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The Aesthetics of Music and Sound

Cross-Disciplinary Interplay between the Humanities, Technology and Musical Practice

 

 

2014

For 2013, please see HERE;

For 2012, please see HERE;

For 2011, please see HERE;

For 2010, please see HERE;

For 2009, please see HERE; site construction began June 2, 2009.

 

 

 

From "News"; archived 25-02-2015

 

December 6:

 

Seminar: Vitus Vestergaard (in person), PhD, Assistant Professor of Media Studies, Institute for the Study of Culture, University of Southern Denmark; Christophe Szpajdel (via Skype), internationally renowned Belgian logo artist. Sound and Symbol: Making Sense of Metal Band Logos.Thursday, December 11, 3:15 p.m. - 5 p.m. in U67, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M. Audience participation via Skype is also welcome. Poster for the seminar available HERE. This is the twelfth and final seminar during the fall of 2014 in the series Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound. The schedule for all seminars during the fall 2014 semester may be found HERE. The schedule for all seminars during the spring 2015 semester may be found HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

November 29:

 

Seminar: Jacob Rendtorff, Dr. scient. adm. (doctor scientarium administrationis), Ph.D, Mag. art. & Diplom Pol. Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Business and Information, Technologies, Roskilde University.Existence and Music: From Nietzsche and Wagner to Sartre and Jazz. Thursday, December 4, 3:15 p.m. - 5 p.m. in U67, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M. Audience participation via Skype is also welcome. Poster for the seminar available HERE. This is the eleventh seminar during the fall of 2014 in the series Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound. The schedule for all seminars during the semester may be found HERE.

 

 

 

November 22:

 

Seminar: Johnny Harboe, M.A. in comparative literature from The University of Southern Denmark. Fluctuating Heterotopias – An Ocean View on Modern  Metal   Music. Thursday, November 27, 3:15 p.m. - 5 p.m. in U67, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M. Audience participation via Skype is also welcome. Poster for the seminar available HERE. This is the tenth seminar during the fall of 2014 in the series Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound. The schedule for all seminars during the semester may be found HERE.

 

 

November 16:

 

Seminar:  Marianne Børch, dr.phil., Professor. University of Southern Denmark, Institute for the Study of Culture - English. Musical Cosmology. Thursday, November 20, 3:15 p.m. - 5 p.m. in U67, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M. Audience participation via Skype is also welcome. Poster for the seminar available HERE. This is the ninth seminar during the fall of 2014 in the series Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound. The schedule for all seminars during the semester may be found HERE.

 

 

 

KAMMERMUSIKFESTIVAL - LUNCHTIME CONCERT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014

First concert in the 2014 Chamber Music Festival with students from the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, Southern Denmark (Syddansk Musikkonservatorium og Skuespillerskole-SMKS) Thursday, November 20, 12 noon - 1 p.m. on the Campus Square, University of Southern Denmark at Odense For more information, please see HERE.

 

 

November 10:

 

Seminar: William Westney, Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of Piano, Browning Artist-in-Residence School of Music, Texas Tech University.  Franz Liszt and Metal Music - an Aesthetic Affinity? Thursday, November 13, 3:15 p.m. - 5 p.m. in U67, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M. Audience participation via Skype is also welcome. Poster for the seminar available HERE. This is the eighth seminar during the fall of 2014 in the series Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound. The schedule for all seminars during the semester may be found HERE.

 

 

LUNCHTIME CONCERT with William Westney, piano. Haydn, Mendelssohn, Schumann og Kapustin.    THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014 12 noon - 1 p.m. in THE WINTER GARDEN.  Concert poster available HERE as pdf-file.   Concert program with notes available HERE as pdf-file. Facebook event page available HERE. 

 

 

 

Seminar - Viewing Piano-playing Avatars in an fMRI-Scanner: What Motion Capture and Brain Scans Reveal about (1) the Effects that Intentions Can Have on the Way Pianists Perform and (2) Audience Perception of these Performances - in Aarhus on November 12 - at Aarhus University, Center of Functionally Integrated Neuroscience, Music in the Brain with William Westney and Cynthia M. Grund; see HERE.

 

 

November 4: Mogens Davidsen, PhD, Associate Professor, Institute for the Study of Culture, University of Southern Denmark. Seminar: Serial Poetry and Music. Thursday, November 6, 3:15 p.m. - 5 p.m. in U67, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M. Audience participation via Skype is also welcome. Poster for the seminar available HERE. This is the seventh seminar during the fall of 2014 in the series Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound. The schedule for all seminars during the semester may be found HERE.

 

 

 

October 24: Week 42 (October 13-19) was fall break at universities here in Denmark. . . . and now we are heading into the second half of the fall semester. Due to conferences and other activity the seminar series Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound and the Lunchtime Concert Series will be taking a pause until primo November. Much else is happening, however:

 

Conference -

Thursday, October 29-Saturday, November 1

 

If you are in San Antonio, Texas,  October 30, you are welcome to attend when William Westney and Cynthia M. Grund present Of Avatars, Musical Embodiment and Perception at

 

 

American Society for Aesthetics Annual Meeting - San Antonio, Texas - Hotel Contessa.  For the complete program, please see HERE.

 

Conference -

Thursday, October 30, 2014, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. in U77

 

 

Representaciones de la guerra
Diarios de vida, Biografías, Literatura, Películas

Organized by Claudio Cifuentes-Aldunate under the sponsorship of the Department for the Study of Culture and the Department of Language and Communication.Poster available for download HERE.

