art and music essay

Guide on How to Write a Music Essay: Topics and Examples

Let's Understand What is Music Essay

You know how some school assignments are fun to write by default, right? When students see them on the course syllabus, they feel less like a burden and more like a guaranteed pleasure. They are about our interests and hobbies and therefore feel innate and intuitive to write. They are easy to navigate, and interesting topic ideas just pop into your head without much trouble.

Music essays belong to the category of fun essay writing. What is music essay? Anything from in-depth analysis to personal thoughts put into words and then to paper can fall into a music essay category. An essay about music can cover a wide range of topics, including music history, theory, social impact, significance, and musical review. It can be an analytical essay about any music genre, musical instruments, or today's music industry.

Don't get us wrong, you will still need to do extensive research to connect your opinions to a broader context, and you can't step out of academic writing standards, but the essay writing process will be fun.

In this article, our custom essay writing service is going to guide you through every step of writing an excellent music essay. You can draw inspiration from the list of music essay topics that our team prepared, and later on, you will learn what an outstanding essay on music is by an example of a music review essay.

What are Some Music Topics to Write About

There are so many exciting music topics to write about. We would have trouble choosing one. You can write about various music genres, be it country music or classical music; you can research music therapy or how music production happens.

Okay, forgive us for getting carried away; music makes us enthusiastic. Below you will find a list of various music essay topics prepared from our thesis writing service . Choose one and write a memorable essay about everyone's favorite art form.

Music Argumentative Essay Topics

Music essays can be written about an infinite number of themes. You can even write about performance or media comparison.

Here is a list of music argumentative essay topics. These edge-cutting topics will challenge your readers and get you an easy A+.

• Exploring the evolution of modern music styles of the 21st century
• Is it ethical to own and play rare musical instruments?
• Is music therapy an effective mental health treatment?
• Exploring the Intersection of Technology and Creativity in electronic music
• The Relevance of traditional music theory in modern music production
• The Role of musical pieces in the Transmission of cultural identity
• The value of historical analysis in understanding the significance of music in society
• How does exposing listeners to different genres of music break down barriers
• Exploring the cognitive effects of music on human brain development
• The therapeutic potential of music in treating mental disorders

Why is Music Important Essay Topics

Do you know which essay thrills our team the most? The importance of music in life essay. We put our minds together and came up with a list of topics about why music is so central to human life. Start writing why is music important essay, and we guarantee you that you will be surprised by how much fun you had crafting it.  

• Popular Music and its Role in shaping cultural trends
• Music as a metaphorical language for expressing emotions and thoughts
• How music changes and influences social and political movements
• How the music of different countries translates their history to outsiders
• The innate connection between music and human beings
• How music helps us understand feelings we have never experienced
• Does music affect our everyday life and the way we think?
• Examining the cross-cultural significance of music in society
• How rock music influenced 70's political ideologies
• How rap music closes gaps between different racial groups in the US

Consider delegating your ' write my essay ' request to our expert writers for crafting a perfect paper on any music topic!

Why I Love Music Essay Topics

We want to know what is music to you, and the best way to tell us is to write a why I love music essay. Below you will find a list of music essay topics that will help you express your love for music.

• I love how certain songs and artists evoke Memories and Emotions
• I love the diversity of music genres and how different styles enrich my love for music
• I love how music connects me with people of different backgrounds
• How the music of Linkin Park helped me through life's toughest challenges
• What does my love for popular music say about me?
• How the unique sounds of string instruments fuel my love for music
• How music provides a temporary Release from the stresses of daily life
• How music motivates me to chase my dreams
• How the raw energy of rock music gets me through my daily life
• Why my favorite song is more than just music to me

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Music Therapy Essay Topics

One of the most interesting topics about music for an essay is music therapy. We are sure you have heard all the stories of how music cures not only mental but also physical pains. Below you can find a list of topics that will help you craft a compelling music therapy essay. And don't forget that you can always rely on our assistance for fulfilling your ' write my paper ' requests!

• The effectiveness of music therapy in reducing stress and pain for cancer patients
• Does pop music have the same effects on music therapy as classical music?
• Exploring the benefits of music therapy with other genres beyond classical music
• The potential of music therapy in aiding substance abuse treatment and recovery
• The Role of music therapy in Addressing PTSD and Trauma in military veterans
• The impact of music therapy on enhancing social interaction and emotional expression in individuals with developmental disabilities
• The use of music therapy in managing chronic pain
• Does musical therapy help depression?
• Does music reduce anxiety levels?
• Is music therapy better than traditional medicine?

