Notes from today’s class: Rube Goldberg, Lou Reed, and emotions
On Jeff’s desire to incorporate water, I mentioned Rube Goldberg contraptions. Now, I only meant a simple device with a level, but these demonstrate such several simple mechanical devices connected in wacky series:
- An original cartoon by Rube Goldberg: click here
- A modern Rube Goldberg competition winner: on YouTube
- A presentation on the transfer of energy in another plant-watering device: on Prezi
On “anxiety” in Wes’s étude, I mentioned Lou Reed’s album, Metal Machine Music
- Recording on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIMSbKU2oZM
- Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Machine_Music
- A review of Ulrich playing it live! https://ulrichmaiss.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/ulrich_seamus_journal.pdf
On the discussion of connecting emotions and music in Wes’s piece, we mentioned doctrine of the affections:
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_the_affections
- Summary of Mattheson’s doctrine (1739, Germany): PDF
- Instead of associating pitches (keys) with affect, Plato associated “modes” with affects (today, “major” and “minor” are modes): Here’s a discussion BUT keep in mind that somewhere between us and ancient Greece, all the names of the modes got mixed up—thanks, Boethius!