 

Radio Interview

 

 

Wednesday, October 29, 2014 -Abigail Arroyos'  radio interview with William Westney and Cynthia M. Grund airs on National Public Radio, KTTZ 89.1 FM: Inside Texas Tech: Research Bringing Music, Philosophy, Body Movement Together. Listen to the interview HERE.

 

*****

 

 

 

October 3: Lunchtime Concert with Louise Nordstrøm,  Thursday, October 9, 12 noon -1 p.m. in The Winter Garden, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M. Please see HERE for details.

 

 

 

 

The concert will be followed by a seminar with Theo van Leeuwen, Professor of Multimodal Communication at the University of Southern Denmark and Emeritus Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney  - Vox Humana - Thursday,  October 9, 4:15 p.m. - 6 p.m. in in U67, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M.  PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE IN TIME TO ONE HOUR LATER. THIS IS DUE TO THE ANNUAL UNIVERSITY-WIDE HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN ACADEMY LECTURE BEING HELD AT 3:00 p.m.in U45: WIZARDRY WITH LIGHT WITH PROFESSOR LENE VESTERGAARD HAU. Audience participation via Skype is also welcome. Poster for the seminar available HERE. The schedule for all  seminars during the semester may be found HERE.

 

 

 

September 27: Seminar with Cynthia M. Grund (in person), Associate Professor of Philosophy, Institute for the Study of Culture, SDU, and William Westney (via Skype), Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of Piano, Browning Artist-in-Resid​ence School of Music, Texas Tech University:  What Avatars and Brain Scans Reveal about the Effects that  Intentions Can Have on the Way a Performer Plays. Thursday, October 2, 3:15 p.m. - 5 p.m. in in U67, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M. Audience participation via Skype is also welcome. Poster for the seminar available HERE. The schedule for all  seminars during the semester may be found HERE.

 

 

September 19: Lunchtime Concert with Per Aage Brandt, jazz pianist,Thursday, September 25, 12 noon -1 p.m. in The Winter Garden, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M. Program HERE; poster HERE.   followed by a seminar, also with 

 

 

Per Aage Brandt, Professor Adj. in Cognitive Science at Case Western Reserve University. Founder of the journal Cognitive Semiotics: What Chords Are Doing: On Tonality in Jazz Improvisation and in Tonal Music in General. From Schonberg to Bill Evans. Thursday, September 25, 3:15 p.m. - 5 p.m. in in U67, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M. Audience participation via Skype is also welcome. Poster for the seminar available HERE. The schedule for all  seminars during the semester may be found HERE.

 

 

 

eptember 14: Lunchtime Concert with Sofie KØ, alternative poprock, with August Korsgaard at the piano and Laurits Brinkmann on bass.  Thursday, September 18, 12 noon -1 p.m. in The Winter Garden, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M.

 

 

 

The concert will be followed by a seminar with Coen Elemans, PhD, Associate  Professor, Institute of Biology, University of Southern Denmark - The Real "All-singing, All-dancing" Thing: Sound Production and Communication in Songbirds - Thursday, September 18

8, 3:15 p.m. - 5 p.m. in in U67, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M. Audience participation via Skype is also welcome. Poster for the seminar available HERE. The schedule for all  seminars during the semester may be found HERE.

 

 

 

 

September 7: Seminar with Jakob Christensen Dalsgaard, PhD, Associate Professor, Center for Sound Communication, Institute of Biology, University of Southern Denmark - What Did the World Sound Like to the Dinosaurs?Thursday, September 11, 3:15 p.m. - 5 p.m. in in U67, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M. Audience participation via Skype is also welcome. Poster for the seminar available HERE. The schedule for all  seminars during the semester may be found HERE. . .

 

 

 

. . . and the semester got off to a great start on September 4 with a Lunchtime Concert performed by Jens Jakob Kjær Hansen in The Winter Garden at SDU.Program HERE. Poster HERE. . .

 

 

 

 

. . .  the concert was followed by the first seminar in the series Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound for the fall of 2014 -
Sound as Environment: Towards an Aesthetics of Sonic Environmentality with
Ulrik Schmidt, PhD, Assistant Professor in Performance-design at Roskilde University, Denmark. Poster for the seminar available HERE. The schedule for all  seminars during the semester may be found HERE

 

 

June 17, 2014:

 

 

As observant members of our Facebook group already know, on June 11 it was announced that JMM: The Journal of Music and Meaning has had its funding from theDanish Council for Independent Research | Culture and Communication renewed for the next three years. Please see http://ufm.dk/en/research-and-innovation/funding-programmes-for-research-and-innovation/who-has-received-funding/2014/-1 under "Journals."

 

 

June 2, 2014: A visit to the archives (HERE) for The Aesthetics of Music and Sound  - Cross-Disciplinary Interplay between the Humanities, Technology and Musical Practice reveals that construction of the homepage www.soundmusicresearch.org began five years ago today on June 2, 2009.  So, a little celebration is in order!

 

As of January 1, 2014 it is also the site of the SDU-IKV Research Program The Performances of Everyday Living.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Archive

for ""Updates" and "News":

Click HERE.

 

 

(Includes the description of the SDU-IFPR research program The Aesthetics of Music and Sound which initially appeared online in Danish as Musikkens og Lydens Aestetik during the fall of 2006.)