History of Music Essay Topics

If you love analytical essays and prefer to see the bigger picture, you can always write a music description essay. Below you can find some of the most interesting topics for the history of music essay.

• The Significance of natural instruments in music production and performance
• Tracing the historical development of Western music theory
• How electronic music traces its roots back to classical music
• How the music industry evolved from sheet music to streaming services
• How modern producers relate to classical composers
• The Origins and Influence of Jazz Music
• How folk music saved the Stories of unnamed heroes
• Do we know what the music of ancient civilizations sounded like?
• Where does your favorite bandstand in the line of music evolve?
• The Influence of African American Music on modern pop culture

Benefits of Music Essay Topics

If you are someone who wonders what are some of the values that music brings to our daily life, you should write the benefits of music essay. The music essay titles below can inspire you to write a captivating essay:

• How music can be used to promote cultural awareness and understanding
• The benefits of music education in promoting creativity and innovation
• The social benefits of participating in music groups
• The Impact of Music on Memory and Learning
• The cognitive benefits of music education in early childhood development
• The effects of music on mood and behavior
• How learning to play an instrument improves cognitive functions.
• How music connects people distanced by thousands of miles
• The benefits of listening to music while exercising
• How music can express the feelings words fail to do so 

Music Analysis Essay Example

Reading other people's papers is a great way to scale yours. There are many music essay examples, but the one crafted by our expert writers stands out in every possible way. You can learn what a great thesis statement looks like, how to write an engaging introduction, and what comprehensive body paragraphs should look like. 

Click on the sample below to see the music analysis essay example. 

How to Write a Music Essay with Steps

Writing music essays is definitely not rocket science, so don't be afraid. It's just like writing any other paper, and a music essay outline looks like any other essay structure.

• Start by choosing a music essay topic. You can use our list above to get inspired. Choose a topic about music that feels more relevant and less researched so you can add brand-new insights. As we discussed, your music essay can be just about anything; it can be a concert report or an analytical paper about the evolution of music.
• Continue by researching the topic. Gather all the relevant materials and information for your essay on music and start taking notes. You can use these notes as building blocks for the paper. Be prepared; even for short essays, you may need to read books and long articles.
• Once you have all the necessary information, the ideas in your head will start to take shape. The next step is to develop a thesis statement out of all the ideas you have in your head. A thesis statement is a must as it informs readers what the entire music essay is about. Don't be afraid to be bold in your statement; new outlooks are always appreciated.
• Next, you'll need a music essay introduction. Here you introduce the readers to the context and background information about the research topic. It should be clear, brief, and engaging. You should set the tone of your essay from the very beginning. Don't forget the introduction is where the thesis statement goes.
• One of the most important parts of essay writing is crafting a central body paragraph about music. This is where you elaborate on your thesis, make main points, and support them with the evidence you gathered beforehand. Remember, your music essay should be well structured and depict a clear picture of your ideas.
• Next, you will need to come up with an ideal closing paragraph. Here you will need to once again revisit the main points in your music essay, restate them in a logical manner and give the readers your final thoughts.
• Don't forget to proofread your college essay. Whether you write a long or short essay on music, there will be grammatical and factual errors. Revise and look through your writing with a critical mind. You may find that some parts need rewriting.

Key Takeaways

Music essays are a pleasure to write and read. There are so many topics and themes to choose from, and if you follow our How to Write a Music Essay guide, you are guaranteed to craft a top-notch essay every time.

Be bold when selecting a subject even when unsure what is research essay topic on music, take the writing process easy, follow the academic standards, and you are good to go. Use our music essay sample to challenge yourself and write a professional paper. 

If you feel stuck and have no time our team of expert writers is always ready to give you help from all subject ( medical school personal statement school help ). Visit our website, submit your ' write my research paper ' request and a guaranteed A+ essay will be on your way in just one click.

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FAQs on Writing a Music Essay

Though music essay writing is not the hardest job on the planet, there are still some questions that often pop up. Now that you have a writing guide and a list of essay topics about music, it's time to address the remaining inquiries. Keep reading to find the answers to the frequently asked questions. 

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Blog > Essay Advice , Personal Statement > How to Write a Great College Essay About Music (with examples)

How to Write a Great College Essay About Music (with examples)

Admissions officer reviewed by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University

Written by Alex McNeil, MA Admissions Consultant

Key Takeaway

Ask any admissions officer if they’ve read a college essay about music, and they’ll definitely say yes. Between music extracurriculars and academic interests in music, it’s is one of the most common college essay topics.

