Recently I read both Goethe’s and Marlowe’s Faust plays–the Faust legend has been a major influence on many generations of composers and authors. I found them exceedingly dull, except that the Marlowe made me think about changing English syntax in relation to the other germanic languages. And in the case of Goethe, I was curious about the psychology that would lead someone to torment over this story for one’s entire career.

What they made me realize though, is that ideas of the value and endurance of art are tied to our world views. (more…)

So today I read in the Globe and Mail that scientists are increasingly finding biological and genetic support for the age-old adages of love (Siri Agrell, “Sluts and Vermin”, The Globe and Mail, 26 Apr 2007, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070426.wxlsexstudies26/BNStory/lifeFamily/home).

For example, female mice who play hard to get tend to inspire faithfulness in their mates, as opposed to those who put out right away. There seems to be a biological reason why women that are unavailable are more desirable, and this builds faithfulness in men. Interesting. (more…)

I’ve posted a couple of blog entries on my MySpace page, having to do with the phi­los­o­phy of music. One deals with the value of music in soci­ety today, the other with the eco­log­i­cal effects of music, and how the energy crisis will change the sound of our music. On a sim­i­lar note, I intend even­tu­ally to post some of my Master’s port­fo­lio papers here, which deal with related topics, once I’ve fin­ished my degree this summer. Stay tuned.

I’ve thought a lot lately about the effect that sound, and particularly music, has on our environment. This is what people frequently call Ecomusicology, though I’m not crazy about that term.

Basically, do we have a right to make noise? How must it feel for a bird living on my street? Does it enjoy (or notice) the sounds of cars, airplanes, people playing soccer in the park across the street? Maybe the bird doesn’t but the squirrel might. (more…)

This is an issue I’ve been thinking about for a long time. Can we actually justify saying one kind of music is better than any other, or that one piece is better than another? (more…)