 


 

 

From "News"; archived 15-01-2015

 

NEWS:  

Update medio December 2014 - medio January 2015

 

We hope to see you at these events!

 

 

Logo designed by Christophe Szpajdel

 

The exhibition Marks of Metal is scheduled to open at Brandts - Mediemuseet (link HERE) in Odense on January 15, 2015. Facebook event page HERE. The exhibition will feature work by internationally renowned logo artist Christophe Szpajdel, and is under the direction of Vitus Vestergaard. This is part of  Vitus' ongoing research project in our program The Performances of Everday Living entitled Investigation of Metal Music and Visuals: Logo, Cover, Brand; for background, see HERE.

 

 

A noteworthy feature of the exhibition opening on January 15 is that Copenhagen-based black metal band Solbrud (see HERE) will be performing during the evening of the opening day from 7 p.m to 9 p.m. (please see HERE for more information about the concert).

 

 

The schedule for the spring 2015 installment of the seminar series Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound - Mostly Metal is complete, and the presentation titles and abstracts of all of the 13 seminars are available HERE. As always in this series, participation via Skype is welcome. An A3-size poster that shows all presentations is available HERE as a pdf file.

 

 

Rolling updates of

The Journal of Music and Meaning

 

 

 

(Funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research - Culture and Communication (FKK).)

 

Please visit JMM: Journal of Music and Meaning (www.musicandmeaning.net) regularly. JMM is an online international double-blind peer-reviewed journal based at The Institute for the Study of Culture/Institute for Kulturvidenskaber (IKV) at SDU. Cynthia M. Grund is Editor-in-Chief and Søren R. Frimodt-Møller is Managing Editor. JMM has a large international editorial board as well as a large international corps of peer reviewers covering a wide range of disciplines. JMM utilizes a policy of rolling submission and publication. The most recent update was on December 10 - the publication of the double-blind peer-reviewed article "Buñuel’s Liebestod – Wagner’s Tristan in Luis Buñuel’s early films: Un Chien Andalou and L’Âge d’Or" by Torben Sangild.

 

 

 

A visit to Denmark on December 9 from Toni-Matti Karjalainen (Aalto U, Helsinki) provided a fine occasion for a meet-and-greet during which some members of The Performances of Everyday Living joined with some of our presenters for the spring installment of Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound - Mostly Metal for fellowship and planning of future events. Left-to-right: Toni-Matti Karjalainen, Aalto University, Helsinki; Vitus Vestergaard, The Performances of Everyday Living, SDU; Rikke Platz Cortsen, KU; Johnny Harboe, The Performances of Everyday Living, SDU; Cynthia M. Grund, The Performances of Everyday Living, SDU; Tore Tvarnø Lind, KU  and Claudio Cifuentes Aldunate, The Performances of Everyday Living, SDU.

 

 

 

. . . and herewith The Performances of Everyday Living wishes everyone the very best Greetings of the Season and a Healthful and Happy Beginning of 2015!

 

 

 

Recent events in the research program

The Performances of Everyday Living:

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, December 11, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67

 

 

Sound and Symbol: Making Sense of Metal Band Logos

 

Vitus Vestergaard (in person), PhD, Assistant Professor of Media Studies, Institute for the Study of Culture, University of Southern Denmark

 

Christophe Szpajdel (via Skype), internationally renowned Belgian logo artist

 

 

Abstract: In this presentation we will investigate one of the visual sides of music, namely heavy metal band logos.

Christophe Szpajdel is a distinguished Belgian artist best known for his enormous production of logo designs for heavy metal bands. He achieved global fame when he designed the logo for the influential Norwegian black metal band Emperor. Since then he has produced in total around 8000 unique, hand drawn logos.

     Based on his great experience and artistic interaction with the genre Christophe will present his thoughts on the history, design, style and inspiration of heavy metal band logos. This touches upon important issues such as the relationship between music, band/performer identity and visual representation.

     The seminar will begin with a short introduction by Vitus Vestergaard.

 

 

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

Poster available as pdf fileHERE.

Facebook event pageHERE.

 

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, December 4, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67 

 

 

Existence and Music: From Nietzsche and Wagner to Sartre and Jazz

 

Jacob Rendtorff, Dr. scient. adm. (doctor scientarium administrationis), Ph.D, Mag. art. & Diplom Pol. Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Business and Information, Technologies, Roskilde University

  

Abstract:What is the relation between music and philosophy in creative existentialist philosophy?
     Is music a part of philosophical expression or how can philosophy contribute to the understanding of music?

    Nietzsche was a critical philosopher and he expressed his deconstructive reading of the metaphysical tradition from Plato to Hegel. In particular he thought that the operas of Wagner served to illustrate his philosophical thinking. In the same way Sartre represented an existentialist criticism of the metaphysical tradition. For Sartre it was jazz music that was a real existentialist and critical philosophy. Sartre argued that jazz music was important to express the existentialist understanding of life. In this presentation we will discuss philosophy and music from the point of view of these different existentialist philosophies.
 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page HERE.

 

 

Thursday, November 27, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67; see HERE.

 

 

Fluctuating Heterotopias – An Ocean View on Modern Metal Music

 

Johnny Harboe is M.A. in comparative literature from The University of Southern Denmark. He is the author of six novels and has for a number of years worked as a freelance rock and metal critic for the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten. For almost 25 years he has been neck-deep in metal music.

