The aesthetic response to music is the purest and highest kind of musical appreciation, In aesthetic listening the subject is absorbed in the music aesthetic enjoyment enriches the life and the capacity to experience of the individual . The qua. music, identifying himself with the developing system of musical relationships, 3 . Musical absorption tends to inhibit extra-musical experience. 4 Absorption or self-individuation in the music depends on the degree to which the musical system is grasped and followed. 5 Thus aesthetic listening has an intellectual basis. The subject grasps. follows and understands the relationships as regards pitch , rhythm amd the dynamic qualities . He may know these only intuitively, 6 , Progress from the lower levels of musical experience to the highest depends on the subject's musical recep tivity and t a s t e , and on how far these have been developed by training and/or experience, 7 Musical meaning is only definable in musical terms; and can only be understood by the subject who grasps the music as an organic whole. 6 , The associative features of music cannot be e ntirely discounted in musical listening . At the highest level t h e ir effect is at a minimum. 9 , The emotional element in aesthetic listening is bound up with the intellectual grasp of the musical system. Extramusical emotion may be aroused by extra-musical factors, either objectively present (e.g. a programme) or subjectively supplied. In aesthetic absorption such emotion, tends to be inhibited,, 10 Aesthetic emotion results from the subjective apprehension of a unique and significant musical whole, possessing beauty and value in the light of the subject's musical background, 11 , Aesthetic listening has no practical value, but conation enters the experience. Underlying interest in the music for itself is a certain exaltation due to self individuation, the power to predict, and the unconscious feeling of creator-ship,
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:578083 |
Date | January 1936 |
Creators | Robertson, C. E. |
Publisher | Durham University |
Source Sets | Ethos UK |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
Source | http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/8347/ |
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