Eclectic Analysis of Radiohead "Idioteque"

The following is an eclectic analysis of the song Idioteque by Radiohead.

The critiques are represented, below, in the order defined by Ferrara in "Philosophy and the Analysis of Music".

I. Historical Background

II. Syntax

III. Sound-in-time

IV. Musical and textual representation

V. Virtual Feeling

VI & VII. Onto-historical world and open listening

VIII. Meta-critique

Eclectic Analysis of Radiohead "Idioteque" - Metacritique

Meta-critique

The eclectic analysis of Idioteque by Radiohead generated much information on the track and of the world it is composed in. The heavy usage of first or second hand accounts on information lends credence to the writing. Being able to hyperlink the reader all across the web, via blog, to a variety of informational sources not only gives the author credibility, but invites them into the world in which the researcher saw, and perhaps entice them to continue studying the material. The global digital community in which the writer and readers exist allow for a wealth of information to be exchanged. Research for this writing was made possible by YouTube uploads, blog posting, on-line print databases, communal digital encyclopedias, and more.

While the author has attempted to make all connections to music examples and information references clear, there are limitations to the presentation method. One music read, click, listen, scroll...etc. It can be a little much. Secondly, a discussion of production techniques would have generated more data regarding the song that all included methods disregard. A method devised by William Moylan attempts to codify recording technique and affect. Perhaps this article will inspire a reader to do so.

Eclectic Analysis of Radiohead "Idioteque" - Onto-historical World and Open Listening

Onto-historical world

By the release of Kid A, Radiohead were full-fledged rock stars, although much to their chagrin. The OK Computer tour had worn them out; Yorke had grown sick of guitar, and especially ill of the rock industry. In a video interview (linked previously), he says, "Well, God help us if we f*ing were [the biggest rock band in 1997]. Even being called a rock band was a bit of a nightmare really... It sucks man, I hate it. I'm just so f*ing bored of it... It's not really the music...sitting on stage, playing guitar... What I'm talking about is all the mythology that goes with it. I have a real f*ing problem with that. I have a problem with the idea that you have to tour yourselves stupid..."

Thom also regretted positioning Radiohead in a way that was uninviting to electronic music, which he was increasingly being influenced by. To him, the attitude of the music was the same. In the 1990s digital audio technology was becoming cheaper and more ubiquitous, which made a lot of tricks on Kid A possible. The band's willingness to experiment and push sonic boundaries let them away from traditional rock instrumentation and in to synthesizers, samplers and computer-based composition. The possibility of digital technology was an expansion of the band's compositional palette, not, as some writers suggest, a deliberate attempt to isolate their music from the rock continuum.

As touched upon briefly, the lyrics in Idioteque are reflective of the socio-political climate of the mid-to-late 1990s.

"Who's in bunker...Women and children first..."

The mention of a bunker, and the war-time mantra of protecting women and children, conjures up a militaristic image. The song "I Will", written in the early 90s, also mentions a bunker and has been suggested to be referencing the first Iraq war. The war in Kosovo was a big issue pre-Kid A release, and was an inspiration for the cover art of the album.

"Here I'm allowed everything all of the time"

"Take the money and run"

This phrase speaks to the increasing consumerism of the last few decades. It was exacerbated in the 1990s by capitalist greed (dot-com bubble, corporate scandals i.e. Enron). 

"Ice age coming... let me hear both sides"

"This is really happening, happening"

Long before Al Gore made his keynote, climate issues were becoming a major concern. Official Radiohead t-shirts in 2001 featured the ice-berg from the album cover with the warning (taken from the lyric), "Ice age coming" (wiki).

"Mobiles working, mobiles chirping"

This line refers to the growing mobile electronics industry. Cell phones, PDAs, pagers, were becoming common place; this lead to the digital lifestyle in which the modern world has finds itself in today.

"We're not scaremongering" seems very much a reference to the conventions developed by television network news casting. "If it bleeds, it leads," they say. Sensationalism and fear induction is thought to entice viewers to watch, or scare them enough so they won't leave.

Open listening

Is the synthesizer like a church organ? The singer is about to relay his thoughts on the world, to warn us of impending doom... 

The sampling from Kreiger's work sound like a stomach grumbling. Is is a sonica metaphor regarding the turmoil of our world?

The vocal harmony in the chorus, as they sing of their entitlement: "Here I'm allowed everything all of the time". Maybe the multiplicity of voices suggest that there are many people that are this way... those who feel entitled, spoiled, or out of harm's way.

It's surprising how much more aggressive and faster the C section sounds. It contains the same relaxed drum looped, but the fast percussive part on the left channel, along with the alertness the voice demands gives the part a much quicker feel.

Eclectic Analysis of Radiohead "Idioteque" - Virtual Feeling

Virtual Feeling

How does one report on the expressiveness of human feeling in a work that is intentionally (or supposedly) devoid of emotion? Langer has met her nemesis, and that is Thom Yorke. As mentioned earlier, Yorke sought to capture the emotion of his words not to emote, to be expressive of emotion, but to simply exist along with the rest of the instruments. In the same breath, he explained, "I think what I find about, like, taking on the electronic sort of thing, taking on programming and editing and that and sampling, is that it stops, it stops you trying to emote... because there's something I find incredibly exciting about leaving something to run and standing there listening to it and not actually play at the time and singing along."

To say that Idioteque is totally emotionless would be to disregard the effect of the instrumentation and timbre, changes of pulse and vocal performance. 

The entrance of the solo drum loop is admittedly cold, but as the harmony swirls in, the listener is brought into a transcendental world by the sounds of a warm, futuristic synthesizer in rich harmony. The first verse's vocal performance is relatively apathetic in delivery, but the falsetto, as the lead singer jumps to B in the refrain, conveys a sense of declaration and entitlement as he sings, "here I'm allowed every thing all of the time...".