 

Abstract: In this presentation I will attempt to show how various forms of heterotopias over the years have been expressed lyrically in metal music. Reaching from the graveyard and the autopsy room in death metal, the north and the winter in black metal, and the lunatic asylum and the prison in thrash metal, certain heterotopias seem to define specific subgenres.

     Furthermore, my hypothesis is, that the appearance of post metal in the early 2000s established the ocean as a new heterotopia in metal music – a heterotopia which can be perceived as an unfolding of the former heterotopias, not only being expressed lyrically, but also musically, creating a whole new self-reinforcing interdependence between metal music and lyrics.

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page HERE.

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

Concert, SDU-Odense

 

KAMMERMUSIKFESTIVAL - LUNCHTIME CONCERT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014

First concert in the 2014 Chamber Music Festival

with students from the

Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, Southern Denmark

(Syddansk Musikkonservatorium og Skuespillerskole-SMKS)

Thursday, November 20, 12 noon - 1 p.m. on the

Campus Square, University of Southern Denmark at Odense

For more information, please see HERE.

 

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, November 20, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67

 

Musical Cosmology

 

Marianne Børch, dr.phil., Professor. University of Southern Denmark, Institute for the Study of Culture - English.

 

Abstract: The Music of the Spheres is a well-known concept, and even after the collapse of the world picture that underpinned it, composers have continued to expound and explore the idea. The presentation will discuss the implications of the notion of the cosmos as a huge symphony, a cosmic concord rife with discordant elements held together by means of Love. Principal reference will be made to medieval and renaissance literary works (Dante, Shakespeare, Davies, Traherne); furthermore, the later collaboration between Dryden and Purcell will be used to explore an increasing alienation between word and music that starts when the spherical music becomes heuristic-symbolic rather than literal-analogous.

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page HERE.

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, November 13, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67

 

 

Franz Liszt and Metal Music - an Aesthetic Affinity?

 

 

William Westney, Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of Piano, Browning Artist-in-Residence School of Music, Texas Tech University.

 

 (in person; also Lunchtime Concert 12 noon - 1 p.m.)

 

 

Abstract: One of the refreshing aspects of this SDU seminar series is its focus on musical experience itself, which offers the possibility of exploring common ground between musical genres that are customarily considered quite distinct or even far away from each other. For many classically trained musicians like myself, the world of heavy metal, death metal, and related styles has been not only an unfamiliar and opaque one, but has even seemed somewhat deplorable in its perceived violence and commercialism. However, observing the discerning and sophisticated analysis that metal experts bring to their subject, and acknowledging the widespread popularity of metal among music lovers, my curiosity has grown. Are there affinities between metal and traditional classical music? If so, what can we learn from them?

     The presentation will trace some ways in which that affinity appears convincing, and also consider some of the differences between the genres. I will view this comparison through the prism of the unique career of virtuoso pianist/composer Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) - the so-called “first rock star of music.”  Among the questions that emerge: What are the implications of what Robert Walser calls the “fetishism of instrumental technique”? What are the links between Romanticism, rock-star charisma, and recurring themes of death? What sort of performer/audience dynamics occur in these two styles? How should pianists approach the written scores of Liszt? Does commercialism taint aesthetic worth?  
     Integrated into the lecture will be excerpts at the piano as well as sound and video clips.

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page available HERE.

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

Concert, SDU-Odense

 

LUNCHTIME CONCERT with William Westney, piano.

Haydn, Mendelssohn, Schumann og Kapustin

 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014

12 noon - 1 p.m. in THE WINTER GARDEN:

 

Concert poster available HERE as pdf-file.

Concert program with notes available HERE as pdf-file.

Facebook event page available HERE. 

 

 

 

Seminar in Aarhus

 

Viewing Piano-playing Avatars in an fMRI-Scanner: What Motion Capture and Brain Scans Reveal about (1) the Effects that Intentions Can Have on the Way Pianists Perform and (2) Audience Perception of these Performances

 

November 12 - at Aarhus University, Center of Functionally Integrated Neuroscience, Music in the Brain with William Westney and Cynthia M. Grund; see HERE

 

 

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, November 6, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67  

 

Serial Poetry and Music

 

Mogens Davidsen, PhD, Associate Professor of Literature, Institute for the Study of Culture, University of Southern Denmark.

 

Abstract: In this presentation I investigate the relations between serial music and serial poetry, understood through the notion of entropy. Entropy is a phenomenon in thermodynamics as well as in information theory (Norbert Wiener's book The Human use of Human Beings -  1950, revised 1954 -  is fundamental for the understanding of entropy - or rather "negentropy" - in information). My thesis is that with a notion of entropy in both the physical world and in the "symbolic" world of information (and art), we may have a tool for establishing a connection between the world and the arts, different from a traditional, predominantly symbolic understanding. We may even be able to formulate a theory of correlativity, which calls for a reevaluation of the mimetic paradigm of the arts. 

 

All are welcome!

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page HERE.

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome

 

From "News"; archived 12-12-2014

 

NEWS: December 6 Update

 

We hope to see you at these events!

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, December 11, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67

 

 

Sound and Symbol: Making Sense of Metal Band Logos

 

Vitus Vestergaard (in person), PhD, Assistant Professor of Media Studies, Institute for the Study of Culture, University of Southern Denmark

 

Christophe Szpajdel (via Skype), internationally renowned Belgian logo artist

 

 

Abstract: In this presentation we will investigate one of the visual sides of music, namely heavy metal band logos.

