Chapter III: "Hurrah For Science!"

Edmond Husserl (1859- 1938) was a major player in phenomenology.



Husserl's early period (1896-1905):
Edmond Husserl maintained that psychology held priority over all science, that it was the foundation of all study.
This imbalance lead him "back to the things themselves," wanting to leave psychologism behind as well as other
philosophical prejudices. By taking this step, one could build a "pure empiricism based on the immediate perception
of things " (51). Thusly, he wanted to compliment natural science with something new.

Husserl believed that consciousness is an activity between a subject actively projecting itself to the "non-self."
The non-self exists outside the body. The meaning of something is relative to the consciousness that engages it.
Noema: Objects become noema when they are being intended by consciousness.

Husserl contends that consciousness is constructed through time... "Time-Consciousness" is an idea that a piece of art is the same over time even though we engage them over and over again. He then develops the idea of "retention" and "protention" (61).

"Retention"-- Consciousness "retains" the immediate past of the object in consciousness.
"Protention" -- "Protentions are continuously being consummated in consciousness that are in agreement with past "retentions" (61).

Husserl enters into a logical Investigation, "Back to the Objects themselves" where the suspension of beliefs in theories, concepts, and symbols, is employed in order to understand what is directly given.

Phenomenological Reduction:

Transcendental Ego:To move beyond one's ego and develop "pure" knowledge.

Epoche: The suspension of the natural attitude. During this step, the analyst attempts to bracket out all previous assumptions or prejudices connected to the work.

Eidetic: An attempt by the analyst to characteristics of the work. This type of engagement will never be
referential or formal in nature.

Husserl attempts to develop a pure empiricism based on the immediate perception of things.

The Return to Psychologism:
More than a decade later, Husserl moves from "The things themselves" and inward towards consciousness. Ironically, he return to the same form of psychologism which he was trying to break free.

My Reaction:



Sometimes I feel that Dr. Ferrara could be explain these ideas more concisely and at times I get confused because I feel that the concepts are conveyed in a circular fashion that is very confusing to interpret. I'm still questioning Husserl's believe of time-consciousness. I don't necessarily believe that an artwork is the same over time, for me the meaning changes relative to how I've changed. For instance, I grew up watching sitcoms with my parents, sitcoms like Seinfeld that explain adult concepts that went quite over my adolescent height. As I grow older those concepts become more and more relative and humorous.

"BEG WAVES" BY PONYTAIL / I only Have a Page and a Half.

"Primal spaz-rockers Ponytail raid a Queens laundromat in the latest edition of Pitchfork TV's analog-meets-Internet show, A>D>D. Armed with a rudimentary four-track recorder, the quartet scares off the clientele and gives new meaning to the term "spin cycle." Courtesy of Pitchfork.tv

Please Double Click to Read Bio: www.jeremyhyman.com

Historical Side Of Things: I wanted to post Ponytail's bio because I couldn't think of a better way to tell you how they formed. What I can talk about is their contribution to art rock and DIY movements. We live in a Clear Channel/Live Nation monopoly. Some, the product of middle class families who couldn't quite afford to send us away to college and a lot of us battling homogeneity. DIY (Do It Yourself) is working with what you have... doing it on your own, legally or not... risking a police raid for the sake of a low budget rock show in an abandoned warehouse or co-op. Especially in an 'economic climate' that is pretty bleak, the best part about this form of expression is that it's real. At least I think so. There is less commerciality, which is something I think is incredibly important since most main stream music is buried in profit margins. Also, I think this is also very appealing to the audience of this movement of music, especially while living in New York City: a living, breathing advertisement...

Open Viewings: Total Number: More than Several:
-A lot of movement in this piece, rhythm influences dance and vice versa.
-The song grows and expands and then collapses, fitting to the scene in the laundromat... ending like a cycle.


Syntax: Beg Waves = Tongue Trill Between LA Release on Ti/Waa Waa in E Major/ Notice theRe ARe No REal WordDS in this Song.
-Opening Theme: Bass Pounding E Major
-Main Compositional theme is built in the E Major scale scrounging and feeling around the scale.
-Gold Mean: Centered around lead guitar teeter tottering between la and do.

Virtual Feeling: Maybe this whole thing is Virtual Feeling.. or is that Meta Critique?
So this is where we look at the performance aspect of the song? I guess this ties into the my historical analysis aspect of this analysis because their stage is lineoleum in a laundromat in Queens. Their audience scared away and yet they're completely un-phased. Molly Siegel's dance, a bouncing squat, as free as the piece.


My Reaction/Extreme Bias/Meta Critique:There's integrity in art rock... at least for now.