Section C, following the refrain, is much quicker in pace thanks to a percussive sample, which counters the mellow pacing of the drum loop. The sparse texture still manages to convey a sense of urgency and immediacy. The singer seems to warn of an impending doom, "ice age coming, ice coming... this is really happening, happening...".

After the quick, and perhaps unsettling, C-section, the refrain returns. This time, it is more soothing to the listener. The sense of alarm has been set aside, as if a horrible news story on TV was put of consciousness suddenly at the changing of the channel. The singer is still safe and happy, and perhaps ignorant of the world around him. In the repeat of the refrain, the singer once again comforts himself and reassures himself that he is indeed okay.

The reversed drum loop marks a shift, perhaps once again into the dark aspects of the world, the one which the vocalist is blissfully ignorant of. An eerie, dark sample accompanies the drum loop. It squeaks and wails and cries. It seems to go on and on, perhaps signaling that problems and trouble will not simply go away. 

The return of the harmony, the beginning of the coda, initially feels calming, similar to the sensation following the C-section. This time, however, the eerie long hall sound does not go away. The comfortable and the uncomfortable co-exist. The vocal returns, sampled, conveying an ominous message, "the first and the children", contributing more to the sense of uneasiness. The singer must become aware of his concurrent existence in the universe, or at the very least, accept the possibility.

Eclectic Analysis of Radiohead "Idioteque" - Referential meaning

Music and Textual Representation

Who's in a bunker? Who's in a bunker?
Women and children first and the children first and the children
I'll laugh until my head comes off
I'll swallow till I burst, Until I burst, Until I

Who's in a bunker? Who's in a bunker?
I've seen too much, I haven't seen enough, You haven't seen
I'll laugh until my head comes off
Women and children first and children first and children

Here I'm allowed everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed everything all of the time

Ice age comin', ice age comin'
Let me hear both sides, let me hear both sides, let me hear both
Ice age comin', ice age comin'
Throw it in the fire, throw it in the fire, throw it in the

We're not scaremongering
This is really happening, happening
We're not scaremongering
This is really happening, happening
Mobiles working, mobiles chirping
Take the money and run, take the money and run, take the money

Here I'm allowed everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed everything all of the time

Here I'm allowed everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed everything all of the time

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

Here I'm allowed everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed everything all of the time

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

Here I'm allowed everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed everything all of the time

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

(The first and the children)

While writing lyrics to Idioteque and much of Kid A, Yorke drew inspiration from David Byrne's fragmentary composition on the Talking Head's album Remain in Light. Thom describes his process in an interview, "I just basically have all the things that don't work... I stopped throwing them away... and cut them up and put them in a top hat, and pulling them out, and that was really cool because I managed to preserve any emotions that were in the original writing of the words, but in a way that it's not... trying to emote, it's just part of what's going on."

That said, the lyrics to the track can not be looked at as a linear narrative, but as a collection of the composer's thoughts. Each stanza seems to meditate on one thought, and is usually filled with metaphor ("I'll laugh until my head comes off, I'll swallow till I burst..."). Every phrase contains repetition; some are of a few words, others of a line, others of two lines. 

The meaning of the text is unclear, but its references are steeped in sociopolitical commentary which will be explored in a subsequent discussion of the composer's onto-historical world.

Eclectic Analysis of Radiohead "Idioteque" - Sound in time

Radiohead - Idioteque

The following is a phenomenological description of the "sound-in-time"

00:00-00:20

A techno/house drum loop begins, slightly distorted. It is joined seconds later by a crescendoing grinding sound. There is a quick broadband flutter, and then a smooth, video-gamey synthesizer enters... it rises and falls with each chord change. 

00:20-01:00

A thick kick drum now joins the loop to fill it out. There is some more fluttering and gargling. The texture is reduced to the loop and a jingling sound (like coins in a bag) on the right channel. The coins fade to only drums.

01:00-01:34

A male voice enters, and the synthesizer returns. A second and third voice (possibly the same singer) appear, one to double the lyric, and another mumbles in the background. There is some more gargling noise before a change in section.

01:35-01:51

The vocal jumps higher, and a second vocalist enters singing a lower harmony. The instrumentation remains the same as the previous section.

01:52-02:36

The pace quickens noticeably. An uptempo percussion line enters on the left channel. The singer seems hurried to relay an urgent message. There are more blips and juts. The mumbling voice in the background returns. A small buildup takes us into a new section.

02:37-03:10

A previous section is repeated, this time with the new hurried percussion. In the right channel, the male voice is being looped with a previous line about children.

03:11-03:50

Drum loop is reversed! Ahh okay, it returns to normal. It is joined by eerie creaks and wails coming from the back of a long hall. Brief blips pop up.

03:51-04:06

The jingling coins are back! They fade out not too long after. In its place comes a second beat, mostly in the left channel. Its much more aggressive and quicker.

04:07-04:21

Ahh the synthesizer pad has returned. We are coming home.

04:22-04:49

The "children" vocal sample returns and is repeated in different iterations.  

04:54-05:09

A broadband crunch scrambles and leaves in its wake the long hall wailing heard not long ago. A distant, dark instrument searches high and low for a note, but never settles. The track bleeds into the next, and we are out.

Eclectic Analysis - Radiohead "Idioteque" - Formal Analysis

Key: Eb Major/ G minor

Meter: 4/4

Form: A B C B B  D E

            intro | verse

      | chorus

      | interlude

      | chorus     | chorus

      | bridge

      | coda

Transcription of harmony by Paul Lansky:

The harmonic progression is Eb > G > Bb > D. The synth pad, borrowed from Lansky, is the only instrument creating a harmony. The rest of the texture, save the vocals (which primarily rides between D and Eb in the verse, and B in the chorus), is percussive. The verses and choruses can be sub-divided into 5-bar phrases.