Christophe Szpajdel is a distinguished Belgian artist best known for his enormous production of logo designs for heavy metal bands. He achieved global fame when he designed the logo for the influential Norwegian black metal band Emperor. Since then he has produced in total around 8000 unique, hand drawn logos.

     Based on his great experience and artistic interaction with the genre Christophe will present his thoughts on the history, design, style and inspiration of heavy metal band logos. This touches upon important issues such as the relationship between music, band/performer identity and visual representation.

     The seminar will begin with a short introduction by Vitus Vestergaard.

 

 

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page HERE.

 

Looking ahead:

 

The schedule for the spring 2015 installment of the seminar series Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound is rapidly nearing completion, and the majority of presentation titles and abstracts - as well as the list of who is speaking when - are available HERE. As always in this series, participation via Skype is welcome.

 

Logo designed by Christophe Spzajdel

 

Please keep an eye out here for updates on the exhibition Marks of Metal, which is scheduled to open at Brandts - Mediemuseet (link HERE) in Odense on January 15, 2015. The exhibition will feature work by internationally renowned logo artist Christophe Szpajdel, and is under the direction of Vitus Vestergaard. This is part of  Vitus' ongoing research project in our program The Performances of Everday Living entitled Investigation of Metal Music and Visuals: Logo, Cover, Brand; for background, see HERE. You can hear and see more about this exhibition during the December 11 seminar with Christophe and Vitus - see link above. A noteworthy feature of the exhibition opening on January 15 is that Copenhagen-based black metal band Solbrud (see HERE) will be performing.

 

Here in November and December we are kick starting/ have kick started our subseries within Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound dealing with metal music, theory and culture with talks on November 13, November 27 and December 11. Ten of the thirteen seminars in our spring series will be dealing with metal-related topics, so, once again, please keep an eye out as more details become available HERE.

 

 

 

Recent events in the research program The Performances of Everyday Living:

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, December 4, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67 

 

 

Existence and Music: From Nietzsche and Wagner to Sartre and Jazz

 

Jacob Rendtorff, Dr. scient. adm. (doctor scientarium administrationis), Ph.D, Mag. art. & Diplom Pol. Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Business and Information, Technologies, Roskilde University

  

Abstract:What is the relation between music and philosophy in creative existentialist philosophy?
     Is music a part of philosophical expression or how can philosophy contribute to the understanding of music?

    Nietzsche was a critical philosopher and he expressed his deconstructive reading of the metaphysical tradition from Plato to Hegel. In particular he thought that the operas of Wagner served to illustrate his philosophical thinking. In the same way Sartre represented an existentialist criticism of the metaphysical tradition. For Sartre it was jazz music that was a real existentialist and critical philosophy. Sartre argued that jazz music was important to express the existentialist understanding of life. In this presentation we will discuss philosophy and music from the point of view of these different existentialist philosophies.
 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page HERE.

 

 

Thursday, November 27, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67; see HERE.

 

 

Fluctuating Heterotopias – An Ocean View on Modern Metal Music

 

Johnny Harboe is M.A. in comparative literature from The University of Southern Denmark. He is the author of six novels and has for a number of years worked as a freelance rock and metal critic for the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten. For almost 25 years he has been neck-deep in metal music.

 

Abstract: In this presentation I will attempt to show how various forms of heterotopias over the years have been expressed lyrically in metal music. Reaching from the graveyard and the autopsy room in death metal, the north and the winter in black metal, and the lunatic asylum and the prison in thrash metal, certain heterotopias seem to define specific subgenres.

     Furthermore, my hypothesis is, that the appearance of post metal in the early 2000s established the ocean as a new heterotopia in metal music – a heterotopia which can be perceived as an unfolding of the former heterotopias, not only being expressed lyrically, but also musically, creating a whole new self-reinforcing interdependence between metal music and lyrics.

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page HERE.

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

Concert, SDU-Odense

 

KAMMERMUSIKFESTIVAL - LUNCHTIME CONCERT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014

First concert in the 2014 Chamber Music Festival

with students from the

Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, Southern Denmark

(Syddansk Musikkonservatorium og Skuespillerskole-SMKS)

Thursday, November 20, 12 noon - 1 p.m. on the

Campus Square, University of Southern Denmark at Odense

For more information, please see HERE.

 

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, November 20, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67

 

Musical Cosmology

 

Marianne Børch, dr.phil., Professor. University of Southern Denmark, Institute for the Study of Culture - English.

 

Abstract: The Music of the Spheres is a well-known concept, and even after the collapse of the world picture that underpinned it, composers have continued to expound and explore the idea. The presentation will discuss the implications of the notion of the cosmos as a huge symphony, a cosmic concord rife with discordant elements held together by means of Love. Principal reference will be made to medieval and renaissance literary works (Dante, Shakespeare, Davies, Traherne); furthermore, the later collaboration between Dryden and Purcell will be used to explore an increasing alienation between word and music that starts when the spherical music becomes heuristic-symbolic rather than literal-analogous.

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page HERE.

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, November 13, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67

 

 

Franz Liszt and Metal Music - an Aesthetic Affinity?

 

 

William Westney, Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of Piano, Browning Artist-in-Residence School of Music, Texas Tech University.

 

 (in person; also Lunchtime Concert 12 noon - 1 p.m.)

