Robert Spano on the fugue

In this class clip from MUS 470 (Harmonic Experience: Metaphysics and Music), Robert Spano talks about the structure of the fugue and demonstrates some of its fine points at the piano. Maestro Spano, music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, is also the Emory University Distinguished Artist in Residence. For more details on the Emory music class, see the blog at http://blogs.emory.edu/harmonicexperience

http://www.robertspanomusic.com/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• class11
• vid3rev2

[DonVueltaMorales]

RS doesn't introduce terminology in order. He can't help but run ahead of himself. He throws around undefined terms, the mark of an inexperienced teacher who knows too much. He's so excited about Bach, he can't control the flow of trivia. He speaks nonsense, viz. "Martin Luther had a lot of hymn tunes." He expects too much of this class. It's an illogical, romantic approach to music. He needs to write down his terms in order of presentation. Thinking on the fly. Your poor EU students! What crap!

[bahramf]

@JDMusicTuition That's a contentious claim when it comes to Pythagoras. We don't really know what the greeks listened to. Also, the claim that learning music helps us know music better or that sort of learning transfers to other areas of study is not controversial. Whether we actually learn something about history, religion, philosophy, etc. from music is the controversial claim which cognitivists (like you) have to affirm.

If you're not a cognitivist, then gtfo b/c that's the debate.

[bahramf]

@JDMusicTuition Cognitivism is the view that we can learn from X art form.  How is that positivist? It's one of the biggest topics in the philosophy of music.

[JDMusicTuition]

@bahramf "Get it???"

Yes I do get.

You are now frantically trying to change the topic to something else you clearly know nothing about to av oid looking like an idiot in this topic you know nothing about. Why are you yacking on about cognitivism? I said quite clearly that I am not interested in positivist arguments that go nowhere.

Or are you on about trying to inject ethics into everything again?

[JDMusicTuition]

@bahramf Yes, but that is not the claim I was addressing, I was addressing the claim that there was no value to studying music.

The claim that you cannot learn anything by studying is a bit bizarre, frankly, because the origin of Western philosophy is traditionally linked to Pythagoras' discovery of the harmonic series.

You obviously can't learn anything from anything by passive non-engagement.

[bahramf]

@DarkwingScooter HOW do you study and learn from the music itself? You can study it and it will help you with studying anything else. This doesn't mean the music has cognitive value. Do you even know what the cognitivist position is?

I really don't believe you're a grad student. If so, it must be at some horrible University. No grad student I know thinks 9/11 was a conspiracy or that music has cognitive value based on it helping students with their math tests.

[bahramf]

@DarkwingScooter No, my claim is true. Because people don't learn from the music. You might sleep 8 hours and learn better the next day, this doesn't mean you learned anything from sleeping.

Get it???

[DarkwingScooter]

@bahramf "The positive claim was that people learn from literature, not that reading helps them in other school subjects"

Yes... and your claim was that people do not learn from music, something which is obviously and demonstrably false.

You study and learn from music itself too, just because music benefits other learning doesn't not mean you don't learn from music separately and severally.

In fact the dominant mode of music education is of the absolute kind.

[bahramf]

@DarkwingScooter You're one of those 9/11 trufers??? This conversation is over. You're a moron.

[bahramf]

@DarkwingScooter The positive claim was that people learn from literature, not that reading helps them in other school subjects. So, it doesn't falsify the claim at all.

Literature itself is something to study and learn from even if it doesn't impact other academic subjects. Music is not like this b/c you literally have to point to success in other subjects (as you did) to show that learning it has any cognitive value at all.