because of the lack of intentionality in music and the dearth of universal emotional gestures to explain the subtlety of music's expressive power, explaining this expressiveness by making recourse to music's relationships with emotions is bound to face challenges. I will argue that, even though the movements in music associated with musical expressiveness might not necessarily be associated with emotions, they might very well be associated with certain feelings of the movement itself.
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Papers by Myriam Albor