LANGER AND SONG By Sarah Zisser

Susanne Langer  Lived  American philosopher of mind and art  Influenced by Ernst Cassirer

Langer Definition of Art  “A work of art is an expressive form created for our perception through sense or imagination, and what it expresses is human feeling”(168).  “We are dealing with the principles that have proven to be the same in all the arts”(168).  “Expressiveness, in the one definite and appropriate sense, is the same in all art works of any kind”(168).

Definition of Music  Organized Sound  Appeal to ‘tonality’ or essentially musical features such as pitch and rhythm  Appeal to aesthetic properties or experience  “The art or science of combining vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion”(Merriam-Webster)

Langer and Form  “Form in its most abstract sense means structure, articulation, a whole resulting from the relation of mutually dependent factors, or the more precisely, the way that whole is put together”(169).

Formal components of a Song  Harmony  Chord arrangements  Rhythm  Key-centric  Chord progression  Sequence  Melodic structure  Meter and construction

Discursive Form  The use of language- “We can communicate, by producing a serried array of audible or visible words or sounds, in a pattern commonly known, and readily understood to reflect our multifarious concepts and percepts and their interconnections”(171).  Case for discursive form: “It is a highly versatile, amazingly powerful pattern”(171)

Symbolic Form  Goes where discursive form cannot  Symbolic Form: “the principle of saying one thing and meaning another, and expecting to be understood to mean the other”(171).  Even when we can accurately say what we want to express, we still cannot express that feeling without some sort of expressive form.

Discursive/Symbolic Form in a Song- Lyrics  Vehicle for symbolic expression  Clear idea and language What are we trying to say?  Compatible melody and lyrics Do the words match the “tone” of the music behind them?  Perfect rhyme/imperfect rhyme  Metaphor

Expressive Form  Expressive form can express what discursive form and symbolic form cannot.  “An expressive form can express any complex of conceptions that, via some rule of projection, appears congruent with it, that is, appears to be of that form. Whatever there is in experience that will not take the impress—directly or indirectly—of discursive form, is not discursively communicable or, in the strictest sense, logically thinkable. It is unspeakable, ineffable… It is unknowable”(171).

Expressive Form Cont.  “Expressive form is congruent with the dynamic forms of our direct sensuous, mental, and emotional life; works of art are projections or ‘felt life’”(172).  “A work of art expresses a conception of life, emotion, inward reality. But it is neither a confessional nor a frozen tantrum; it is a developed metaphor, a non-discursive symbol that articulates what is verbally ineffable—the logic of consciousness itself”(173).

Expressiveness in Music  “Music sounds as feelings feel”(172)  “The central idea is that music's expressiveness consists in the resemblance of its dynamic character to the dynamic character of various aspects of human beings undergoing emotions”(Plato).

Expressive component of Music  Melody  Key quality Major Minor Modulations?  Tempo Is it fast or slow?  Melodic shape Does the melody have very few intervals or does it jump frequently?  Dynamics How loud or soft it is

My Song My Music Background: -High School choir, voice lessons, piano lessons, Music Theory AP, director of High School Women’s A Cappella group. -Current member of Aural Pleasure With: Gabrielle Bloch (Roomate) -Chai Tunes, voice lessons

Another Example  Eric Whitacre (1970-)  American composer and conductor  Studied music at Julliard  “Virtual Choir” Projects 2,000 videos from 58 countries  ch?v=6WhWDCw3Mng ch?v=6WhWDCw3Mng

Connection  Music with lyrics encompasses both expressive (melody) and discursive/symbolic (lyrics) form.  What is the communication power of a work of art that has both forms?  Is there another type of art that can do this?

Example-the breakdown  How do the harmonic components of the song affect the emotion being expressed?  The verses are in the key of C minor and modulate to E flat major while transitioning into the chorus. Minor pentatonic scale: Major pentatonic scale: How does this affect the mood? The emotion?

Example- Expressive PLUS discursive/symbolic  How do the discursive and symbolic components of the song in addition to the harmonic components affect the emotion being expressed?  If the verses in the key of C minor also have melancholy lyrics and the chorus in E flat major have hopeful lyrics, how clear is the emotion that is being expressed?

One more component?  How would a live or visual performance further enhance the expression of emotion in a song?  “the experience of the emotion, the emotion's typical facial expression, the contour of vocal expression typical of a person experiencing the emotion, and the contour of bodily behavior typical of such a person” (S. Davies 2006, 182).

Bibliography  "Communication Nation." : Metaphor. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec  "Empower Network." Jaered Besse Jaered Besse Empower Network Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec  "Feeling the Music." Paintings I Love. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec  "How To Write Lyrics For A Song That Will Blow Your Fans Away." How To Write Lyrics For A Song That Will Blow Your Fans Away. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec  Langer, Susanne. "Expressiveness." Art and Interpretation: An Anthology of Readings in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art. By Eric Dayton. Orchard Park, NY: Broadview, N. pag. Print.  "Music Club." Music Club. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec

Bibliography Cont.  "Music Notes Background | Stock Photo © Ingrid Balabanova # " Music Notes Background. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec  "The Philosophy of Music." (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec  "The Reintegration Puzzle: Putting the Pieces Back Together." Singing through the Rain. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec  "Susanne K. Langer." "Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy" N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec  Whitacre, Eric. "Eric Whitacre." Eric Whitacre on Twitter. Twitter, n.d. Web. 1 Dec