Sunday, June 19, 2005
Matter over Mind
While Kyle Gann is sending you to his post on separating art from politics (below), I’m also interested in the intriguing review of his new CD he’s written, where he discusses his early attempts to give voice to Heidegger’s vision of human consciousness. Heidegger described cognition as a kaleidescopic affair, as opposed to the sustained trains of thought and emotion portrayed in premodern music and literature.
I too have flirted with composing works that reflect this view of a fragmented, nonlinear thought process, but have found my efforts ultimately unsatisfying on several levels. Consequently, I’ve become more interested in probing traditional narrative processes with an awareness of Heidegger and others.
Which brings me to my question: how much can/should music try to reflect actual thought patterns, as opposed to modeling idealized thought patterns?
Or, related questions: Is there something inherently dishonest about traditional narrative? Conversely, is there an artistic value to accurately capturing the mind at work, in all of its complexity?
posted by Lawrence Dillon
5:23 PM
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