Since there is no other melodic content, a method by William Moylan was used to plot, as he calls, sources versus a timeline. It is especially useful with the amount of sampling that takes place in the track. Sources (Y) are plotted against time (X; marked in measure numbers), and color-coded. Sections are clearly marked under the measure markings. (Please excuse the scanning bleed from the back of the paper.)

The drum loop enters alone, and continues throughout the piece, altering only a couple bars when it is reversed (section D). Sample's from Kreiger's Short Piece, introduced in the historical critique, are interspersed through the composition as a percussive ornament. Not each entrance is the same material, but it can be recognized easily after a couple listening of the source work. Lansky's synth pad is prominent in the verse (A), each repetition of the chorus, and the coda. It enters 7 measures into the introduction, and ducks out for 10, leaving the drum loops, a Kreiger sample, and what the author is referring to as "Jingle sample" (it sounds like jingling coins). O'Brien sings harmony with Yorke during the choruses, as marked in pink. On the first repeat (or second entrance) of the chorus, Yorke and O'Brien are joined by a sample of Yorke's vocal "the first and the children". It also re-appears during the coda. There is a sole instance of a small percussion sounding sample in the C-section, which fades into the repeat of B. Roughly two-thirds of the way through Idioteque, the bridge (D) hits, and introduces an eerie, long dark hallway sound, which lasts through that section, and the entire coda. The D section is spare, only containing the long hall sound and the drum loop, although the jingling reappears briefly. Near the end of the D section a second beat (referred to as "break-beat" since it creates polyrhythm), which is much quicker in tempo, enters, and runs through the coda. Shortly into the coda, Yorke's sample returns ("the first and the children"), and rides us through to the end, repeating at different occurrences within the sample ("first and the children, the first and the children, the first, the first and the children...").

  

Eclectic Analysis of Radiohead "Idioteque" - Historical

Radiohead - "Idioteque"

Band Lineup

Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, etc.)

Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboard, etc.)

Ed O'Brien (guitar, backing vocals)

Colin Greenwood (bass, synth's)

Phil Selway (drums, percussion)

History

Radiohead formed in 1986 at a private school in Oxfordshire, England under the name "On A Friday" (a reference to their rehearsal day; NME). Six years later, and a year after their signing to EMI Records, the band released Pablo Honey. The record's big single was Creep, which propelled them to mainstream success. Five years later, upon the release of OK Computer, Radiohead was launched into international superstardom (later named the 73rd most important artist of all time by Rolling Stone). The track Paranoid Android had much to do with the album's success. The album commenced the band's use of electronic and computer instruments and processing, inspired by the likes of "Autechre" and "Aphex Twins" (Lanksy). Such insight is critical in understanding the track Idioteque off their 1999 release Kid A.

Kid A's pre-decessor, OK Computer, would prove to be a vital turning point for the band, not only marking their foray in electronics but also serving to paradigmatically shift their compositional process. Paul Lansky, who is responsible for the chord sequence in Idioteque (more on that later), wrote in his article "My Radiohead Adventure" that, "the motivation for [being experimental] is undoubtedly directly related to the artistic crisis that reportedly followed the success of OK Computer." (p.173) This sentiment is related by Yorke himself in an interview, "Reflections on Kid A". In the video, he says that the lyrics to the track, and more than half of them on Kid A, are fragments of lyrics that were picked from a hat. It was a cure for Yorke's post OK... writer's block (two years!), where he would write something and throw it away, which Yorke equates to "losing someone you love" (00:01:34).

As alluded to earlier, the harmonic progression, established solely by the lush, repeating synth line is a sample from the 1973 computer based composition mild und leise, by Paul Lansky (at 00:45). Mild... is itself a sample from Tristan and Isolde by Wagner; it is an attempt to deconstruct the Tristan chord (Lansky blog). Jonny Greenwood heard the piece in a record shop, composed an 18-minute demo including it, and gave it to Yorke who wrote Idioteque around it (Lansky). A second sample used is from Arthur Kreiger's Short Piece (1974; found at 1:10), and is merely ornamental to the dense percussive landscape of Idioteque.

It has also been suggested that Radiohead owe their directness of emotion, rebellious attitude and defeatist lyricism to 1990s grunge icons Nirvana and the Pixies. In the foreword to The Music and Art of Radiohead, Kevin Dettmar writes, "having replaced hubris with vulnerability - and substituted indie (dare we say, proto-emo?) honesty for cock-rock posturing [80's metal] - Radiohead seems to have figured out a way to emerge victorious while singing of defeat. Nowhere is Radiohead's debt to Nirvana more obvious," (p. xvi).

The socio-political climate of 1999 is also important in understanding the work, most significantly its lyrics. While the text resists suggesting narrative, each line hints at the onto-historical world Yorke inhabits. Important events include an increased awareness about global warming (and the melting of polar ice caps), the war in Kosovo, the growing ubiquity of mobile electronic devices (cellular phones in particular), corporate and capitalist greed (the dot-com bubble, Enron scandal) which led to increased consumerism, fear-based network news casting, and growing social isolation due to a new digital lifestyle.

Historical critique - Karlheinz Stockhausen "Gesang der Junglinge"

Historical critique

Karlheinz Stockhausen "Gesang der Junglinge"

Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928 - 2007) was one of the first electronic music composers. Electronic music came to fruition post World War II (1939 - 1945). Composers of the time reacted to Nazi oppression and cultural/national styles. The search for new music sources led to the use of electronics. The oscillator, incorporated into all analog synthesizers, was invented in 1915. After the war, the guarded secret of tape based recording machines was opened to the masses. This made Stockhausen's "Gesang der Junglinge", or "Song of the Youths", possible in 1955.

