The Ontology of Rock Music: Recordings, Performances and The Synthetic View

Abstract

This paper discusses the state-of-the-art dispute over the ontological question of rock music: what is the work of art, or the central work-kind, of rock music, if any? And, is the work of rock music ontologically distinct from the work of classical music, which is the only musical tradition whose ontology is vastly studied? First, I distinguish between two levels of inquiry in musical ontology: the fundamental level and the higher-order level, in which comparative ontology – the project in which someone engages by considering that there is ontological variety among works of distinct musical traditions – falls. After addressing two general questions about rock music, I turn to Theodore Gracyk’s ontological account of rock music, according to which the primary focus of critical attention in rock music are recordings, or recorded tracks. This view has the consequence that ‘recordings’ is a fundamental concept of philosophy of music, necessary for us to understand rock music. Stephen Davies objected that Gracyk’s account fails to assign appropriate value to a valuable practice with which rock audiences are committed, live performance, and argued that the works of rock music are of the ontological kind for studio performance. Finally, Andrew Kania synthetized both views: rock recorded tracks are at the centre of rock as an art form, thus being the rock works. For, different reasons, none of these views is deemed satisfactory.

Ovaj rad razmatra najnovije rasprave povodom ontološkog statusa rok muzike: šta je umet-ničko delo rok muzike, ili šta je osnovna vrsta dela rok muzike, ako takvo šta uopšte postoji? Dalje, da li je delo rok muzike ontološki različito od dela klasične muzike, koja predstavlja jedinu muzičku tradiciju čija se ontologija uveliko proučava? Najpre, u istraživanju ontologije muzike razlikovaćemo dva nivoa: osnovni nivo i nivo višeg reda, gde spada komparativna ontologija – projekat u koji se upuštamo kada razmatramo ontološku različitost dela zaseb-nih muzičkih tradicija. Nakon što postavimo dva opšta pitanja o rok muzici, posvetićemo se ontološkom razmatranju rok muzike Teodora Grejsika, prema kom su primarni fokus kritič-kog ispitivanja rok muzike snimci, odnosno snimljene numere. Ovo stanovište za posledicu ima da „snimci” postaju osnovni pojam filozofije muzike, nužan za razumevanje rok muzike. Stiven Dejvis prigovorio je da Grejsikovo stanovište ne pridaje dovoljno značaja važnoj praksi koju rok publika ceni – nastupu uživo, te je tvrdio da dela rok muzike pripadaju ontološkoj vrsti studijskog izvođenja. Napokon, Endrju Kanja spojio je obe perspektive: snimljene rok numere su u srži roka kao vrste umetnosti, što ih čini delima rok muzike. Iz različitih razloga, ni jedna od ovih pozicija nije zadovoljavajuća.