Friday, April 10, 2009

www.musikvidenskab.dk

My master thesis is done, passed and I have graduated from University. So I have chosen to discontinue this blog, and start a new one in Danish at http://www.musikvidenskab.dk/.

My new blog will contain some posts about my research, but also information about musicology in general, resources that I recommend, and some tips that helped me through University.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

My master thesis

Actually I managed to complete my master thesis in about a year ago, and soon forgot all about this blog. But everything turned out okay, and a got a lot of good response for my work.

The entire text can be downloaded here:

Lakoff og Johnsons metaforteori og musikalsk terminologi

En undersøgelse af forholdet mellem sprog og oplevelse i forbindelse med beskrivelsen og analysen af det klassisk/romantiske repertoire

Download (Word, 1043 kbytes, 103 pages)

English summary

George Lakoff and Mark Johnsons cognitive semantic theory of conceptual metaphors states that all human understanding and perception are embodied. This means that every human concept, from our basic everyday concepts to the most elaborate philosophical theories is understood through basic bodily experiences called image schemas.

This thesis addresses this idea in relation to musical concepts - the words we use to describe musical phenomena. The thesis explores the ways in which these musical concepts, and their image schematic foundation, relate to the experience of musical phenomena themselves.

This is done though the reading of two articles by Janna Saslaw and Candace Brower respectively, articles that, in two different ways, examine the ways in which musical concepts can be understood as based on bodily experiences.

Both of these articles are shown to be based on a model that closely correlates the concept with the experiences itself. This model is derived from Lakoff and Johnson’s analysis of everyday language. Lakoff and Johnson show that everyday language is understood via a number of conventional conceptual metaphors that we, to a large extent, to quote the title of Lakoff and Johnson’s now famous book, live by. This means that in everyday language there are indeed a rather good correlation between concepts and experiences.

But musical concepts are not necessary everyday language. In fact a large number of musical concepts originate in rather advanced theoretical backgrounds and/or from situations were music is produced - not merely listened to. This means that musical concepts and their metaphorical foundations are not only related to the experience of music but also to thoughts and ideas about the nature of music experience and music production. This thesis suggests that these tenets are included in the analysis of musical concepts metaphorical and bodily foundations - and expands the model suggested by Saslaw and Brower accordingly. It also concludes that the musical concepts investigated by Saslaw and Brower are indeed partly production oriented and prescriptive (that is concerned with how music should be experienced rather than concerned with how music actually is experienced).

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Some articles

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Conceptual metaphor in romantic piano music

Small paper about the analysis of the song-like character in romantic piano music using metaphor and conceptual integration. In danish.

Download (Word, 165 kbytes, 31 pages)

Resumé:

Lakoff og Johnsons metaforteori beskriver hvordan mennesker strukturerer deres tilværelse i konceptuelle domæner. Disse domæner er struktureret omkring prototypiske oplevelser, og forstås gennem en proces kaldet metaforiske mapping. I en sådan proces forstås et ukendt konceptuel domæne gennem overførelse af struktur fra et kendt domæne. En sådan sammenhæng mellem to konceptuelle domæner kaldes en konceptuel metafor. Gennem vores sprogbrug kan vi se hvilke konceptuelle metaforer vi benytter, men metaforerne styrer også vores ikke-sproglige omgang med verden. Konceptuelle metaforer er grundlæggende kropsligt funderede, men mange af de metaforer som vi omgiver os med i det daglige er i ligeså høj grad konventionelle.

I musikvidenskaben benyttes metaforteorien dels til at beskrive musikvidenskabelige teoridannelser som udtryk for en bagvedliggende metafor. Men da metaforteorien ikke skelner skarpt mellem oplevelse og sproglig konceptualisering siger teorierne også noget om hvordan vi oplever musik. Således bruger f.eks. Zbikowski ikke alene metaforteori som en metateori om musikvidenskabelige teorier, men også som til perceptionsanalyse. Zbikowski benytter primært de såkaldte konceptuelle blandinger til at forstå lyttesituationen. Således danner musikken en række mentale rum som lytteren samler i et blandingsrum. Musik forstås altså gennem en syntese af dets dele, en syntese som lytteren fortager sig.

For at forstå de to analyserede lyriske klaverstykker anvendes en konceptuel metafor og to konceptuelle blandinger. For det første foreslås en kropslig funderet metaforisk strukturering af tonerummet som et rum hvori flere forskellige lag kan interagere. Dernæst foreslås at klaverets melodistemme (under givne korrespondancer) kan forstås som en konceptuel blanding mellem melodierne og et mere eller mindre specifikt sangidiom. Dermed personificeres melodierne som udtryk for en romantisk stræben efter det subjektive, det karakteristiske – eller i de to analyser, hvor ligheden til børnesangen ’trækker’ betydning fra børneuniverset ind i kunstmusikken. Disse blandingsrum bliver udgangspunkt for en ny konceptuel blanding, nemlig mellem melodierne og resten af satsen.

Some literature

Aksnes, Hallgjerd (2001): Music and Its Resonating Body. Dansk Årbog for Musikforskning, vol. XXIX, s. 81-101.

Cook, Nicholas (1990): Music, Imagination and Culture, Oxford University Press.

Johnson, Mark (1997-98): Embodied Musical Meaning, Theory and Practice 22-23.

Kühl, Ole (2003): Improvisation og tanke. København, Basilisk.

Lakoff, George & Johnson, Mark (1980): Metaphors We Live By. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press.

Michelsen, Morten (1997): Sprog og lyd i analysen af rockmusik. Ph.d.-projekt, Københavns Universitet.

Meyer, Leonard B. (1956): Emotion and Meaning in Music. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press.

Rosch, Eleanor (1975): Universals and Cultural Specifics in Human Categorization. Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Learning 177-206, Sage Publications, Inc.

Scruton, Roger (1997): The Aesthetics of Music, Clarendon Press

Turner, Mark & Fauconnier, Gilles (2002): The Way We Think, Basic Books.

Zbikowski, Lawrence M. (1997-1998): Des Herzraums Abschied: Mark Johnson's Theory of Embodied Knowledge and Music Theory. Theory and Practice 22-23.

Zbikowski, Lawrence M. (2002): Conceptualizing Music Cognitive Structure, Theory, and Analysis, Oxford University Press.

Velkommen til min blog!

I denne blog er det muligt at følge arbejdet med mit speciale (Musikvidenskabeligt Institut, Københavns Universitet) om brugen af kognitiv semantiks teori i analyse og fortolkning af klassisk romantiske orkestermusik.

Min interesse samler sig i første omgang om to teorier om betydningsdannelse, Fauconnier og Turners teori om conceptual integration og Lakoff og Johnson teori om conceptual metaphors. Disse to teorier er igennem de sidste 15 år blevet inddraget i musikanalytisk teori og perceptionsanalyse. Dette sker dels som en beskrivelse af musikanalytisk teori som en metaforisk forståelse af musikoplevelse, men også som en mere direkte beskrivelse af selve musikoplevelsen som metaforisk.