The track is the first "major" electronic piece to use multiple tracks, which were sent to different loudspeakers throughout the performance space. Karlheinz's use of male voice recordings bridged the new electronic technologies to the music of the past. He is quoted in NAWM, saying "[the intention of combining electronics sounds and voice was] not to interpret, but to hear familiar, old, preformed musical material with new ears, to penetrate and transform it with a musical consciousness of today." [p. 641]

It can be argued that this work falls under the umbrella of total serialism, which was a reinvigoration of the accomplishments of Schoenberg and Webern, fathers of serialism in the early 20th century (Wiki). The idea of the tone row and other means of total musical control was stretched to timbre, intensity, duration etc. (NAWM). On the other hand, it seems a culmination of musique concrete (France) and electronic music. Music concrete, a term coined French broadcast engineer and composer, Pierre Schaeffer, was music "[based on] sound itself rather than with music notation."]

The disillusionment of the war led the other arts to a paradigmatic shift into post-modernism, or after modernism. It is a vague term to describe the later half of the 20th century, which lacked a central hierarchy, and in which, works are either diverse, complex, vague, minimal, or any other extreme (Georgetown).

Works cited:

Norton Anthology of Western Music by Hanning

Post-modernism

The free encyclopedia:

Here

Here

Here

Meta-critique

The historical critique positions the reader to understand the onto-historical world of the composer. The insight into a piece's world of creation can illuminate its purpose or effect to someone outside of that time. It can be also interesting to note the socio-political climate's influence on a work or composer. Such an approach under an eclectic method can be fruitful, but on its own, seems to fall very flat. 

History tells us nothing significant about the piece itself, but of the climate it was conceived in. Words and dates do no work justice. The critique is very limited in information. What makes a work like "Gesang der Junglinge" special is it's structure... how and why Stockhausen constructed the vocal and electronic sounds around one another, and what effect (phenomenologically) they have on a listener.

A historical critique is interesting and informative, but is in no way comprehensive nor expressive of any meaning the work may contain. It is a piece of the puzzle that only an eclectic method can complete.

Ferrara, Chapter 7 "An Eclectic Method for Sound, Form and Reference"

Summary

Chapter 7 is where Ferrara can finally unite his method as a whole, and explain it in detail, as opposed to the introduction. The author opens by acknowledging that to be open is to recognize that the nature of your questions structures the answers that you can collect. That being said, boundaries are necessary, and must be discernible. Each method is autonomous... it's integrity retained. Through the use of multiple methods, musical significance will transcend one's limitations.

The Eclectic Method is broken into ten steps:

1. Placing the work in a historical context.

-Important dates for composer, characteristic styles of period, level of significance, socio- political climates of the time.

The questions are non-exhaustive, and aren't universally applicable; there is room for variation, but the aforementioned provide a good starting ground.

2. Open listening (optional)

-Listener brackets out all prior knowledge of work to 'orient oneself to openness'

A written report is not necessary.

3. Musical Syntax

-Analyst applies conventional methods of analysis (literal and direct), while disregarding any phenomenological or hermeneutic data

4. Sound-in-time (phenomenological)

-Grounded in literal data, the analyst is freer to use more poetic or metaphorical prose.

5. Referential meaning (level one: musical representation)

-Finding the meaning of a program or text.

6. Referential meaning (expressivity of human feeling)

-Analyst assumes a detached stance from human feeling, but remains grounded in syntax and phenomenological data.

It is important to remember music is "expressive of" feeling, but does not actually have it.

7. Referential meaning (Onto-historical world of composer)

-One straddles the fine line between 'cultural documentary' and being founded in sound and syntax.

8. A return to open listening

-For this listening, prior data collected interact, as Ferrara says, "in a dynamic and polyphonic tapestry". 

9. Performance guide

-Using a newfound understanding of the work, the analyst can present an insightful guide on the piece's performance.

10. Meta-critique

-Strengths and weaknesses of the eclectic method on the analysis is discussed.

Reaction

Where have I heard this all before? Ah yes, the prior 6 chapters. I hope that doesn't come off as cynical, because it's not meant to be, but I think this chapter straddles reiteration and reduncancy. Ferrara presents his method as a whole, which he hasn't done in any detail since the introduction. Despite having founded our knowledge, in depth, in the past six chapters, the author remains vague in his descriptions on the application of each method. I do understand that each work has it's own set of questions, and own ways to delineate and analyze, but I can't help but thinking this chapter could have benefited from a more thorough recapitulation of each method. The subsequent chapters, in which he applies his method, may make up for this chapter's brevity.

Ferrara, Chapter 5 "Heidegger's Philosophy of Art"

Summary

After Heidegger's Dasein, as revealed in Being and Time, he turns to a more poetic prose and develops the idea of resoluteness, or waiting, as an essentiality of Being and openness. To be open, one waits for an object, work, etc. to show itself.

Heidegger plans to extricate himself from Western Metaphysical tradition (reality's transcendence of scientific principles) through interpretations of Kant, Hegel, Neitzsche, etc. He soon discovers that Being and Time was trapped in this metaphysical paradigm. In order to 'undercut that tradition', Heidegger stripped the 'technical and manipulative style' of Dasein. Only through a radical leap from metaphysical to a more meditative and poetic stance could the philosopher break new ground.

