1 Aesthetics and Musical Emotion

what is mimesis?

(remember mimicry)

The imitation of transformation of an external reality

Cook mimesis quote?

music is valued for its "representational function, embracing it within the theory of knowledge”

Cook, (2010) “Emotion in Culture and History: Perspectives from Musicology”

what type of music is associated with mimesis?

Opera - from 1600s

•Emotion found within an external reality that music represents

•The aim was to persuade listeners of emotional truth of music

^^ the story within the opera

what is catharsis?

The purification of the soul through affective experience

Cook catharsis quote?

 music is valued  in the “effect it makes upon the experiencing subject”

Cook, (2010) “Emotion in Culture and History: Perspectives from Musicology”

When does music become catharsis? (music used how)

Music as the expression of bourgeois subjectivity; self-expression

Does art have to be….

beautiful/pleasurable

Kant beauty qoute

"the beautiful is the symbol of the morally good." Critique of Judgment (1790)

<<< however, Danto describes the view of beauty in the west as….

as a conceptual error

Frith “music only becomes bad in….

"Music only becomes bad in an evaluative context, as part of an argument" Frith, (2004) “What is Bad Music?”

Frith ““bad music” is a… (and what discussion point comes from this)

““bad music” is a necessary concept for musical pleasure”

we need to know what is bad to be able to appreciate and understand good music

musical pleasure isn’t just based on objective goodness or success of the music, but based of off associations, expectations, and comparisons with others