THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF THE MUSIC CREATION

Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal'noj Nauki, 2020

Model and Concept in the Music Paradigm of Creativity Модель и концепция творческой музыкальной парадигмы Composers who create music always make use of certain ideas as their main points of reference. In other words, the composer works by creating a certain foundation in his mind. Music is an expression of thoughts contained in the composer's ideas of sound. The composer who thinks about certain topics for his musical composition generally comes up with cognizing certain objects of thought, for example, certain unusual or unique values understood and favored by him, so that he feels the need to express them. The objects of thought targeted by composers are those that suit their personal tastes and interests. Epistemologically the process of creating music departs from verbal discourse and produces musical discourse. The latter occurs in the epistemology of the creation of music in general, and may be perceived in various musical genres, including that of gamelan music. The complexity of the discourse, on which composers' thinking is oriented, is the paradigm of all music composition. This paradigm is comprised of eight important elements, which include two interesting components, namely, the model and concept. This article makes the attempt to comprehend the elements of models and concepts in music composition. Models can be present in an auditive, visual or conceptual form present in the imagination of the composer. Composers consciously choose to present this element in the form of musical works as an empirical and symbolic reality. The concept is an explanation of the models existing in the composer's imagination. The explanation is related to the function and meaning of the model. The two elements of the paradigm are the minimum requirements that must be developed in the mind of the composer before he sets down to compose music.

More than an essay on Gilles Deleuze's reflections on music, or an exposition of Helmut Lachenmann's theoretical framework, this paper is an attempt to produce an encounter between two thinkers who generated thoughts in an unnoticed neighbourhood, to realize an unconnected connection. To do this, I first emphasize the origins of Lachenmann's ‘aesthetic methodology’, entering then a dialogue between specific elements of such methodology and specific concepts of Gilles Deleuze. Through the discussion of philosophical and aesthetic convergences between a philosopher who wrote extensively on art, and a composer with strong philosophical interests, this article aims to contribute new understandings of art as philosophical practice. Moreover, and paraphrasing a famous sentence by Deleuze (‘philosophy must escape philosophy through philosophy’) this encounter allows for a better understanding on how Lachenmann's theories and concrete compositional practice enable music to escape music through music.

2024

Thinking together about all the elements of music based on concrete indicators and the qualities of this field that point beyond what is known, brings to the agenda an accumulation of knowledge on the axis of art, philosophy, and music. The idea of art, which is the subject of music, or the key issues that transform music into art, point to the deep meanings of music in connection with metaphysics. The approaches adopted in the history of thought, scientific advances and social turning points have shaped the quality of music and the meanings attributed to it. In this descriptive study, which aims to make an epistemological examination of the relationship between music and metaphysics through this accumulation, metaphysical issues that enable us to characterize music as art are revealed. Thus, regardless of the context, it is possible to see a metaphysical perspective that progresses intertwined with music in many circumstances, with various semantic contents, forming itself from not only as a natural outcome of music but also an axis that inspires music.

2021

This article aims to analyze music from a philosophical and theological perspective, using the principles of multi- and transdisciplinary methodology. After a brief introduction, which presents the main moments in the history of the musical phenomenon, a first chapter addresses the metaphysical dimension of music in classical composers. The second chapter shows the position of philosophers towards music, starting with Pythagoras and ending with Schopenhauer. The third chapter focuses on music theology in general, but also on the theology and metaphysics of music to the French philosopher of Romanian origin, Emil Cioran, who, after Augustin and Schopenhauer, wrote probably the deepest pages on the ontology of music. The last chapter refers to to the archetypal character of music.

Assuming that music can be expressive, I try to answer the question whether musical expressiveness has epistemic value. The article has six parts. In the first part, I provide examples of what music can express. I suggest that it can express inner states with phenomenal character. In the second part, I build up an argument in favor of the claim that, granted its expressiveness, music can convey conceptual content which is not verbal, and which cannot be expressed verbally. This conclusion is limited to concepts like lyrical, nostalgic, melancholy, joyful, distressful etc. In the third part, I explain what musical expressive content is, in contrast and by analogy to, propositional content. In the fourth part, I apply Mitchell Green's multispace model of artistic expression to music. I argue that Green's theory of expression provides a powerful explanation of how a musical sequence can express states with phenomenal character. In the fifth part, I use that model to define adequacy conditions for musical expressive ascriptions. In the last part, I attempt to explain musical knowledge by combining Green's multi-space model with Sosa-style virtue epistemology.

Lubelski Rocznik Pedagogiczny

The basis of the research is a semantic analysis of existential value in the context of the interpretation of musical creativity. The aim of the article is to interpret the value-related nature of music as existential creation. The methodology of the research has been determined by the integral approach, which involves combining general scientific concepts with the method of analysis, synthesis, and summarizing. The method of comparative analysis and analogy, which is applied to the interpretation of such categories as creativity, music and existence, has also been used in the study. The topicality of the research is reflected in the contemporary educational concept, which considers the interpretation of value-related issues to be a method of more substantial interpretation of an individual's development level, his/ her role status of a personality, which, in turn, determines social opportunities in educational activities. In the conclusions, the author proves that music becomes creative work only in the existential area, since only a person's existence has a unique creative potential to display personal characteristics in life. Therefore, modern science cannot remain uninvolved in the consideration of the issues of the new age.

In this essay I approach the mysterious art of music from several perspectives. As a classical pianist, I think about music as an immensely powerful way of communication. As a music teacher, I am interested in explaining tangibles of music in the clearest terms possible. And as a scholar in the cognitive sciences, I believe that the psychology of music can advance our understanding of the human mind.

Analitica, 9, p. 1-19, 2016

This article aims firstly to test the musicological resilience, and possibly probe the limits, of the epistemological field identified by the notion of “popular music” as an object of study. Starting with an examination of the nomothetic value of this formula, it will therefore discuss the conditions of feasibility of this field as an autonomous and distinct entity within the topology of musical experiences and systems. Secondly, it aims to explore the epistemic consistency and methodological effectiveness of the academic disciplines that are proposed as the privileged, if not exclusive, instruments of study of this field. The critical orientations that coalesce in “popular music studies” and in the more recent “popular musicology” will thus be verified as to their academic assumptions and their heuristic potential in relation to traditional musicological and ethnomusicological disciplines. This analysis will highlight critical factors for which appropriate research indications will be provided.

2007

… if you want to understand what a science is, you should look in the first instance not at its theories or its findings, and certainly not at what its apologists say about it; you should look at what the practitioners of it do. Clifford Geertz (1973, 5) We are like sailors who have to rebuild their ship on the open sea, without ever being able to dismantle it in dry dock and reconstruct it from the best components. Otto Neurath 1 Given that music is an art, it seems unlikely that music theory and music analysis would have anything to do with science and scientific method. To analyze a piece of music, the analyst must have an understanding of the aesthetic qualities of the work or the repertoire. The music-analytical world is artistic in its foundation and, in a way, the analyst has to become an artist. Through this view, even if an analyst utilizes mathematical methods the outcome is bound to be unscientific. However, there are similarities between music theory and other sciences in terms of method; many philosophers of science are actually indirectly describing the working process of a music analyst. In this essay I will discuss science-the natural sciences, in particular-and the philosophy of science and make connections with music theory.