Meditative thinking, Heidegger says, positions one to wait for Being, or for something to come into unconcealment. The idea of waiting upon comes from pre-Socratic philosophers (Anaximander, Heraclitus, Parmenides). This is opposed to the later Platonic forms which "provide representations of actual things as ideas". To be direct, or to engage a thing directly, we are being open. Greek thinking is characterized by Heidegger as "gathering, or 'apprehension and collection'". The philosopher reasserts, "In waiting we leave open what we are waiting for because waiting releases itself into openness," to which Ferrara adds, "one does not experience a thing by re-presenting it through an inserted idea."

"The Origin of the Work of Art" begins by a definition of art. It encompasses all art form: visual, music, architecture, sculpture, poetry, etc. Heidegger relates that the artist is the origin of the work, and conversely the work is the origin of the artist.

If art is a "thing", what distinguishes it from other things? Heidegger, in Being and Time, specifies three types of beings:

1. Ready-to-hand (equipment, i.e., automobile)

2. Present-to-hand (junk, i.e., pile of leaves)

3. Dasein (human existence)

Additionally there are three interpretations of what things are:

1. Substance (bearing characteristics)

2. Collection of sensory data

3. Formed matter

Heidegger dismisses all three. "Thing-theories" bring us no closer to the thingly element in art. To elaborate, he studies a pair of shoes from the Van Gogh painting "Les Souliers". Instead of approach the shoes as equipment, or what they're made of, he focuses on what the shoes are made for. In this case, it is for the peasant woman, and their usefulness lies within that meaning. 

The shoes' ability to service, or by Heidegger's term- "reliability", do not present the essential being. It is when the foot wear becomes hidden in life, then exposed through art, does their truth (aletheia in Greek) or unconcealedness come forward. "By revealing the being of the shoes, this work establishes the truth of shoes." A truth is otherwise hidden before being exposed by art. Heidegger's conception of truth departs from traditional art theory in that art typifies beauty, whereas logic speaks of truth.

On the other hand, art works have a sense of actually, of being things. In this way, they share a "thingly character" with the things in which the art may represent. Thus begins a discussion of earth, in reference to the work materials of art, and of world, which extends beyond Husserl's life-world to include the world of the artist (or onto-historical world). Heidegger says, "to be a work means to set up a world." The artist brings his earth (materials) and world (onto-historical) into transcendance through a work. The setting of an ontological world places things into an openness where it can show itself, be unconcealed, and Be.

Reaction

Phewww... Heidegger V was a tough pill to swallow, but watching "Being There" (once the weekend before class, then during) helped enormously to conceptualize the idea of engaging something directly, and letting it reveal itself. Chauncey maintained Dasein through his throwness into the world, his direct engagement (using no preconceptions or prior knowledge), his realization of death. The meaning the rest of the characters attached to Chauncey's words remind me of the discussion in Chapter 5 of the tree falling in the forest, and how it does make a sound (like a fox hears it) and but it means nothing... humans construct meaning. Does that make meaning unnatural, or against nature? The ability of the human species to attach meaning and socialize is what has positioned us (atleast in our minds!) above other animals. It is fundamentally a survival technique, but has brought on changes throughout the world, both good and bad. Man has shaped the world, it's buildings, structures, institutions, and it's inhabitants. Speaking of world, I think Heidegger's discussion of transcendance is particularly illuminating. An artist really does use his world and his materials to express or preserve ideas/images/etc., which transcend their lifeworld and live on for others to experience. 

Ferrara, Chapter 3 "Husserl's Phenomenology"

Ferrara, Chapter 3 "Husserl's Phenomenology"

Summary

Edmund Husserl was a 19th century philosopher who sought to provide a method for verifiable examination of the 'immediate, conscious' experience. By scrutinizing, or becoming aware of, consciousness, one's essential characteristics can be explored... a purification of the character, if you will. The method seeks the 'rigor' of science to examine the basics of knowledge, during which one suspends belief in theories and concepts, to directly perceive what is given.

Husserl's early phenomenology (1896-1905) was in partial response to psychologism. Psychologism was a popular 19th century philosophical stance which centered man's 'subjective mind' in study, and reduced all operations in life to psychological laws. Husserl contended that science must move "back to the things themselves", and abandon philosophical prejudices and abstractions. His focus is on things of consciousness, not of consciousness.

Later, the philosopher suggests by achieving self-awareness for oneself, one is now aware of what is non-self. Therefore, the subject makes meaning possible through being conscious.

In Husserl's method, he describes temporality in terms of Internal Time Consciousness. An analogy to a comet is used, where the tail, in comparison to music, is a retained melody, or past (retention). The present is the head of the comet. The future, or anticipation where the comet or melody may be heading, is protention. Husserl prioritizes the present, as both the past and future are developed from it.

A central tactic of phenomenological method is phenomenological reduction, of which there are two stages. The first is transcendental reduction. The 'natural attitude', or our faith in the appearance and existence of things, is systematically suspended. Sparing consciousness makes inspection possible. The second stage, eidetic reduction, is to "discover universal knowledge about the intentional structure  of [transcendental reduction]", or rather, move to the essence of an object.

In Crisis, a situation in which Husserl asserts the west is in due to failed objectivism, the author develops his sense of community. There is a symbiotic relationship between the individual and his/her world.  One informs the other, and vice-versa.

Reaction

20th century composers reacted against the tonal language which solidified and peaked in the century before; Debussy devoted his career to escaping the shadow of Wagner. Such reaction to predecessors occurs in all art forms, at all converging times, and apparently in philosophy. Debussy is to Wagner as Phenomenology is to Psychologism, both seek to separate themselves from their history, but subject their methods to the techniques of the past, by way of organizational forms and a general attempt at greatness.

