Embodied Musical Meaning

Mark L. Johnson

2016 · 52 citations · 0 references

Concepts

Abstract

is singing here about how to persuade the girl he loves to love him back. But his question about her mysterious power over him could apply equally well to a fundamental issue of musical aesthetics: How does music do what it does to you? How can music be so meaningful, and whence comes its power to move, thrill, chill, transform, pacify, vitalize, and uplift us? How does it draw us into itself, carry us along, and deposit us, changed, as it ends? How does music mean so much to us?