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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

The Doctrine Of Affections: Where Art Meets Reason, Sharri K. Hall Sep 2017

The Doctrine Of Affections: Where Art Meets Reason, Sharri K. Hall

Musical Offerings

The Doctrine of Affections was a widespread understanding of music and musicality during the Baroque era. The Doctrine was a result of the philosophy of reason and science as it coincides with music. It aimed to reconcile what man knew about science and the human body, and what man thought he knew about music. It was a reconciliation of practical musicianship and theoretical music which had begun to rise in the time. Though it is generally understood as being apart from Enlightenment thinking, the Doctrine is a result of Enlightenment-style philosophy. As the Enlightenment sought to explain why things occurred …


Shakespeare's Philosophy Of Music, Emily A. Sulka Sep 2017

Shakespeare's Philosophy Of Music, Emily A. Sulka

Musical Offerings

Shakespeare is one of the most widely read figures in literature, but his use of music is not usually touched on in literary discussions of his works. In this paper, I discuss how Shakespeare portrays music within the context of his plays, through both dialogue and songs performed within each work. In Shakespeare’s time, Boethius’s philosophy of the Music of the Spheres was still highly popular. This was the idea that the arrangement of the cosmos mirrored musical proportions. As a result, every aspect of the universe was believed to be highly ordered, and this idea is prominent throughout Shakespeare’s …


Music And The Mind: Music's Healing Powers, Carolyn S. Ticker Mar 2017

Music And The Mind: Music's Healing Powers, Carolyn S. Ticker

Musical Offerings

Music makes you smarter: or at least that is what the "experts" are saying. CDs are sold of Mozart's Sonatas for babies, and parents are urged to give their children music lessons in the belief that music does something to our brains which in turn makes us more intelligent. But is this really true? Does music really affect the brain in the powerful way that scientists are suggesting, or is it hearsay? In this paper I investigate the effects of music on our brain's plasticity and cognition by looking at several different experimental studies. Specifically I will address how music …


From Silence To Golden: The Slow Integration Of Instruments Into Christian Worship, Jonathan M. Lyons Mar 2017

From Silence To Golden: The Slow Integration Of Instruments Into Christian Worship, Jonathan M. Lyons

Musical Offerings

The Christian church’s stance on the use of instruments in sacred music shifted through influences of church leaders, composers, and secular culture. Synthesizing the writings of early church leaders and church historians reveals a clear progression. The early musical practices of the church were connected to the Jewish synagogues. As recorded in the Old Testament, Jewish worship included instruments as assigned by one’s priestly tribe. Eventually, early church leaders rejected that inclusion and developed a rather robust argument against instruments in liturgical worship. The totalitarian stance on musical instruments in sacred worship began to loosen as the organ increased in …