Husserl's method seems smart, and when applied to music, seems to be a nice, and natural outgrowth of formal analysis. Music is sound, and sound happens, thus sound in time. What is disconcerting is Husserl's lack of comprehensiveness and conviction. He never successfully balanced idealism and realism, and towards the end of his career, he regressed towards psychologism. Why??

Formal Analysis of a Recorded Work

Formal Analysis of a Recorded Work

Up for observation is "A Day in the Life" by The Beatles. I will begin with a study of it's structure, and then a dissection of certain production aspects not commonly discussed. The graphs you will see were created for another class, but the discussion is entirely original.

The overall form of "A Day in the Life" is ABA, or ternary form. John Lennon composed the A section, and asked Paul to write a B section. Paul's section was an unfinished song fragment, conceived independent of "A Day in the Life" (The Beatles Anthology). The duo decided it was of interesting contrast and included it. The A section is in G major/E minor (it's rather ambiguous), and, following a 10 bar orchestral swell, lands on E major for the B section. The song's meter is 4/4, with a few one-measure instances of 2/4. The A section can be subdivided into AAAB, then C - bridge, DD (B section), E (2nd  bridge), AB (return of A section), and the coda out (F?).

Outside of musical transciption lies an area not often explored academically, the production techniques of a recorded work. A most fundamental understanding comes from a sound source(s) versus time graph, shown below:

Using a method defined by William Moylan, sound sources (instruments, or set of instruments) are graphed according to their presence in a recorded work. The data extrapolated is interesting in and of itself, arrangement-wise and beyond, but can also lead into other examinations, such as stereo location of sources versus time. 

While not obvious in a casual or passive listening session, stereo location quite often changes during a recorded work. Moylan points out in his book "Understanding and Crafting the Mix" that such changes most often occur at structural points, not during a section of music. Below is a multi-tiered graph of the stereo location of sources versus time in "A Day in the Life":

Time runs along the Y-Axis, and along the X-Axis is Left, Center and Right. Sources are distinguished by color, and width (in this graph, the height of the shape). Width refers to the horizontal space a source occupies in the stereo image. Outside of the loudspeakers exists a 15 degree extension of the image, where sources seems to appear in sometimes.

Only two of the eight sources remain in the same space throughout the song, the drums and McCartney's vocals. Lennon's vocal throughout the second and third verse moves from more right in the image to all the way left at the entrance of the first bridge. A similar, quick shift in stereo location happens in the bridges with the orchestral overdub. The orchestra begins positioned on one side, and throughout the bridges, moves gradually in the opposite direction, and eventually takes up the entire image before it quickly exits. Other sources, like the acoustic guitar and shaker flip from the left to right side from the end of the third verse, to the return of the A section (verse 4).

Meta-critique

Structure, sources versus time, and stereo location are all very interesting. They are, however, only pieces to the puzzle. These "facts" are devoid of any intent or effect the music has on us. What does it mean to the listener that Lennon's vocal moves throughout the stereo image? It could be an artistic decision; it's an interesting sonic effect. It could also be a technical workaround. The REDD consoles at Abbey Road had a limited number of stereo panning channels (2, if I remember correctly- courtesy of Recording the Beatles), so the mix engineer might be preparing for an overdub to enter- like the orchestral dub in the bridge.

A complete understanding of a work requires multiple methods of analysis, which support and augment each other. Syntax relates and informs sound-in-time, and vice versa; the same goes with referential meaning.

A critique of my graphs is that my notation can be imprecise at times. For instance, in the sound sources versus time graph, the dotted lines I drew for the ride cymbal don't precisely account for each hit, in each measure. The markings give you an impression of when the cymbal is hit. Such detail isn't particularly necessary in the graph, but it's non-correspondence may be misleading to some.

Gebauer/Wulf, “Mimesis”

Gebauer/Wulf, "Mimesis"

Summary

There are three dimensions to the historically complex concept of mimesis, in pre-Platonic times. They are imitation, representation and expression. These applied to the whole world, including the "extraaesthetic". Plato and Aristotle defined them in the context of literature, art and music. 

Plato wrote in Republic that mimesis is most important in education. Through emulation of models, a young person assimilates themself to a standard, "proper" way of being. Later, in the third book of the Republic, Plato further defines mimesis' role in education (found under 'Similarity,  Imitation, Education' in the article). The author writes "[s]ince young people learn essentially through imitation... [they] should be shielded from everything that might interfere with their ability to fulfill tasks later entrusted to them by the state" (p. 33). Plato advocated a sort of censorship, where youth could only be exposed to good, wholesome values (through writing, music). Death and the underworld would not educate future "guardians" (students) in "courage, gallantry, and strength," (p. 33). Interestingly, Plato further defines some musical scales (dorian, phyrigian), instruments (lyre, cithara) and some rhythms unsuitable for his idealized state.

With respect to the arts, Plato defined mimesis, or imitation as the capacity to produce images. Plato's continuance appearance as mimesis is continued later in the article under 'Appearance and Illusion'.  A painter is likened to God, in that they both produce phenomena. "Painters and poets... are more similar to God than to the craftsman," Plato relates. "Artistic representation is ... the appearance of something phenomenal," (p. 38).

Else, in relation to dance, emphasizes three distinctions to mimesis, being:

1. Miming- direct representation

2. Imitation - a general sense of a person by another

3. Replication - image or effigy of person or thing

The authors define the origin of mimos (mime), is which mimesis is derived from. It first appears in Sicily, designating a "recitation... delived by one person" (p. 28). The mime depicted life "as-is" the article suggests, and there characterizations tended to be more universal than individual.

Gebauer and Wulf end with a cautious message to the artist. S/he must be conscious of the "gap" between the model and image, and not get too caught up in the "phenomenal being of things".

Response

Eeek. What? 