So does that mean that you shouldn’t write your college essay about music?

Not necessarily. But as with any common college essay topic, some approaches are better than others.

Let’s get into it.

Why you should (and shouldn’t) write your Common App essay about music

As we explained in our Stanford Items exercise , writing your college essay on a common topic isn’t off-limits. In fact, most college essays share common topics and themes. Trying to find a completely unique, never-been-done-before topic is almost impossible. And writing about a quirky topic in hopes of coming across as unique usually backfires.

In other words, it’s likely that you’ll write about the same topic as someone else.

The problem arises, however, when you write about a common topic in a cliche way . Cliches are always a danger in college essays, but in especially college essay topics that tend to surface again and again.

To avoid cliches, your college essay about music needs to be deeply personal, specific, and meaningful. You’ll want to let go of any over-generalizations or truisms and focus on the details of your own story.

Because you’ll need to write meaningfully and vulnerably, you should only write your college essay about music if you have something genuine and significant to say.

The Best Ways to Approach Your College Essay about Music

College essays about music aren’t off the table, but you should be thoughtful in how you write about them. The following two approaches will help you avoid cliches and find an authentic, meaningful story that fulfills all the requirements of a personal statement .

Writing about music as an academic interest

If you’re interested in studying music in college, then you can consider writing your college essay about music as an academic interest. A college essay about your academic interest in music can show fantastic intellectual fit with a school.

Let’s say you want to study music theory or composition. You might write about a topic you find compelling, a problem you’ve solved, or even a recounting of your journey becoming interested in the subject.

Or maybe you’re an aspiring performer planning on studying music performance. As an admissions officer, I read outstanding essays about students performing their favorite pieces, creating emotional music projects, and teaching lessons to young children.

No matter your topic, your goal with this approach is to show an intellectual spark, a curiosity and passion that will demonstrate to your admissions officers that you’ll be a great addition to the music community on their campuses.

Writing poignantly about a deeply meaningful extracurricular

The previous approach is great if you want to study music, but what if music is just an extracurricular passion of yours? Don’t worry—you can still write about it.

In that case, the best way is to focus on meaning. Remember: personal statements should be deeply-meaningful reflections on your personal strengths.

To start, reflect on your music extracurricular. Is it playing guitar in a band? Playing trombone in your school’s symphony? Learning piano from your grandma? How your love of poetry turned into a love of songwriting?

Next, think about what strengths you have to showcase. If you play guitar in a band, maybe you want to highlight your collaborative spirit. If you love poetry and songwriting, perhaps you focus on your creativity.

Writing about your love of music in a way that draws upon your strengths will make sure that your Common App essay avoids the following two approaches and gives admissions officers a reason to admit you.

Approaches to Avoid

While the following two approaches aren’t necessarily bad, they are the most cliche ways of approaching a college essay about music. You might want to consider avoiding them.

An inauthentic tale of triumph

Let me tell you a cliche story.

When I was in fourth grade, I decided to join the school orchestra. I found it exceedingly difficult at first. No matter how hard I tried, I never could seem to place my fingers correctly on the fingerboard. Every sound I made mimicked a screeching cat. But I decided not to give up. I practiced every day after school and on the weekends. By the time I was in ninth grade, I had made it into my high school’s top orchestra.

Is that a lovely story? Yes, absolutely. Is it hearty enough for a college essay? No. While it tells a good narrative of growth and progress, it remains on the surface of the writer’s life. It comes across as a convenient way to brag about your strengths instead of exploring them in a genuine way. In this example, the story also focuses on events that happened way too far in the past.

A song that changed your life

This approach is by far the most common cliche in college essays about music. We’ve all been there: a favorite song that transports you to a moment in your life whenever you hear it. It makes sense that you’d want to write about yours.

But there’s a problem with this approach. Too often, it reads as trite or unoriginal, and the end result usually doesn’t say much about the writer. And when it does, the message an admissions officer gets doesn’t typically give them any more reason to admit you. Since you want your college essay to be meaningful, even vulnerable, and strengths-based, you’re better off choosing another topic that better speaks to who you are.

Key Takeaways + Examples

College essays about music aren’t for everyone. But when you get it right, you can strike the perfect chord with admissions officers (you’re welcome for the pun).

As you go, dig deep, find something genuinely personal, and try to avoid the most common and cliche ways of approaching the topic.

Want to see some examples of college essays about music before you get started? Check out our examples, The Time Machine and The Band .

Liked that? Try this next.

