Section A24 - Pluck Your Violin; I'll Bang on a Can!

Institution:

Wheaton College - Massachusetts

Subject:

Description:

There exists a Persian legend that tells that God made a statue of clay in his own image, and asked the soul to enter into it. The soul refused, for its nature is to fly about freely, and not to be bound to any sort of captivity. Then God asked the angels to play their music and, as the angels played, the soul was moved to ecstasy through which it entered the clay body. In ancient Greece, philosophers recognized the power and influence of music in their society and developed the doctrine of ethos as they wanted that power to be used productively and ethically. In Ancient Egypt, priests kept all secrets of astronomy, music and architecture inside the temples. These sciences were not intended to be known by common people. Why do we sing Why we are moved when we listen to music What makes a specific sound appealing and what makes it repulsive in some other times How does music communicate meanings and emotions Where would we localize the musical meaning: inside or outside us Why is it that different people can experience the same musical meaning Drawing on many disciplines, such as psychology, social psychology, semiotics, psychoanalysis, philosophy, phenomenology, and linguistics, we will search for answers to these questions. We will survey and consider the theories/opinions by which music is said to convey emotions. And in order to better understand the nature of musical emotions, we will define the word "musical"and will experiment with sounds and their various implications. We also will discuss the ways music affects and shapes our perception of the dramatic events of movie plots. And to harness the power of musical effect, we will experiment with composing "music" for anything but a musical instrument. Noknowledge of musical notation or musical instruments is required. An extensive portion of our meetings will be centered on in-class discussion, group research, and experiments. The main aim of the seminar is to enable students to reflect critically on current issues of music psychology and to develop a better understanding of our musical behavior. (Ahmed Madkour)

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.wheatoncollege.edu

Phone Number:

(508) 285-7722

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Semester

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