# Aesthetics



## Billbob32 (Jul 12, 2010)

So, I've been thinking about music on the large scale, and how it works. These questions might be answered already. I'm still studying and might not of found them, but I want to hear what people have to say.
How do we define it?


Where is its foundation? What causes us to need it? Why do we write things that purposely disturb the ear, if its purpose is aural beauty?


Should resources matter to a composer? (This one has been bugging me. A writer can create a complete novel with limited rules cat and the hat comes from a list of very specific words. I'll take flak for this but I don't think limiting language limits thoughts or our ability to express them. Should a great composer fail without a suitable medium or does it mean that they weren't great enough to adapt to their resources?


Music came before theory and thus theory shifts to describe what we write. Can we create a conclusive theory that describes every work regardless of culture or harmonic patterns? A true way to compare music.

Do we deserve to be payed to redefine these answers, or should we be the ones who use the answers to please people?

Thanks.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Billbob32 said:


> So, I've been thinking about music on the large scale, and how it works. These questions might be answered already. I'm still studying and might not of found them, but I want to hear what people have to say.
> How do we define it?
> 
> Where is its foundation? What causes us to need it? Why do we write things that purposely disturb the ear, if its purpose is aural beauty?


I'll only attempt to answer these questions.

The only thing I can say is, humans are extraordinary creatures. I don't wish to get all politically incorrect, but to me, this is the only way that can explain it: the foundation for Aesthetics is from our being in the Image of God. Aesthetics is not a completely subjective thing, because there is a higher Authority that has already determined it. Humans have a strong conscience for what is beautiful, although it can vary in sensitivity from one person to the other, because of this. Personally, I think the musician, the artist, the dancer, the writer, etc. (people in the liberal arts) have some of the strongest senses of Aesthetics.

As human beings, we need beauty. It gives us a sense of meaning in this often chaotic world. It nourishes our souls. Moreover, it ultimately serves to show us the nature of God, as a Creator of beauty.

The issue of dissonance is extremely complex though. Personally, I don't find all dissonance to be, you know, "evil." What I most admire in a piece of music is if the dissonance is contrasted with consonance, so that which is unresolved becomes resolved. But I don't believe in music that simply drowns/ends in dissonance, because in fact, that is telling the audience a lie, that music is simply purposeless. Sometimes people like to listen to dissonant music because they see something beyond the harshness of it, something like meaning, intrigue, or beauty (I'm only in the middle of that search right now). But music is essentially the opposite of chaos, and that must be remembered.

I must note this too, some in the Second Viennese School claimed to be satanists, and I have a problem with that.


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> I must note this too, some in the Second Viennese School claimed to be satanists, and I have a problem with that.


Care to back that up with a link or reference? A claim like this certainly needs it.
Who specifically made that claim?


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

Too many questions with a lack of sifting 

Feels like someone is asking us to do their homework


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

SuperTonic said:


> Care to back that up with a link or reference? A claim like this certainly needs it.
> Who specifically made that claim?


Just go look at anything by Aramis, see his signature. Perhaps he made his claim without any evidence.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Oh nevermind, he took away that quote.

So nevermind my comment,


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

> Just go look at anything by Aramis, see his signature. Perhaps he made his claim without any evidence.


Wat. You just broke me. I put into mouth of early XXth composer the most absurd words as a obvious joke and now I find this thread. If my signature would be:



> "People can't see me when I play organ in church, that is when I put my plastic tyrannosaurus rex head on and imagine I'm giant lizard playing ancient organ made of my victim's bloody bones" - Johann Sebastian Bach about his inpirations


Would you belive that and go to Bach thread to tell people that you can't listen to Bach knowing that he was obsessed about dinosaurs? Did you really belive that Webern could say such bullsheet using vocabulary a'la gangsta raper? I can hardly belive this. It's beyond my imagination.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Aramis said:


> Would you belive that and go to Bach thread to tell people that you can't listen to Bach knowing that he was obsessed about dinosaurs? Did you really belive that Webern could say such bullsheet using vocabulary a'la gangsta raper? I can hardly belive this. It's beyond my imagination.


I wouldn't _believe _you to lie. I'm a sincere person, is all.

And I think there is already funny/good enough quotes out there so as not to make _up _one. 

like...

"If you want Richard, try Wagner, if Strauss, try Johann." (Richard Strauss purposefully ignored)

"Of all the 2000 pupils I taught at the Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Stravinsky had the worst ear."

"My mother had to explain that one couldn't compose a Liszt rhapsody because it was a piece of music that Liszt himself had composed."

"Of course I have used dissonance in my time, but there has been too much dissonance. Bach used dissonance as good salt for his music. Others applied pepper, seasoned the dishes more and more highly, till all healthy appetites were sick and until the music was nothing but pepper."


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