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How to Write a Music Essay

Are you passionate about music and eager to express your insights and thoughts on your favourite tunes and compositions? Well, your’re in the right place. Writing a music essay allows you to delve into the melodies, rhythms, and stories behind the music you adore. It’s a journey that combines your love for music with the art of essay writing. So, whether you’re a budding music critic, a student, or simply someone who wants to share their musical experiences, this article is here to guide you through the creative process.

Write my essay online might be your initial thought when faced with the prospect of composing a music essay, but fear not! In this article, we’ll explore the steps to craft a compelling and engaging music essay that resonates with your readers. We’ll uncover the secrets of choosing the right topic, structuring your essay effectively, and refining your writing skills. So, grab your headphones and your favourite instrument, and let’s embark on this harmonious journey into the world of music essay writing.

Choosing the Right Music Topic

When it comes to writing a captivating music essay, one of the crucial first steps is selecting the right topic. Your topic serves as the foundation upon which your essay will be built, so it’s essential to choose one that resonates with your interests and passions. Consider exploring a genre, artist, or musical era that genuinely moves you. Are you drawn to the rhythms of jazz or the storytelling of folk music? Do you find inspiration in the works of a particular composer or the evolution of hip-hop? Selecting a topic that personally engages you will not only make the writing process more enjoyable but also allow you to convey your enthusiasm to your readers. As you contemplate potential subjects, take some time to research and gather information to ensure you have enough material to craft a well-rounded and informative essay.

For those seeking guidance and assistance, best essay writing services can be a valuable resource. These services can offer expert advice on refining your topic and provide access to academic sources and research materials. Remember that your music topic should not only align with your passions but also offer a unique perspective or angle that can pique the interest of your audience. Whether you’re exploring the influence of music on culture, the evolution of a particular instrument, or the impact of a renowned composer, the key is to choose a topic that allows you to delve deep into the melodies and stories that inspire you.

Structuring Your Music Essay

A well-structured music essay is like a finely composed symphony, with each section harmonizing seamlessly to convey your message effectively. To begin, your essay should follow a typical structure consisting of an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The introduction serves as the overture, setting the stage by introducing your topic and providing an engaging hook to capture your readers attention. It’s here that you should also present a clear and concise thesis statement that outlines the main argument or theme of your essay. Consider the thesis statement as the melody that your essay will revolve around, guiding your readers through the composition.

In the body paragraphs, you’ll develop and elaborate on the themes and arguments presented in your thesis statement. Each paragraph can be thought of as a distinct movement in your musical journey, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Start by introducing the main point of the paragraph, provide supporting evidence, and then engage in thoughtful analysis. This structure not only ensures clarity and coherence but also showcases your ability to articulate ideas effectively. Remember that when discussing musical pieces or artists, it’s crucial to include specific examples, such as lyrics, melodies, or performances, to illustrate your points. Much like a composer weaving intricate harmonies, your analysis should delve deep into the nuances of the music, showcasing your understanding of the subject matter. Finally, the conclusion acts as the crescendo, bringing your essay to a satisfying close. Here, you should summarize your key points, restate your thesis, and leave your readers with a thought-provoking final note.

Writing and Polishing Your Music Essay

Now that you’vee chosen the perfect music topic and structured your essay, it’s time to dive into the heart of your composition: the actual writing. When writing a music essay, its essential to employ effective writing techniques that engage your readers and paint a vivid picture. Consider using descriptive language that appeals to the senses, making the music come alive on the page.

Describe the melodies, harmonies, and rhythms with colourful adjectives and metaphors, allowing your readers to feel the emotions conveyed by the music. Additionally, providing historical or cultural context is often crucial, as it helps your audience understand the significance of the music you’re discussing. Just as a composer combines various elements to create a masterpiece, your writing should blend these elements seamlessly to craft an engaging and informative essay.

Research plays a vital role in enhancing the depth and credibility of your music essay. Ensure that you thoroughly research the music, artist, or topic you’re covering, using reputable sources. It’s imperative to provide proper citations and references to acknowledge the works and ideas of others and to avoid plagiarism. Much like the importance of harmonizing melodies in music, harmonizing your research and writing ensures that your essay flows smoothly and convincingly. Finally, the finishing touches are equally significant. Revise and edit your essay meticulously to eliminate grammatical errors and awkward sentences. This process helps enhance clarity, coherence, and overall quality, ensuring that your music essay resonates with readers as beautifully as the music you’re describing. By applying these techniques, your music essay can become a well-composed masterpiece that engages, informs, and leaves a lasting impression.

