MUSI2751: Philosophy, Music and Improvisation

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• This module explores the relation between music and philosophy, considering the philosophical issues to which music gives rise, how music may illuminate some of those issues, and how philosophy may illuminate the understanding of music.
• Term 1 (Michaelmas) is a content-oriented (jazz) course with a particular focus on the aesthetics of improvisation, and the relation of art and entertainment. Through consideration of key topics in jazz history, Term 1 raises questions about the aesthetics of musical performance, improvisation and listening. It connects these with the relation of art and entertainment, and the important category of "artist-entertainers". These questions require us to step back and think about the meanings of the most basic assumptions and concepts in music and music-making.
• Term 2 (Epiphany) picks up the form and substance of these questions and others like them known as second-order questions. These are philosophical questions in aesthetics, epistemology and metaphysics in relation to music, musical works and musical performances. We also discuss the philosophy of music of Nietzsche and Adorno.
• Improvisation strongly informs the content of Term 1, and is then also reflected in Term 2 in connection with (among other things) the identity of the musical work, the relationship between work, score and performance, and the phenomenology of the experience of listening to music.

• The module addresses philosophical questions concerning music and our experience of it, including music as an art and as entertainment. These questions raised include (a) the nature of music; (b) the concept of musical works and performances, notably composition v. improvisation; (c) musical experience. Under (a) we consider such issues as: the relation of musical and aesthetic experience, and the connection of the latter with art and entertainment; whether music means anything; and how it stands in relation to representational arts. Under (b) we consider: the relation of improvisation and composition, and the relations among works, scores, performances, recordings and audiences; whether music is created or discovered; and the claims of expressionist, formalist, symbolist and representational theories of music. Under (c) we shall consider: the role of the body and of embodiment in musical experience in making as well as receiving music; the role of the imagination and cognition; the widespread view of musics being the expression of emotion; the aesthetic value of improvisation versus composition, and what these contrasting practices involve. We look at what musical experience tells us about aesthetic experience; whether the composition of music constitutes the production of any form of knowledge or understanding; the relation between music and ethics; and arguments concerning the relation of music to reality and our knowledge of reality. In undertaking the above, we consider the views of contemporary philosophers of music including such figures as Roger Scruton, Jerrold Levinson, Viktor Zuckerkandl, Stephen Davies and Lydia Goehr, as well as those of major historical philosophers Kant, Nietzsche, Hanslick and Adorno.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• By the end of the module students will have gained a familiarity with a range of characteristic philosophical enquiries, and be able to understand their bearing upon the nature of music and musical experience. They will correspondingly be able to assess the capacity of music to illuminate philosophical enquiry.

Subject-specific Skills:

• The module will develop students capacities for critical reflection and for reasoning through valid argumentation, and their ability to recognise and, where appropriate, challenge the foundational premisses upon which arguments are grounded.

Key Skills:

• The development of a range of appropriate analytical and research skills together with the ability to articulate ideas in writing, whether in prcis or essay form. Students will also be expected to develop presentational skills by working in groups for tutorials.

• Whole group lecture/seminars, both including class discussion to ensure the active participation of students.
• Individual and group oral presentations within tutorials.
• Directed reading.
• The assessments address creative, practical, and critical modes of engagement, leading students to develop original research questions, and honing their capacity for logical argument and written eloquence.

In preparation of summative assignments, students will be asked to prepare a short written outline of their essay and bibliography. Together with a 15-minute presentation, this will form the basis of two out of the three tutorials. The remaining tutorial will involve presentations on a set work or extract.

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