Where is a Song?
Jun 18 '04
The Bottom Line lather me up!
Hello fellow music junkies and raving rockaholics! The entity known as Fartzarellah here with another "deep and original thought." Actually, this thought is in no way original and probably not as deep as it could be, but anyway...I just finished taking a course called "Textual Criticism" where the question in my title concerning the ontology of music was addressed in great detail. As with most academic music classes, however, we talked exclusively about "serious" or "art" music, except on the rare occasion where I would bring up, who else?, Black Sabbath. Nonetheless, much of what we covered in the course applies to popular music as well. So, close your ears and let me whisper sweet nothings in your eye.
Here at Epinions, the music writers mainly review recorded documents, so the question of what exactly we are reviewing seems cut and dry. The song is right there on the album, easy as that. Problem is, it ain't that easy. Are you listening to the CD in your car? at a club? In your bedroom? Turned up to 11? In headphones? Are you making love to it? Working out? Dancing? Playing along? Eating spaghetti? In short, what function are you trying to serve by listening to the music, and does that particular music do it for you? In many cases, where and why the reviewer used the music is left to the imagination. In my mind's eye, I see the writer in an endless vacuum, viewing artistic objects that happen to float by with a "critical" glass eye. How you use the music will inevitably color not only your thinking, but also what you are reviewing. Back when I wrote reviews (may again some day), the normal environment was by myself, listening in my bedroom, but I don't think I ever mentioned that. Kind of important.
Also important, as John Shepherd rightly points out, is that music is a "social text." It is ultimately derived from society and society is derived from it. A review is in reality an extension of that text (to those who know about the review.) Ahhhh! I'm getting ahead of myself! But anyway, in writing a review, you change others's conception of that music and thusly, in essence, the music ITSELF! Pretty nifty!
I guess that the best answer to "where is a song" is "in your head" but that doesn't quite cut it either, as it views the head as an immutable object that can be filled up with things. Every review you write, every time you listen, you are stepping into a different river, in fact, YOU are a different river, or something like that. If I were to rewrite all of my reviews, many of the ratings would change and if I were to write them again...and so on. There is no such thing as a "definitive" review and there are no hard and fast objective rules to write reviews by. Every piece of writing about a text is intricately tied to the place and time in which it was written (and it also intricately changes the nature of that time and place...what is text? what is context? Yadda, Yadda.)
Oh No! What to do? What to do?
Nothing really, calm down already, jeez! I say be as specific as possible about who you are (or how you see yourself) and how you use the recording. Like I said, nothing much original here,and a bit scattered to boot, but it sure was fun to write!
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Epinions.com ID:
fartzarellah
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Member: Tomatzio
Location: Ol Virginny
Reviews written: 91
Trusted by: 53 members
About Me:
He always walks with his hands in time.
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