In the world of music, where every note carries a story and every melody has its own unique magic, writing about it can be an enchanting journey. As we wrap up our exploration of how to write a music essay, lets recap the essential points we’ve covered. Choosing the right topic, one that resonates with your passion and interests, is the first step towards crafting a remarkable music essay. Structure matters; organize your thoughts coherently, create a compelling thesis, and support it with evidence and analysis. Finally, the art of writing is a powerful tool. Use descriptive language, conduct thorough research, cite your sources properly, and don’t forget to polish your essay until it gleams with clarity and precision.

Now, it’s your turn to take these guidelines and let your love for music shine through your writing. Whether you’re dissecting a symphony, exploring the history of jazz, or analyzing the lyrics of your favourite song, these tips will help you create essays that resonate with readers, just as the music itself does. So, go ahead, embark on your musical odyssey with a pen in hand and a melody in your heart. With these insights and your passion as your guide, you’re bound to craft essays that celebrate the magic of music and inspire others to listen, learn, and appreciate the art form in all its glory.

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Charles Rosen’s Freedom and the Arts: Essays on Music and Literature

September 3, 2012 by Taylor Davis-Van Atta

The following review originally appeared in Issue 29 of The Quarterly Conversation .

Twentieth-century music has changed our understanding of Mozart and Beethoven. What we now hear was, of course, always there. — Charles Rosen

Freedom and the Arts: Essays on Music and Literature by Charles Rosen (Harvard University Press, May 2012) Reviewed by Taylor Davis-Van Atta

How we interpret art—as individuals and collectively—is influenced by a complex of inherited and learned sensibilities peculiar to our time, and also by prior knowledge one brings to the experience: a book is read against the tapestry of all previously read books; within a piece of music wisps of prior recordings or performances, or even entirely other pieces of music, are heard; meanwhile, innate political, cultural, and aesthetic understandings are altering our perceptions and tastes. All of this input informs and heightens our experience of art, but it can also hinder the pure pleasure of an experience. Even a desire to understand or find meaning in art can itself be a limiting factor—a paradoxical idea when one considers that the main function of art may ultimately be to liberate us from the entrapments of meaning and/or from an antiquated understanding of the world around us. Having inherited modern sensibilities implicit in our time and culture, and limited by an incomplete knowledge of the conditions of past eras out of which some of our most enduring art emerged, we might raise a central question: to what degree are we, as individuals and as a public, able to exercise free will over our own interpretations and appreciation of art?

The critic, historian, music theorist, and virtuosic pianist Charles Rosen has spent the past half century examining this question, and his latest book, Freedom and the Arts: Essays on Music and Literature , a collection of 28 essays written mainly over the past 15 years, is his most expansive analysis to date of the challenges and pleasures of art. It contains his most direct attempts to address the question of free will in artistic interpretation. Endowed with enormous knowledge (what Pierre Boulez calls his “vast culture”), Rosen is a most gifted critic, one who not only explicates and illuminates scores and texts with easy precision but whose reviews and essays stand apart from their subject as pieces of literature in their own right. Rarely of one mind on any subject, except perhaps his preferences for certain recordings and particular fingerings, Rosen in this collection unapologetically contradicts himself and homes in on paradoxes he is unable to reconcile, engaged in a decades-long discussion with the finest artists of the past four centuries—and with his own mind. Above all, he elaborates on several lifelong arguments, making this volume a valuable companion to his major books, as well as a terrific introduction those who have not yet read his work.

As a pianist, Rosen’s performances are studies in technique; his light interpretative approach brings out the emotional heart of the music (rather than putting it in , as a less deft performer might). Likewise, the genius of his criticism lies in his ability to expose through examination of an artist’s technique the nervous system of the literature or music in question, allowing the emotional and intellectual vitality of the piece to come strikingly into light. His reading of Elliot Carter’s cello sonata (in “Happy Birthday, Elliot Carter!”), for instance, is the most perceptive I have read and chased me to my CD collection to experience the piece anew, wanting to test Rosen’s insight:

The cello sonata opens with the piano in strict time, ticking away in moderate tempo with a quiet percussive staccato. The cello, however, exists in a different space-time, with a long, lyrical, and eloquent line, irregular and seemingly improvised, very few of its notes coinciding with the beats of the piano. The opening may be the first example of Carter’s use of the long, expressive, singing arabesque line that was virtually absent in modernist style. . . . No previous work for cello and piano had ever differentiated the two instruments so distinctly, and exploited the sonority of each.

