The book is philosophically rich, engaging, and loaded with illuminating examples. It is worthy of sustained scholarly attention, but also accessible enough for a general audience. It would be an excellent book to adopt in any undergraduate course (at any level) on aesthetics and the philosophy of art, or in any introductory philosophy course with units on those topics...
Micah Tillman is a Core Division instructor at Stanford Online High School, teaching philosophy of science courses to 9th and 10th graders. He is also the creator and host of the Top 40 Philosophy podcast, and I spoke with Micah about it here.
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The intro to each episode is scripted. In it, I introduce myself and the podcast by saying one thing that is true, and then two or more silly things that are false. I often use the silly things as hints about what philosophical theme the episode will explore, since the title of each episode is just the song or songs to be discussed.
To decide on the songs, I started with Billboard. They have lists of the top songs of the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, as well as lists of the top songs in the histories of their alternative, rap, and country charts. I then picked the songs I liked best from each of those lists, and mixed them together, trying to keep the genres rotating relatively regularly.
And, of course, I want to keep finding the time to put out new episodes. There are so many great songs just waiting to be explored that we have enough material to keep us occupied for a few centuries at least.
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What attracts me to stoicism is that it is a practical philosophy applicable to my daily life. Much of it seems common sense but it is still instructive for me to read thoughts of men, who a couple of thousand years ago, seemed to grapple with their own set of problems. However, unlike me, they led examined lives and gave their problems a lot of thought, and came up with suggestions and solutions which make sense to me.
Also, the songs chosen for this blog are from 1950 to 1970. My knowledge of (and interest in) Hindi songs drops off precipitously after the mid-1980s. In my biased opinion, the overall quality of Hindi music also dropped steeply after this period, so my loss has not been great. While mentioning the songs, I have focussed on the lyricists and not mentioned the composer or singers. A song is a collaboration of all these individuals as well as the musicians but for the purpose of this blog, the lyrics are important and sufficient to convey the meaning.
The poet makes the point that just as we cannot control natural phenomena and other externals, we cannot control the affections of another. We can give them our love and we can desire them but they are free to reciprocate or not. I can try to make this blog as interesting (in my opinion) as possible but you the reader can choose to read it or not. That is outside my control. Stoics also make the point that we must act with the best intentions and put in our best effort but we should keep in mind that the results are outside our control and that we should not attach desire to the results. You might notice a similarity to one of the best-known verses from the Bhagavad-Gita
Accepting our fate requires courage. Courage to deal with unpleasant events and people. So should we just resign to our fate and not try to change? No, we should try to change our circumstances, keeping in mind what is under our control and by observing the virtues. If we can figure out what is outside our control, accept fate and mitigate worries to the best of our ability, it will lead us to live a reasonably peaceful life, one which is consonant with nature.
Micah Tillman teaches at McDaniel College and University of Maryland, College Park. He specializes in phenomenology, with publications on the nature of linguistic and mathematical signs, as well as priority theory. For more philosophy about popular music, read his blog and follow him on Twitter.
Edit: After a semester of thinking about music, I am still unsure as to what constitutes "good" or "bad" music. I am also still inclined to think about it teleologically. Our discussion on profundity seemed to me to be very similar to our discussion on good and bad music. Perhaps we are simply stating preferences... perhaps we are muddling our terms... perhaps there is an objective "good" for music. Although I don't have any new answers, I have added a few more "good" pieces for you all to enjoy.
I originally thought "oh good! choosing a bad piece will be so simple! there is so much bad music out there!", but the task of actually sitting down and finding one was rather difficult. As it turns out, I have either seriously over-estimated the amount of awful music or I have had to repress the horrible "pieces" I have heard.
But this piece- "Ade! Ich Muss Nun Gehen", by Friedrich Nietzsche- sprang to mind. On the surface, there isn't much to point to as to what makes the piece bad. Nothing sticks out as horribly offensive: no poorly-handled dissonances, no random fragments of melody, and no awkward rhythms. A casual listen-through might even spare the song some dignity. But something about the song is... annoying. While trying to put together my thoughts, I listened to the song on loop and wanted to pull my hair out. Nothing breaks any "rules", the form is predictable... too predictable. As Levitin points out, there is a sweet spot between too simple and too difficult. This song is much, much to simple. There is nothing surprising and unexpected to catch the listener and draw them in.
