Paul Miller's Rhythm Science is a short book (book isn't quite the right word, more like narrative flow) that attempts to address much about how we interact with the world around us. With most attention paid to our relationship to media and the similarities found within and without, the book doesn't offer the structure of, say Weinberger's Everything is Miscellaneous. There are, however, several sections near the end of Rhythm Science that contain interesting passages.
"Set your browser to drift mode and simply float: The sequence really doesn't care what you do as long as you are watching" (80). I feel that the idea here is to break free from some of the more classical frames of viewership. Actively controlling our media consumption is not so important, rather that consumption occurs regardless of our intent. As such, Miller seems to be saying 'don't worry.' I partially agree with the idea, but personally find more joy from choosing where I go online. Even offline, while I enjoy exploring, I view time as a finite resource, and going without a rudder seems to be a mistake. Then again, I am fairly analytical and rigorous, so the messages in this book are fairly contradictory to my outlook.
"I like to think of the kind of writing in Rhythm Science as script information - the self as "subject-in-synchronization" (the moving parts aligned in the viewfinder of an other), rather than the old twentieth-century inheritance of the Cartesian subject-object relation" (84). While mentioned earlier in different ways, Miller actually lays out in familiar language how his book is to be interpreted. Only 84 pages in too! Joking aside, the idea presented discusses, in a roundabout way, existentialism. Our outlook is consumed with objects and how they are related to one another. With a language full of prepositions, this interpretation works just fine, but can lack perspective from the personal. Knowing that we aren't reading an instruction manual or an opinion piece helps place the ideas given and, for me, helps organize the thought in a manageable way.
"I'm at the airport waiting for my next flight. That's about as existential as you can get in these days of hyper-modernity" (92). Connecting with my thoughts about existentialism, here Miller seems to be relating his current layover with something far bigger. Yes, he is just sitting around, waiting for the next flight, but that is, to go back a quote, relatively 'Cartesian.' If anything, he is in-between. Neither here nor there, but rather at a place of transit. We put in comforts, such as a coffee shop, or nice chairs, but really the airport is 'noplace,' and when even the abstract has a place in today's world, being nowhere is as good as it gets.
"...we move through dispersed networks of culture and the cards we play are icons on a screen" (96). Miller is running off the scenario described immediately preceding, where cards with musical phrases were selected from a hat to create something like a song, but not quite. This is, in essence, hip-hop. The cards do not possess some quality or trait unknown to the world, but it is their combination that is the art. Bringing the example into current day form it is easy to compare how our connectivity online allows us to create something new from something old.
"Once you get their basic credit information and various electronic representations of that person, who needs the real thing anymore" (101). Like reverse homeopathy, Miller is trying to distill essence. In this quote, he is bringing up the idea that our person, our being, can be fully represented digitally. This is, of course, directly the result of a digital world, but begs the question 'who are we?' I think that Miller doesn't truly believe we can be written down completely, that there is still some left over parts and bits and pieces. He does, however, show that because so much of our self is based on those before us, there is little room left over.
"The prostitute scenario is about an end of definitions - breaking the loops and watching the role collapse in on itself" (109). This is the endgame. For everything that Miller leads up to, it seems that in his narrative, in his 'Side B', he does have a final argument to make. Everything that has come before leads to the prostitute. This idea that, good things are dirty and things are dirty because they are good. For talking so much about cycles and repetitions, we see a glimmer of hope that with technology breaking down so many barriers, maybe the oldest cycle of all will go like the dodo. It is only a hope though, to Miller. It is a tale of things that may come, but I find the quote happy, of all things. Not only because it provides good ideological conclusion, but because it offers something like hope.
Looking at WhoSampled.com was pretty interesting. Only a cursory exploration revealed that everyone samples everyone. You simply can not find artists that are islands of creativity. Everyone samples! Even Yanni, an artist I find interesting with new age music and unique time signatures, has been sampled. Looking at this website, I start to understand Miller far better. Academically, it is easy to show how we need a foundation of knowledge to grow and reach new heights, but when it comes to creativity, in the musical realm especially, there is no true foundation common to everyone. With this site, I must set my browser to 'float,' as actively searching and identifying all the links of the music I know (which is very little, at that) would take far too long. The best way I can enjoy these sounds and relationship is through passive exploration.
I liked the quote about the cards. The idea is truly the force behind hip-hop. We don't think about it this way, but the fact that hip-hop works to put different sounds from different locations together to make something new is like pulling cards and rearranging them in a pleasing pattern. I also found it interesting that everyone samples but it is frowned upon in other industries outside academia. I was also surprised at the fact that there were different genres of music that sampled, since hip-hop tends to get the spotlight on 'stealing' songs.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you linked your quotes to us and our 'selves'; I linked the quotes I picked out to the general digital community, but now that I read through your blog I can definitely see how Miller has some links to existential ideas.
ReplyDeleteI think you make a good point when you wrote that "Miller doesn't truly believe we can be written down completely, that there is still some left over parts and bits and piece"; I really don't think all our feelings can come through in text, I'm especially thinking of emails and communication tools like Twitter, only so much can be said. I like to think that music will get more across through beats and rhythm.
I wish I could set my browser to float and have it click through links for me, that would be an amazing experience.
Nice job w/ the quotes. Your description of WhoSampled makes some great connections, but I would've liked to see you tackle the prompt a bit more directly. Still, a good post overall.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with your statement that "no artists are islands of creativity." I do understand that all musical creation is most certainly informed by certain values, styles, or conventions from other genres, movements, or even artists and songs directly. This much is impossible to deny.
ReplyDeleteWhat I disagree with is the idea that everyone is directly dependent on other musicians' work specifically to create. I believe there is so much room for new and exciting material in the world of music for every artist to directly depend on other artists. Hearing the groundbreaking newness of Sufjan Stevens' the Age of Adz or the incredibly revolutionary work known as Dark Side of the Moon, I just don't believe that musical creation isn't possible without direct attribution to an earlier entity. These two works come to mind immediately as monoliths of creativity that offer so many new insights into music that simply have not been looked at before.
@ leighs comment "I also found it interesting that everyone samples but it is frowned upon in other industries outside academia." when we are assigned a paper teachers always want citations from credible sources, these sources help make our arguments stronger and from their knowledge and research we learn. why cant it be the same for music. samples from past recordings provide reference points to various aspects of culture and help bring credibility to the music. it expands our knowledge of different genres and cultures making the music have a stronger point and cross cultural relevance.
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