In his essays Rosen moves with ease between intimate examinations of texts—be they scores or poems—and the broader context in which we experience them. Central to all of Rosen’s writing is the question of how we might best appreciate the work in question, and because this is his point of enquiry, one typically needs only a passing familiarity with his subject to be engaged by even his most rigorous examinations. On Mallarmé, Rosen teaches us new ways of reading “the seemingly unreadable poet”:

The art of reading Mallarmé requires us to realize that the enigmatic surface of his poetry does not cover or hide a secret; and we cannot discard the surface once the treasure has been unearthed. The solution to the enigma is on the surface, which itself becomes the treasure as our experience of it grows. (“Mallarmé and the Transfiguration of Poetry”)

Rosen, who has championed (in writing) and debuted (in performance) 20th-century modernist work by Martinů, Bartók, Stravinsky, Boulez, Carter, and others, here brings uncanny clarity to even the most opaque literary achievements while furthering his lifelong impassioned defense of challenging literature. In a section of essays (“Classical Modernism: Past and Present”) on Mallarmé, Montaigne, Adorno, La Fontaine, Hofmannsthal, and W.H. Auden, it’s clear that, for Rosen, no other artistic movement in history has been met with so much hostility as the modernist. This section elaborates on one of the truths he revisits throughout the collection, namely that while we expect originality from our artists, we resent them when we get it (“Freedom and Art”). Modernism, to Rosen, involves an absolute fidelity to disagreeable human truths while transforming the repellent and awkward nature of facing these truths into something aesthetically beautiful, and, despite public reception, there is no higher human aspiration than the creation of an aesthetic achievement free of the entrapment of “meaning.”

Rosen’s essays on literature are remarkable for the tremendous breadth of knowledge on all artistic disciplines that he brings to his interpretations of literary works, a trait desperately lacking in literary journalism today. Rosen throws up no artificial boundaries: to his mind all arts speak to each other, each fluent in a singular artistic language. Mallarmé believed in a “musical universality”—a pure pleasure—that extends beyond the confines of any given artistic form, and this is an ideal Rosen seems to share.

Music, like much of literary modernism, carries no message, no “material communication” (Mallarmé’s term), and, in order to comprehend the emotional content of Mallarmé’s poetry or, say, Hofmannsthal’s libretti, Rosen argues we must “begin with a dispassionate understanding of the art and an appreciation of the technique.” This is not so different than the journey we have undertaken as a public to appreciate the music of Stravinsky, Carter, or even Mozart: it takes time for us to learn to hear and read as these artists would wish us to. Their technique is new, thus we must develop new techniques for appreciating them. Rosen expands the defense of modernism he has previously offered (most notably in Arnold Schoenberg (1996) and Critical Entertainments (2001)) by crediting the movement with nothing less than saving Western music, claiming that the modernist movement was a necessary and subversive act that first taught the public to hear Beethoven and Mozart in a manner that benefitted their music. We may indeed resent our most original artists, but it is their work that ultimately forms our canon. And the essential paradox of a canon, Rosen writes, “is that a tradition is often most successfully sustained by those who appear to be trying to attack or to destroy it. It was Wagner, Debussy, and Stravinsky who gave new life to the Western musical tradition while seeming to undermine its very foundations.”

In Piano Notes (2002), Rosen comments that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for us to ever know what Beethoven’s playing or Bach’s ensembles sounded like in their time, so the attempt to attain “authenticity” in our interpretations of such masterworks is a fruitless and even counterproductive task: the inherent conflict of listening to an old-fashioned performance with contemporary ears risks limiting the pleasure we can take from the music. If musical interpretation is to remain a living art, he explains, we must abandon the pursuit of authenticity and acknowledge that the lifespan of a piece of music—or a book or painting—ultimately depends on our willingness to adapt our interpretations to best please our sensibilities. Throughout this collection, Rosen challenges this—his own—argument, writing in the collection’s final essay (“Old Wisdom and Newfangled Theory”):

I think we must conclude that the ideal form of works of art is always at least partially distorted by the conditions of their initial presentation and production and by their transference to new eras, new venues, or new media. We are not always aware of the damage done to productions of culture by the social conditions in which they were made and later by the new conditions that arise in the ages that inherit them.

Rosen seems to conclude that we should not fear losing artistic traditions; in fact, the only true loss may come if we insist on recreating older music with utter fidelity to the conditions in which it was conceived or, conversely, if we ignore the nostalgic charms that past exigencies can bring to our contemporary interpretations.