 

 

Abstract: One of the refreshing aspects of this SDU seminar series is its focus on musical experience itself, which offers the possibility of exploring common ground between musical genres that are customarily considered quite distinct or even far away from each other. For many classically trained musicians like myself, the world of heavy metal, death metal, and related styles has been not only an unfamiliar and opaque one, but has even seemed somewhat deplorable in its perceived violence and commercialism. However, observing the discerning and sophisticated analysis that metal experts bring to their subject, and acknowledging the widespread popularity of metal among music lovers, my curiosity has grown. Are there affinities between metal and traditional classical music? If so, what can we learn from them?

     The presentation will trace some ways in which that affinity appears convincing, and also consider some of the differences between the genres. I will view this comparison through the prism of the unique career of virtuoso pianist/composer Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) - the so-called “first rock star of music.”  Among the questions that emerge: What are the implications of what Robert Walser calls the “fetishism of instrumental technique”? What are the links between Romanticism, rock-star charisma, and recurring themes of death? What sort of performer/audience dynamics occur in these two styles? How should pianists approach the written scores of Liszt? Does commercialism taint aesthetic worth?  
     Integrated into the lecture will be excerpts at the piano as well as sound and video clips.

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page available HERE.

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

Concert, SDU-Odense

 

LUNCHTIME CONCERT with William Westney, piano.

Haydn, Mendelssohn, Schumann og Kapustin

 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014

12 noon - 1 p.m. in THE WINTER GARDEN:

 

Concert poster available HERE as pdf-file.

Concert program with notes available HERE as pdf-file.

Facebook event page available HERE. 

 

 

 

Seminar in Aarhus

 

Viewing Piano-playing Avatars in an fMRI-Scanner: What Motion Capture and Brain Scans Reveal about (1) the Effects that Intentions Can Have on the Way Pianists Perform and (2) Audience Perception of these Performances

 

November 12 - at Aarhus University, Center of Functionally Integrated Neuroscience, Music in the Brain with William Westney and Cynthia M. Grund; see HERE

 

 

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, November 6, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67  

 

Serial Poetry and Music

 

Mogens Davidsen, PhD, Associate Professor of Literature, Institute for the Study of Culture, University of Southern Denmark.

 

Abstract: In this presentation I investigate the relations between serial music and serial poetry, understood through the notion of entropy. Entropy is a phenomenon in thermodynamics as well as in information theory (Norbert Wiener's book The Human use of Human Beings -  1950, revised 1954 -  is fundamental for the understanding of entropy - or rather "negentropy" - in information). My thesis is that with a notion of entropy in both the physical world and in the "symbolic" world of information (and art), we may have a tool for establishing a connection between the world and the arts, different from a traditional, predominantly symbolic understanding. We may even be able to formulate a theory of correlativity, which calls for a reevaluation of the mimetic paradigm of the arts. 

 

All are welcome!

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page HERE.

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome

 

From "News"; archived 07-12-2014

 

NEWS: November 29 Update

 

We hope to see you at these events!

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, December 4, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67 

 

 

Existence and Music: From Nietzsche and Wagner to Sartre and Jazz

 

Jacob Rendtorff, Dr. scient. adm. (doctor scientarium administrationis), Ph.D, Mag. art. & Diplom Pol. Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Business and Information, Technologies, Roskilde University

  

Abstract:What is the relation between music and philosophy in creative existentialist philosophy?
     Is music a part of philosophical expression or how can philosophy contribute to the understanding of music?

    Nietzsche was a critical philosopher and he expressed his deconstructive reading of the metaphysical tradition from Plato to Hegel. In particular he thought that the operas of Wagner served to illustrate his philosophical thinking. In the same way Sartre represented an existentialist criticism of the metaphysical tradition. For Sartre it was jazz music that was a real existentialist and critical philosophy. Sartre argued that jazz music was important to express the existentialist understanding of life. In this presentation we will discuss philosophy and music from the point of view of these different existentialist philosophies.
 

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page HERE.

 

 

. . . and the upcoming seminar:

 

December 11 - at SDU with Christophe Szpajdel and Vitus Vestergaard; see HERE.

 

Looking ahead:

 

The schedule for the spring 2015 installment of the seminar series Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound is rapidly nearing completion, and the list of who is speaking when is available HERE. Presentation titles and abstracts will soon be made available. As always in this series, participation via Skype is welcome.

 

Logo designed by Christophe Spzajdel

 

Please keep an eye out here for updateson the exhibition Marks of Metal, which is scheduled to open at Brandts - Mediemuseet (link HERE) in Odense on January 15, 2015. The exhibition will feature work by internationally renowned logo artist Christophe Spzajdel, and is under the direction of Vitus Vestergaard. This is part of  Vitus' ongoing research project in our program The Performances of Everday Living entitled Investigation of Metal Music and Visuals: Logo, Cover, Brand; for background, see HERE. You can hear and see more about this exhibition during the December 11 seminar with Christophe and Vitus - see link above. A noteworthy feature of the exhibition opening on January 15 is that Copenhagen-based black metal band Solbrud (see HERE) will be performing.

 

Here in November and December we are kick starting/ have kick started our subseries within Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound dealing with metal music, theory and culture with talks on November 13, November 27 and December 11. Nine of the thirteen seminars in our spring series will be dealing with metal-related topics, so, once again, please keep an eye out as more details become available HERE.

 

 

 

Recent events in the research program The Performances of Everyday Living:

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, November 27, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67; see HERE.