The author, from the get-go, seems to forget to define his purpose in writing the article, or to offer a fundamental definition of mimesis. The article doesn't have a real sense of propulsion or coherency between paragraphs and thoughts. It's as if Gebauer and Wulf were brainstorming. I found the the vocabulary and structure unneccesarily dense and unclear, as if to obscure the content for reasons unknown- maybe in an attempt to sound super intellectual.

A portion I found particularly interesting was Plato's idea that an ideal state must include censored art (poetry and music) in order to maintain sound character in youth. Good material, that which promoted strength, courage, decency, was promoted. Controversial and non-idealized material was too poor an influence on young people and they couldn't handle it, Plato argued. Greek gods could not be portrayed as weak, and images of the underworld were forbidden. To some extent, this seems to parallel the conserative parties of today's politics, with warning labels and rating systems, in the name of "public interest".

 But what's up with banning modes, instruments and rhythm. What did they ever do to Plato?

Poem in October

In class, there was some interest in a frequency analysis of "Poem in October". The image below is the spectral analysis of the mp3 file. Time is the horizontal axis, frequency is vertical axis, and intensity is color (blue -no amplitude to red - peak amplitude).

For sake of comparison, here is the poem represented in the time domain:

While conceptually intriguing, a spectograph offers little insight into the feel or inflection of the speech. What is more noticeable is the amount of noise (the shades of light blue and green) in the recording, which is a combination of several factors: microphone selection, recording medium, ambient sound, and mpeg compression. Of note, such distortion lends itself to certain adjectives, some of which arose during our phenomenological discussion of the piece- warm, brown, etc.

The recording is also frequency limited. Human hearing (and hi-fidelity recordings) extend up to 20 kHz, it is the range responsible for adding 'air' or 'presence' to a sound. The bulk of Thomas' voice lies within the 1-3 kHz, which is average for a human voice (see below).

Better illustrated is the dynamics, or changes in volume, of Thomas' performance. As seen in the waveform above (Figure 2), his narrative arch rises and falls very naturally.

Ferrara, "Chapter 2: Should the method define the tasks?"

Ferrara, "Chapter 2: Should the method define the tasks?"

Summary

Should the method define the tasks, Ferrara asks. There is no doubt that each method does indeed define their task. All means of musical analysis enables one to accomplish the method, thus it's tasks. And, on a rudimentary level, success is achieved when a method's criteria are satisfied.

The author suggests a more encompassing measure of an analytical approaches' robustness. The analysis must work on multiple levels of significance, and the work should define the method, not the method define the work. Ferrara explains that "music analysis must benefit from an eclectic method that supports the disclosure of the multiplicity of levels of musical significance." He later clarifies that he does not mean to demean or challenge established methods. In fact, he states the each level of analysis is critical- particularly that phenomenology and reference would be unfounded if not for a syntactical perspective.

Entering an analysis can never be completely pure. All studies are inherently subject to one's past knowledge, or "pre-understanding". Hans-George Gadamer described this as prejudice. Man is a product of his time, and can never remove himself from it. He continues, "[o]ne's tradition is always understood in some relation to the present."

An analyst must engage a work in reference to his own time and place. While there may be some degree of importance to the composer's onto-historical world, Ferrara warns that one should not limit themselves to the composer's intention. He also adds that analysts may not be best suited to judge a contemporary work, as s/he may not be able to remove themself from their "immediate life-world".

Analyst's must also be listeners, or put themselves in a listener's shoe, so to speak. Music has an impact on those who listen to it, and one should not remove themselves from that experience. In experiencing, one engages a work as an aesthetic object... s/he enjoys the work in it's form and reference. An art object is something removed from one's appreciation. It exists until someone gives it meaning.

Phenomenology can be bifurcated into two seperate philosophical approaches: 1. Husserlian's descriptive phenomenology, known in the book as phenomenological principles and, 2. Heideggerian interpretive phenomology, referred to as hermeneutic.

Husserl believes that man discovers himself (thus his consciousness) first, then the world. Heidegger suggests the opposite, and further, that "to be historical means to be characterized by the present status of one's tradition". His philosophy is used in the study of referential meaning.

Ferrara draws a "loose" analogy between the three forms of analysis and a physical examination. Syntax is an x-ray, (supposedly) objective. Phenomenology is the actual physical examination, control with a more hands on approach. Referential meaning is the patient's history and background, which is important to understanding his/her current condition.

The author ends by noting "[p]henomenological and hermeneutic systems are able to respond to new and different questions posed by a musical work." Syntax is important in anchoring the former methods, but it's objectivity is superficial. Form is more appropriately titled 'obscured subjectivity'. The method (convential analysis) defines the work, and filters out it's sound and meaning.

Reaction

Ferrara's articulation and explanation of his eclectic method are, as usual, spot on, insightful, and well justified. His introduction of Gadamer's principle of prejudice and tradition does much to explain an analyst's position in relation to a work, and interestingly transcends music. One's prejudice, that is, the effect of their onto-historical world on their personality and views, can help to explain why people do what they do and think what they think- both positively and negatively. 

The bifurcation of art object and aesthetic object also transcended the musical realm for me. Specifically, the author's explanation of everyday items' artistic validity, in the era of modern art, was insightful. He says, "the transformation of ordinary objects into aesthetic objects, natural or man-made, relies solely on the attitude of the appreciator." I appreciate artists like Marcel Duchamp, whose readymades are subject to much controversy in artist circles.

Ferrara, Chapter 1 "Referential Meaning in Music"

Ferrara, Chapter 1 "Referential Meaning in Music"

Summary

"What does music mean?" implores the author at the onset of the first chapter. Such a broad  yet challenging question is of great interest to musical analysts. There are two approaches, one limits musical understanding to it's syntax, and the other engages referential meaning. 