Freedom and the Arts also contains a 120-page section entitled “Mostly Mozart” which is easily one of the most approachable and enlightening collections of essays we have in English on our greatest Classical composer. The remarkable thing about this section, which comprises 7 essays Rosen wrote over the period of a decade, is that, for its breadth of subject matter and opinion, it could have been written by as many different scholars. That these essays all came out of one mind is downright astonishing and, plainly stated, they are some of the finest musical literature on Mozart written in our era, a wonderful supplement to Rosen’s (arguably) most important works, The Classical Style (1972) and Sonata Forms (1988).

Rosen opens (and ends) Freedom and the Arts with a new essay directly addressing the pleasures and challenges of interpreting art in modern times. On the difficulties of enjoying Montaigne’s writing today, he writes:

Only a rereading of his essays for the enjoyment of his style and his delight in contradicting himself will tell us that his conclusions are generally provisional and that the interest for the reader lies in the voyage . . . or rather, that the voyage (the demonstration of the way the mind works) was the real original goal all the time. (“Freedom and Art”)

The essays that follow this introduction are best thought of as think-pieces, snapshots of a peerless mind at constant odds with itself, not content with its own conclusions, nor with the voyage it took in reaching those conclusions. Rosen is challenging not the prevailing thinking of our time but his own trailblazing thoughts. At times this means that a line of argument is left incomplete, abandoned for the sake of following a fresher, if no more convincing, line of thought. But along the way, with casual offhandedness, Rosen eloquently expresses the scope of human achievement in the arts. The collection is thoroughly accessible, an act of generosity that makes readily available to listeners and readers what gives pure pleasure to the artist.

Taylor Davis-Van Atta is the founding editor of Music & Literature.

Banner: “Piano” by christoph habel . Reproduced under a CC BY-NC 2.0 license.

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

Music in ancient greece.

Marble seated harp player

Terracotta column-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water)

Attributed to Lydos

Terracotta neck-amphora (jar) with lid and knob (27.16)

Attributed to Exekias

Terracotta amphora (jar)

Attributed to the Berlin Painter

Terracotta kylix (drinking cup)

Attributed to the Dokimasia Painter

Terracotta lekythos (oil flask)

Attributed to the Brygos Painter

Attributed to the Nikon Painter

Terracotta bell-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water)

Attributed to the Danaë Painter

Terracotta stamnos (jar)

Attributed to the Menelaos Painter

Attributed to the Painter of London E 497

Set of jewelry

Colette Hemingway Independent Scholar

Seán Hemingway Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2001

Music was essential to the pattern and texture of Greek life, as it was an important feature of religious festivals , marriage and funeral rites, and banquet gatherings . Our knowledge of ancient Greek music comes from actual fragments of musical scores, literary references, and the remains of musical instruments. Although extant musical scores are rare, incomplete, and of relatively late date, abundant literary references shed light on the practice of music, its social functions, and its perceived aesthetic qualities. Likewise, inscriptions provide information about the economics and institutional organization of professional musicians, recording such things as prizes awarded and fees paid for services. The archaeological record attests to monuments erected in honor of accomplished musicians and to splendid roofed concert halls. In Athens during the second half of the fifth century B.C. , the Odeion (roofed concert hall) of Perikles was erected on the south slope of the Athenian akropolis—physical testimony to the importance of music in Athenian culture.

In addition to the physical remains of musical instruments in a number of archaeological contexts, depictions of musicians and musical events in vase painting and sculpture provide valuable information about the kinds of instruments that were preferred and how they were actually played. Although the ancient Greeks were familiar with many kinds of instruments, three in particular were favored for composition and performance: the kithara, a plucked string instrument; the lyre, also a string instrument; and the aulos, a double-reed instrument. Most Greek men trained to play an instrument competently, and to sing and perform choral dances. Instrumental music or the singing of a hymn regularly accompanied everyday activities and formal acts of worship. Shepherds piped to their flocks, oarsmen and infantry kept time to music, and women made music at home. The art of singing to one’s own stringed accompaniment was highly developed. Greek philosophers saw a relationship between music and mathematics, envisioning music as a paradigm of harmonious order reflecting the cosmos and the human soul.

Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “Music in Ancient Greece.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grmu/hd_grmu.htm (October 2001)

Further Reading

Anderson, Warren D. Music and Musicians in Ancient Greece . Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1994.