 

 

Fluctuating Heterotopias – An Ocean View on Modern Metal Music

 

Johnny Harboe is M.A. in comparative literature from The University of Southern Denmark. He is the author of six novels and has for a number of years worked as a freelance rock and metal critic for the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten. For almost 25 years he has been neck-deep in metal music.

 

Abstract: In this presentation I will attempt to show how various forms of heterotopias over the years have been expressed lyrically in metal music. Reaching from the graveyard and the autopsy room in death metal, the north and the winter in black metal, and the lunatic asylum and the prison in thrash metal, certain heterotopias seem to define specific subgenres.

     Furthermore, my hypothesis is, that the appearance of post metal in the early 2000s established the ocean as a new heterotopia in metal music – a heterotopia which can be perceived as an unfolding of the former heterotopias, not only being expressed lyrically, but also musically, creating a whole new self-reinforcing interdependence between metal music and lyrics.

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page HERE.

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

Concert, SDU-Odense

 

KAMMERMUSIKFESTIVAL - LUNCHTIME CONCERT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014

First concert in the 2014 Chamber Music Festival

with students from the

Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, Southern Denmark

(Syddansk Musikkonservatorium og Skuespillerskole-SMKS)

Thursday, November 20, 12 noon - 1 p.m. on the

Campus Square, University of Southern Denmark at Odense

For more information, please see HERE.

 

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, November 20, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67

 

Musical Cosmology

 

Marianne Børch, dr.phil., Professor. University of Southern Denmark, Institute for the Study of Culture - English.

 

Abstract: The Music of the Spheres is a well-known concept, and even after the collapse of the world picture that underpinned it, composers have continued to expound and explore the idea. The presentation will discuss the implications of the notion of the cosmos as a huge symphony, a cosmic concord rife with discordant elements held together by means of Love. Principal reference will be made to medieval and renaissance literary works (Dante, Shakespeare, Davies, Traherne); furthermore, the later collaboration between Dryden and Purcell will be used to explore an increasing alienation between word and music that starts when the spherical music becomes heuristic-symbolic rather than literal-analogous.

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page HERE.

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

 

 

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, November 13, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67

 

 

Franz Liszt and Metal Music - an Aesthetic Affinity?

 

 

William Westney, Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of Piano, Browning Artist-in-Residence School of Music, Texas Tech University.

 

 (in person; also Lunchtime Concert 12 noon - 1 p.m.)

 

 

Abstract: One of the refreshing aspects of this SDU seminar series is its focus on musical experience itself, which offers the possibility of exploring common ground between musical genres that are customarily considered quite distinct or even far away from each other. For many classically trained musicians like myself, the world of heavy metal, death metal, and related styles has been not only an unfamiliar and opaque one, but has even seemed somewhat deplorable in its perceived violence and commercialism. However, observing the discerning and sophisticated analysis that metal experts bring to their subject, and acknowledging the widespread popularity of metal among music lovers, my curiosity has grown. Are there affinities between metal and traditional classical music? If so, what can we learn from them?

     The presentation will trace some ways in which that affinity appears convincing, and also consider some of the differences between the genres. I will view this comparison through the prism of the unique career of virtuoso pianist/composer Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) - the so-called “first rock star of music.”  Among the questions that emerge: What are the implications of what Robert Walser calls the “fetishism of instrumental technique”? What are the links between Romanticism, rock-star charisma, and recurring themes of death? What sort of performer/audience dynamics occur in these two styles? How should pianists approach the written scores of Liszt? Does commercialism taint aesthetic worth?  
     Integrated into the lecture will be excerpts at the piano as well as sound and video clips.

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

 

Facebook event page available HERE.

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

Concert, SDU-Odense

 

LUNCHTIME CONCERT with William Westney, piano.

Haydn, Mendelssohn, Schumann og Kapustin

 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2014

12 noon - 1 p.m. in THE WINTER GARDEN:

 

Concert poster available HERE as pdf-file.

Concert program with notes available HERE as pdf-file.

Facebook event page available HERE. 

 

 

 

Seminar in Aarhus

 

Viewing Piano-playing Avatars in an fMRI-Scanner: What Motion Capture and Brain Scans Reveal about (1) the Effects that Intentions Can Have on the Way Pianists Perform and (2) Audience Perception of these Performances

 

November 12 - at Aarhus University, Center of Functionally Integrated Neuroscience, Music in the Brain with William Westney and Cynthia M. Grund; see HERE

 

 

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, November 6, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67  

 

Serial Poetry and Music

 

Mogens Davidsen, PhD, Associate Professor of Literature, Institute for the Study of Culture, University of Southern Denmark.

 

Abstract: In this presentation I investigate the relations between serial music and serial poetry, understood through the notion of entropy. Entropy is a phenomenon in thermodynamics as well as in information theory (Norbert Wiener's book The Human use of Human Beings -  1950, revised 1954 -  is fundamental for the understanding of entropy - or rather "negentropy" - in information). My thesis is that with a notion of entropy in both the physical world and in the "symbolic" world of information (and art), we may have a tool for establishing a connection between the world and the arts, different from a traditional, predominantly symbolic understanding. We may even be able to formulate a theory of correlativity, which calls for a reevaluation of the mimetic paradigm of the arts. 

 

All are welcome!

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page HERE.

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome

 

From "News"; archived 29-11-2014

 

NEWS: November 22 Update

 

We hope to see you at these events!

