Comments on: The Embodied Will.

By: juliet

juliet — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 05:29:02 +0000

great post, but it’s time to update

By: jensuh

jensuh — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:18:33 +0000

isn’t it only natural, though? if we isolate ourselves from all environmental stimuli, well, aside from oxygen and atmosphere- and given that one is not deaf- the only thing that confirms the existence of the self aside from consciousness is that one will be able to hear tone, created by the sound of blood circulation, and rhythm- created by the sound of one’s own heartbeat. john cage once did an experiment to try to isolate all sound from his environment and found that he couldn’t because of the mere fact of his own existence and ability to hear. i suppose what i’m trying to say is that perhaps music can be considered an embodiment of will because sound is synonymous with consciousness. i mean, the way you know a newborn baby is alive is if it wails or not.
I think, certainly music is one of the easiest and most beautiful forms to express and share the existence of human consciousness- simply because whether or not we are paying attention- our mere existence introduces us to tone and rhythm and we are all familiar with it insofar as we are not deaf. I would not say the same about color because I feel it’s a little more subjective and its phenomena cannot be measured physically- color is an interpretation of light energy by the human brain, but you can measure sonic waves and it correlates with what we hear. And we can close our eyes but not our ears.
and what about the musicality of language and human utterances themselves? human speech is also compressed air, manipulated by the diaphragm and vocal flaps. Isn’t the development of speech amazing in itself? And I definitely agree that the dependence on speech to actually mean something is abused and renders it artless/expressionless at times.
In the end though, I’m pretty sure we mean the same thing- music is absolutely spiritual and totally freaken awesome and reflects on the human need to process and create. as usual, total gratitude for sharing such wonderful thoughts!

and crap- the rendition of that ancient flute sounds like old korean music! yay the five note scale!

By: giles

giles — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:16:14 +0000

“Personally, music profoundly embodies the human will more so than other art forms…”

I disagree. Not because I want to be an ass, I just happen to.

I think music is capable of immediately affecting people in a deep way than probably any other artform, but then I don’t think that’s a sign that it’s the best or truest representation of the human will. Over the course of human history, armies have been led into battle by bands and orchestras, not dancers or painters or poets.

I have to leave for work now. Talk later…

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:39:59 +0000

awesome.

“Personally, music profoundly embodies the human will more so than other art forms…”

I don’t know if I’ve ever agreed with you more than on this singular paragraph.

By: sam

sam — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:03:29 +0000

Beautiful Nietzsche passage. Good words.

By: advid nosh

advid nosh — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:34:56 +0000

“to disclose to us its most secret meaning and appears as the most accurate and distinct commentary upon it”

By: Anthony

Anthony — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:45:48 +0000

I love this