The chicken or the egg

With regard to the reflection presented by John Gilbert in the course of Expanded Music, whether if human language constitutes our reality or if our language is constituted by the reality. We should know that certainly this question has no exact answer, hopefully we will approach an answer if we adopt a clear stance about the principles raised by phenomenology (Husserl). However, regarding the use of spoken language in music, it is valid to extrapolate this and ask ourselves for example:

The language used in a song allows us to call it a song? I mean, is the the lyrics what constitutes the song? And depending on this: Is the lyrics what shapes the sentiment expressed in a song or the sentiment ultimately derives in one (or many) lyrics?

For example we have this beautiful lyric about the use of reason over the use of the heart:

Ah, cuánto tiempo perdido en pensar             Ah, how much time lost in thinking

Que la vida se puede explicar                              That life can be explained

Con veneno intenté curación                              With poison I tried healing

¿Por qué confié en mi razón?                                Why did I trust my reason?

Ya en un mar de palabras me ahogué               Already in a sea of ​​words I drowned

Y fue en vano quererlas creer                                  It was in vain wanting to believe them

Pero al fin el castillo cayó                                          But finally the castle fell

Y adentro sólo estoy yo                                                 And inside there's only me

//: Vos ya sabías que todo es parcial                       / /: You already knew it's all partial

Que no hay mapa que enseñe a viajar                    That there is no map that teaches how to travel

Que es el alma quien debe cantar                            It is the soul that must sing

Que sólo un tonto se pone a correr                            That only a fool starts to run

Cuando la lluvia le besa los pies://                          When the rain kisses his feet :/ /

Sirve el tiempo su mismo licor                                 Time serves its same liquor

Que cada año acelera el temor                                    That every year accelerates fear

Que en mi copa se amargue el sabor                     That in my cup the taste would be bitter

Si no oigo a mi corazón                                                    If I don't listen to my heart

And this is an example of what we call "a song without words", but certainly not without expression of deep feeling:

In my opinion about what came first, the chicken or the egg, I think we simply have to accept the idea that some things do not have a start or end point, but they are both things at once.  I believe that adopting an idea of ​​consensus between the two sides is as close to answering our Hurrserlian question.

Touch the Music

In Spanish, when we talk about playing music or playing an instrument, we actually use the expression " touch the music" or "touch an instrument" (if we traduce it literally) and this has exactly the same meaning as " play an instrument". Now, when we talk in Spanish about Braille music reading, the meaning of " touch the music" becomes extremely more literal, since we certainly need to touch the music with our fingertips to be able to play it. By having exposed this idea that we need a physical contact to play a musical idea, it occurs to me that for more resources, ideas and technologies to "expand" the boundaries of music that we have, this is useless if previously we don't have a good "touch" , I really do not see the need to expand the music outside of the body if by that we slowly forget that the importance of our relationship with sound it's precisely deep inside us; we are the most important, we are the body.

Panamericana

Following what I pointed out in our class about our performance in December, I found an example that comes close.

This piece is called "Panamericana" from the famous Latin jazz saxophonist Paquito De Rivera. In simple words, the Panamericana is a set of highways that connect the American continent from Alaska to Quellon (Chile). And as you will note, in this piece the tour begins with the tango (Argentina), passing through a Guarani group (ie, from Paraguay), as well as through the bossa nova (Brazil) and other Central American rhythms. Of course none of these "landscapes" is portrayed literally, since what is being valued is precisely the fusion of styles as if it were the union of the peoples, marking that the important thing is what unites us, NOT what divides and individualize us.