The Imagination of Experiences: Musical Invention, Collaboration, and the Making of Meanings

Description

Aimed at lay, student, and academic readers alike, this book concerns the imagination and, specifically, imagination in music. It opens with a discussion of the invalidity of the idea of the creative genius and the connected view that ideas originate just in the individual mind. An alternative view of the imaginative process is then presented, that ideas spring from a subconscious dialogue activated by engagement in the world around. Ideas are therefore never just of our own making. This view is supported by evidence from many studies and corresponds with descriptions by artists of their experience of imagining. The third subject is how imaginations can be shared when musicians work with other artists, and the way the constraints imposed by trying to share subconscious imagining result in clearly distinct forms of joint working. The final chapter covers the use of the musical imagination in making meanings from music. The evidence is that music does not communicate meanings directly, and so composers or performers cannot be looked to as authorities on its meaning. Instead, music is commonly heard as analogous to human experience, and listeners who perceive such analogies may then imagine their own meanings from the music. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of contents Acknowledgements Introduction The subjects covered in the book How the subjects are tackled Note References 1 The redundant genius, who won’t lie down and die Introduction The last refuge of the scoundrel genius The work of composition Distributed musical creativity Bach didn’t write musical works History Performance Why the scoundrel won’t just lie down and die Ideology Mental processes Conclusion Notes References 2 The musical imagination as dialogue Introduction Part 1: Theory Complexity and dialogue Environmental engagement and imaginative learning The subconscious dialogue Implications of this view Part 2: Accounts by composers (and others) Two features of the imagination Two distinct imaginative activities Conclusion Note References 3 Sharing imaginations Introduction The misuse of the term ‘collaboration’ As a synonym for ‘influenced by’ As a synonym for ‘working together’ Suggestions for better definitions Going back to first principles – four types of working relationships Are there intermediate types of working? Performers Choreographers Implications The experience of different types of working The need for a language of communication Conclusion Notes References 4 Making musical meanings: The imaginative listener Introduction Part 1: The sources of meaning in music Author or authority? Opposition and qualifications Listener meaning making Part 2: How the sense of musical meaning may arise Music perception and cognition Embodied cognition and analogies. Mirrors in the mind? Music of the hemispheres A view of meaning making from music Conclusion Notes References A final word References Index