And there is also something vaguely comical about it. For example, the thumping, plodding descending bass line at around 11 seconds is reminiscent of a portly older man trying to make his way down the stairs- neither elegant nor subtle. The exclamation at 40 seconds makes sense musically, but seems forced.
In order to give a good piece the respect that it deserves, I chose a rather short piece, the Prologue from the Prophetiae Sibyllarum, by Orlando di Lasso, to play in class. This piece, unlike the last, seems to ignore a lot of rules- like, for instance, general tonality (his works were pre-tonal, but I speak of the "rules" of our modern, tonal ears). Yet, even in ignoring these rules, the piece presents a delightful challenge to the listener and can still sound beautiful to a less experienced music-lover. But the piece isn't just a jumble of rule-breaking tricks- it makes sense. The final cadence is wonderfully satisfying.
I am tempted to think of good and bad music teleologically. To think that music has a purpose and that any music that fails to reach that goal is "bad" and any music that succeeds is "good" (and that there are varying degrees of goodness and badness depending on how close or far it is from that goal). For instance, a chair that has no sitting surface is a bad chair. But what would such a telos be for music? The best I can think of is that the telos is to unfold an experience of the beauty and/or the sublime. But then music seems to be just a tool and then I am left unsatisfied with such an approach.
What makes a song good? Before answering this question, I believe we first must answer the question: how shall we determine the qualities that make a song good? I approach this as I would any concept. How would we determine what qualities make an object a house? We examine many objects that people call houses, determine what qualities those objects have in common, resolve contradictions, and produce an account with an eye towards keeping as much of common opinion as possible.
Second, a good song manifests human excellence. In other words, it is not the case that any ordinary person could create a song like it. Its creation required enormous skill. It impresses. It earns our admiration. The difficult that the creator traversed amazes us.
When I listen to Octandre by Edgard Varese, I want to turn it off, to flee, to never listen to it again; it annoys me because it is not pleasing, because it rejects the rules of classical music that have made songs in its style compelling to listeners for centuries, because it does not elicit an emotion that serves one of my goals. If I loved the flouting of rules in and of itself, then I might call the song good, for it would serve one of my goals. But such is not the case.
I found Sapolsky's investigation into the time windows of new taste experiences compelling. In explaining how we continue to listen to the music of our teenage years - a point also well made by Levitin - in part because we "crave familiarity" and want to maintain a sense of identity across the years. Turning this logic around, music as a means to identity preservation can also explain why some music is "bad." This is the primary reason that I have chosen Disturbed's "Down with the Sickness "( =09LTT0xwdfw) as my example of "bad music." I played football in high school, and I used the anger that fuels a lot of metal to pump me up for games. This type of music played into the aggressiveness and anger that I have since tried to separate myself from. Additionally, there are characteristics of the music itself that I could describe as "bad." It is loud and grating, repetitive, contrived, and commercially driven.
There are many reasons why I think Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" ( =tkJNyQfAprY) is an example of "good music." As an album, The Wall - sometimes considered a rock opera - is primarily Roger Water's creation, reflecting on his own life from his father's early death in WW2 and life with a single mother to the "empty spaces" and drug use brought on by fame. As such, the song is brimming with sincerity. However, I think the main reasons that I like Pink Floyd are more contingent and personal. Levitin talks about how musical taste can be a way of "externalizing the bond" of a social group. I first listened to this song when I was 12 with 3 of my best friends at a summer camp. Our counselor - your typical college stoner - played the song non-stop and we grew to love it. However, unlike "Down with the Sickness,"Pink Floyd has remained one of my personal favorites by keeping its message and emotional range in sync with my growing and changing identity. For example, I am a member of Students for Justice in Palestine and Roger Waters recently released a version of "We Shall Overcome" directed at the people of Palestine. 152ee80cbc
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