"Beg Waves," as big as color.

I guess my suggestions for a further analysis would include really dissecting the piece (syntactically) and fully analyzing the performance. But I'd probably never get that far because I can't really stop listening/watching it. There are several live videos of Ponytail (un-edited) but it's very difficult to find tapings with good sound quality. I think this critique could and should incorporate other artists of this movement and its effect on audiences. The barrier break down between artist and audience, the stage (the physical kind) removed, leaving more room for dance parties.

Music Video By: Michael Guidetti & David Berezin.



Find the Ponytail myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/jreamteam

Chapter 2: Should The Method Define The Tasks?

Marilyn Monroe, By Richard Avedon

The second chapter of Lawrence Ferrara's, "Philosophy and The Analysis of Music," looks at the tasks of defining a musical experience, in ways that I've never really thought would be positive in understanding the meaning of an artistic work.

The chapter begins by discussing what successful musical analysis methods have in common: defining what tasks they plan to use in discovering meaning. Hans-Georg Gadamer is introduced because of his idea of pre-understanding. "Prejudice" Gadamer describes, can be a positive tool to understanding art. Ferrara writes, "Understanding is a fundamental way in which man engages and exists in the world. Prejudice impacts on understanding because as a historical being, man can only understand the standpoint of his time and cultural place" (p.34).

An interesting point about prejudice is that the composer's view point, can inform and provide insight to the meaning of their work but a person's fresh insight of the object under analysis can be helpful-- the balance of view points is crucial.

Also introduced is the impact of music on the listener, "Transforming the music object into an aesthetic object" (p.36). Further differentiating the difference between an aesthetic object and art objects, Ferrara uses the analogy of art as a financial investment versus art as viewed through a guest viewer's eyes. Art then takes on different meaning to the owner than the new house guest appreciating beauty along with the glory of having a Rembrandt in the living room.


Later, Ferrara compares "phenomenological" and "Hermeneutic approaches to understanding, describing these methods with an analogy of being x-rayed as a means to prove hermeneutic methods lack individuality and freedom, favoring phenomenological analysis because object and subject can be used to look at the nature of music as an object.

My Reaction:

Well, I felt a little bit lost as can be seen in this weeks summary. I am mostly intrigued with the ideas of subjectivity and objectivity that "To be objective means to save an object from dominance" (p.46). An idea I find to be ingrained in many of us when we analyze works of art and discuss our interpretations. But also a relief because I get very frustrated when we impose too much of ourselves on a work or try and speak for an artist. This lead me to think about the Marilyn Monroe photograph. I was able to see it in person at an exhibition in Berlin this past winter. It's probably the most beautiful photo I've ever seen because she looks so real... No more hollywood, striped of all glamour. Richard Avedon waited till just the right moment: capturing the person behind the actress. Thinking about this photograph is helping me digest the concepts in this chapter although I'm having a difficult time articulating why I think this photo is a good example of defining such tasks.



I've also been thinking about art as object this evening. I went to a few gallery openings tonight and all three galleries were packed with people drinking free wine and socializing. Very few people were actually looking at the pieces on the wall. One had to push through to even get to the pieces but it was apparent that art was the least important aspect involved in tonights openings.

Chapter 1: Referential Meaning In Music/Palindromes are Underrated

In Chapter 1 we discuss Susanne K. Langer's book, "Philosophy in a New Key," where she explores that music, like language, is a symbol system. She further explores this idea, maintaining that "meaning in music has rationality and system but cannot be evaluated or fully understood based on the rules of ordinary language" (13). Langer weaves her methods of analysis with the works of philosophers of language.

Langer goes further to dissect the concept of contrasting language types: "1). "genuine" language and 2) "non-discursive" systems, (poetry, music, ritualistic arts). Music, Langer believes, is "non-discursive" because it is a function of logic and intuition.

Langer's, Philosophy in a New Key also discusses music as a symbol system. One of the intriguing moments in Langer's analysis is her view that music captures, the "morphology" of feeling. Meaning that music can better convey feeling than language (16). For Langer, music conveys feeling better than language because feeling is a concept that functions more abstractly than language can.

The main criticism of Langer's analysis is that she never uses a theoretical musical analysis to enforce her views of referential meaning in music. For Lawrence Ferrara, the conclusive step to her theory at an extensive musical analysis. Ferrara concludes his argument, by finding that because Langer's theory lacks syntactical research, that it lacks foundation, proving Philosophy in a New Key an incomplete analysis.

My Reaction:

"Bob" By: "Weird Al" Yankovic


By: Simon Evans
James Cohan Gallery, New York, New York
February 20th, 2009