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, November 27, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67; see HERE.

 

 

Fluctuating Heterotopias – An Ocean View on Modern Metal Music

 

Johnny Harboe is M.A. in comparative literature from The University of Southern Denmark. He is the author of six novels and has for a number of years worked as a freelance rock and metal critic for the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten. For almost 25 years he has been neck-deep in metal music.

 

Abstract: In this presentation I will attempt to show how various forms of heterotopias over the years have been expressed lyrically in metal music. Reaching from the graveyard and the autopsy room in death metal, the north and the winter in black metal, and the lunatic asylum and the prison in thrash metal, certain heterotopias seem to define specific subgenres.

     Furthermore, my hypothesis is, that the appearance of post metal in the early 2000s established the ocean as a new heterotopia in metal music – a heterotopia which can be perceived as an unfolding of the former heterotopias, not only being expressed lyrically, but also musically, creating a whole new self-reinforcing interdependence between metal music and lyrics.

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page HERE.

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

. . . and upcoming seminars:

 

December 4 - at SDU with Jacob Rendtorff; see HERE.

December 11 - at SDU with Christophe Szpajdel and Vitus Vestergaard; see HERE.

 

Looking ahead:

 

The schedule for the spring 2015 installment of the seminar series Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound is rapidly nearing completion, and the list of who is speaking when is available HERE. Presentation titles and abstracts will soon be made available. As always in this series, participation via Skype is welcome.

 

Logo designed by Christophe Spzajdel

 

Please keep an eye out here for updateson the exhibition Marks of Metal, which is scheduled to open at Brandts - Mediemuseet (link HERE) in Odense on January 15, 2015. The exhibition will feature work by internationally renowned logo artist Christophe Spzajdel, and is under the direction of Vitus Vestergaard. This is part of  Vitus' ongoing research project in our program The Performances of Everday Living entitled Investigation of Metal Music and Visuals: Logo, Cover, Brand; for background, see HERE. You can hear and see more about this exhibition during the December 11 seminar with Christophe and Vitus - see link above. A noteworthy feature of the exhibition opening on January 15 is that Copenhagen-based black metal band Solbrud (see HERE) will be performing.

 

Here in November and December we are kick starting/ have kick started our subseries within Topics in the Aesthetics of Music and Sound dealing with metal music, theory and culture with talks on November 13, November 27 and December 11. Nine of the thirteen seminars in our spring series will be dealing with metal-related topics, so, once again, please keep an eye out as more details become available HERE.

 

 

 

Recent events in the research program The Performances of Everyday Living:

 

Concert, SDU-Odense

 

KAMMERMUSIKFESTIVAL - LUNCHTIME CONCERT

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2014

First concert in the 2014 Chamber Music Festival

with students from the

Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, Southern Denmark

(Syddansk Musikkonservatorium og Skuespillerskole-SMKS)

Thursday, November 20, 12 noon - 1 p.m. on the

Campus Square, University of Southern Denmark at Odense

For more information, please see HERE.

 

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, November 20, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67

 

Musical Cosmology

 

Marianne Børch, dr.phil., Professor. University of Southern Denmark, Institute for the Study of Culture - English.

 

Abstract: The Music of the Spheres is a well-known concept, and even after the collapse of the world picture that underpinned it, composers have continued to expound and explore the idea. The presentation will discuss the implications of the notion of the cosmos as a huge symphony, a cosmic concord rife with discordant elements held together by means of Love. Principal reference will be made to medieval and renaissance literary works (Dante, Shakespeare, Davies, Traherne); furthermore, the later collaboration between Dryden and Purcell will be used to explore an increasing alienation between word and music that starts when the spherical music becomes heuristic-symbolic rather than literal-analogous.

 

Poster available as pdf file HERE.

Facebook event page HERE.

 

Audience participation via Skype is also welcome.

 

 

 

 

Seminar

 

Thursday, November 13, 2014, 3:15-5 p.m. in U67

 

 

Franz Liszt and Metal Music - an Aesthetic Affinity?

 

 

William Westney, Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of Piano, Browning Artist-in-Residence School of Music, Texas Tech University.

 

 (in person; also Lunchtime Concert 12 noon - 1 p.m.)

 

 

Abstract: One of the refreshing aspects of this SDU seminar series is its focus on musical experience itself, which offers the possibility of exploring common ground between musical genres that are customarily considered quite distinct or even far away from each other. For many classically trained musicians like myself, the world of heavy metal, death metal, and related styles has been not only an unfamiliar and opaque one, but has even seemed somewhat deplorable in its perceived violence and commercialism. However, observing the discerning and sophisticated analysis that metal experts bring to their subject, and acknowledging the widespread popularity of metal among music lovers, my curiosity has grown. Are there affinities between metal and traditional classical music? If so, what can we learn from them?

     The presentation will trace some ways in which that affinity appears convincing, and also consider some of the differences between the genres. I will view this comparison through the prism of the unique career of virtuoso pianist/composer Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) - the so-called “first rock star of music.”  Among the questions that emerge: What are the implications of what Robert Walser calls the “fetishism of instrumental technique”? What are the links between Romanticism, rock-star charisma, and recurring themes of death? What sort of performer/audience dynamics occur in these two styles? How should pianists approach the written scores of Liszt? Does commercialism taint aesthetic worth?  
     Integrated into the lecture will be excerpts at the piano as well as sound and video clips.