Leonard B. Meyer's relation of emotion to music syntax is examined, as it creates a "bridge" between emotion and structure. Formalists disregard a work's emotional response to a listener, citing it as irrelevant. They believe that music can create an emotional response, and perhaps extra-musical thoughts, but "extrinsic meanings and emotional responses cannot be systematically and objectively analyzed" (Ferrara, p. 4).

Meyer suggests that emotion is derived from formal musical meaning. He divides meaning into absolute (syntax) and referential. The former being harmony, melody, structure. The latter remains undefined by Meyer. There is further subdivision into absolute meaning: formalism and expressionism. Both are syntactical, but formalists argue meaning is purely intellectual whereas expressionists say syntax arouses emotion. Citing John Dewey's theory of emotion, Meyer states "that musical stimuli arouse and inhibit tendencies..." which "give rise to emotions" (Ferrara, p. 5). A listener has expectations (based on past experiences, musical training), and their ability to be challenged or met, causes them to feel emotion... there is no extrinsic meaning.

What is referential meaning anyhow? Ogden and Richards say a symbol "has meaning when acquaintance with it causes one... to think of something else" (Ferrara, p. 7). A symbol refers to something else, something from the natural word. A methaphor used for the difference between syntax and reference of music is found in language. Syntax refers to grammar, where the word "automobile" has 4 syllables and is a noun. On a referential level, the word "automobile" refers to an individual's concept of a car. Symbols "capture and convey" the concept to which they represent, as much as music expresses the emotion and feeling of the composer.

Since music analysts have not systemized an objective study of reference in music, saying it could lead to an "analytical chaos", it has been deemed "non-rational". Ferrara counters by suggesting conventional systems of musical analysis don't satisfy the logical positivist's criteria for objectivity and verifiability.

Susanne Langer wrote about philosophical approaches to referential music analysis. Music isn't a precise meaning of things, but an expressive form. It is a non-discursive language that does not translate directly to a discursive language, and can no be looked at as such, or referential meaning will never be understood. Langer argues formal properties only reflect a composer's knowledge of form and theory. To her, music is "expressive of man's unique being" and elevates us, as humans, above other animals. Langer never adapted her theories to music directly, but influenced many subsequent theorists.

Further in the chapter, Ferrara examines recent approaches to referential meaning in music. Of most study is Peter Kivy who distincts the usage of musical expression. Something can "express" or be "expressive of". In Kivy's words, a piece of music is not sad, it is expressive of sadness. A person crying, on the other hand, expresses his or her sadness. Theodor Adorno alternatively writes on the parallel of social structure to musical structure, saying "[i]n various ways and with varying [degrees] of critical awareness, the musical microcosm replicates the social macrocosm." (Ferrara, p. 22)

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Reaction

Meyer's concept of emotion coming from musical expectation seems ignorant. Surely an avid music listener knows better. This naivety may stem for the objectification of music as an object, not as an source of enjoyment. It can be all too easy to get lost in the meaning and feeling of something when you examine a work's metaphysical aspects, which I think this course overall attempts to rectify. Whatever the reason, I tend to reject Meyer's theory of expressionist formalism. Music, as it seems to me, does in fact work on an extrinsic level. Being said, I find Langer's research very interesting... although I wish she had the chops for musical analysis. Her insight was profound, particularly when she talks about music's ability to express man's being and be transcendental. Music, as well as language, is a symbol. And she rightfully points out that you can't think of music in such cut and dry, convential (discursive) methods. Music is a different entity, and the way you analyze and think of music must be adjusted. Duh!

Ferrara, "Introduction"

Ian McNally

Music Technology

Spring 2009

The Performing Arts in Western Civilization - E85.1505

Ferrara, "Introduction"

Summary

Philosophy and the Analysis of Music by Lawrence Ferrara begins with an introduction to the psychological context of the book. Ferrara defines music, which he states, depends on the individual who is experiencing it (as a music listener, music happens), or the degree of examination (simply as a category, or more articulately as 'a synthesis of passion and rationality, emotion and understanding'). The author quickly moves to the dialectic, the foundation of his inquiry- referential meaning of a work versus a formal analysis. They both exist and are important in a work, but current methods of analysis treat them in a parallel fashion, like vinegar and water... neither approach can explain the other and one is ignored in favor of the other. Ferrara says that this separation cannot lead to a whole, absolute understanding of the work. Formal and referential analysis depend on each other, and are insufficient on their own. In his words, "[e]ach approach tends to focus on a singular dimension... at the expense of another..."

The book divides analytical methods into three classifications:

1. Phenomenological methods (sound-in-time)

2. Conventional methods (formal analysis)

3. Hermeneutic methods (musical reference)

The combination of the three above creates the eclectic method, a new methodology that rectifies the shortcomings of each approach on it's own, but pieces them all together to create an exhaustive and encompassing analysis of a musical work. The eclectic method provides a systematic approach to understanding and incorporates all facets of analysis, so that it may be applied to any piece of musical work, and be as objective as possible.

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Personal Reaction

Ferrara's introduction was a necessary, and heavy one. My brain hurt a little bit after reading the introduction- the sentences are dense, and the topics are broad and numerous, but it was a necessary evil. The electic method is explained thoroughly and justified. The author does a good job dispelling arguments and objections to his method by offering multiple avenues of musical exploration, from the most cut and dry, to the most lofty. He also raises an interesting point about the nature of music- that it depends on who is experiencing the music (e.g., music "happens" for a music listener), or how fine you are looking into it (as just a category, or as a synthesis, an expression, etc.). The introduction drew me into the subject matter, if even at times, the density or vocabulary propelled me away from the reading.