Bundrick, Sheramy D. Music and Image in Classical Athens . New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Norris, Michael. Greek Art from Prehistoric to Classical: A Resource for Educators . New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. See on MetPublications

Additional Essays by Seán Hemingway

• Hemingway, Seán. “ Art of the Hellenistic Age and the Hellenistic Tradition .” (April 2007)
• Hemingway, Seán. “ Greek Hydriai (Water Jars) and Their Artistic Decoration .” (July 2007)
• Hemingway, Seán. “ Hellenistic Jewelry .” (April 2007)
• Hemingway, Seán. “ Intellectual Pursuits of the Hellenistic Age .” (April 2007)
• Hemingway, Seán. “ Mycenaean Civilization .” (October 2003)
• Hemingway, Seán. “ Africans in Ancient Greek Art .” (January 2008)
• Hemingway, Seán. “ Ancient Greek Colonization and Trade and their Influence on Greek Art .” (July 2007)
• Hemingway, Seán. “ Greek Gods and Religious Practices .” (October 2003)
• Hemingway, Seán. “ The Art of Classical Greece (ca. 480–323 B.C.) .” (January 2008)
• Hemingway, Seán. “ Athletics in Ancient Greece .” (October 2002)
• Hemingway, Seán. “ The Rise of Macedon and the Conquests of Alexander the Great .” (October 2004)
• Hemingway, Seán. “ The Technique of Bronze Statuary in Ancient Greece .” (October 2003)
• Hemingway, Seán. “ Cyprus—Island of Copper .” (October 2004)
• Hemingway, Seán. “ Etruscan Art .” (October 2004)
• Hemingway, Seán. “ Prehistoric Cypriot Art and Culture .” (October 2004)
• Hemingway, Seán. “ Minoan Crete .” (October 2002)

Additional Essays by Colette Hemingway

• Hemingway, Colette. “ Art of the Hellenistic Age and the Hellenistic Tradition .” (April 2007)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Greek Hydriai (Water Jars) and Their Artistic Decoration .” (July 2007)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Hellenistic Jewelry .” (April 2007)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Intellectual Pursuits of the Hellenistic Age .” (April 2007)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Mycenaean Civilization .” (October 2003)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Retrospective Styles in Greek and Roman Sculpture .” (July 2007)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Africans in Ancient Greek Art .” (January 2008)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Ancient Greek Colonization and Trade and their Influence on Greek Art .” (July 2007)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Architecture in Ancient Greece .” (October 2003)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Greek Gods and Religious Practices .” (October 2003)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ The Art of Classical Greece (ca. 480–323 B.C.) .” (January 2008)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ The Labors of Herakles .” (January 2008)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Athletics in Ancient Greece .” (October 2002)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ The Rise of Macedon and the Conquests of Alexander the Great .” (October 2004)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ The Technique of Bronze Statuary in Ancient Greece .” (October 2003)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Women in Classical Greece .” (October 2004)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Cyprus—Island of Copper .” (October 2004)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) and Art .” (October 2004)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Etruscan Art .” (October 2004)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Prehistoric Cypriot Art and Culture .” (October 2004)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Sardis .” (October 2004)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Medicine in Classical Antiquity .” (October 2004)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Southern Italian Vase Painting .” (October 2004)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Theater in Ancient Greece .” (October 2004)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ The Kithara in Ancient Greece .” (October 2002)
• Hemingway, Colette. “ Minoan Crete .” (October 2002)

Related Essays

• Greek Gods and Religious Practices
• The Roman Banquet
• The Symposium in Ancient Greece
• Architecture in Ancient Greece
• The Art of Classical Greece (ca. 480–323 B.C.)
• Athenian Vase Painting: Black- and Red-Figure Techniques
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Artist or Maker

• Berlin Painter
• Brygos Painter
• Danae Painter
• Dokimasia Painter
• Menelaos Painter
• Nikon Painter
• Painter of London E 497

Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — Baroque Music — The Influential Baroque Era: Music, Art, and Legacy

The Influential Baroque Era: Music, Art, and Legacy

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• Music Essay

Essay on Music

Music is like a universal language of life. It is basically the sound that is brought together through the harmony of various instruments. Our life would have been totally empty and different without music. It is something that every human being enjoys. It is a very powerful thing. Music helps to destress, heal, and motivate.

If you are looking for a short essay on music, then take a look at the short essay given in the following. This is created by the in-house exports of Vedantu keeping the understanding ability of the students. Those who are looking for references can look up to this following essay. It will be easy to figure out the pattern of how to write an essay on music. One can also download the Vedantu app to get access to the same file.

Music Essay for Students

“Without music, life will be a mistake” the statement of Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher, simplified the importance of music in one’s life so easily. Music has a magical impact on humans. It's the best form of magic. 

The origin of the word ‘music’ is the Greek word ‘mousike’ which means ‘art of muses’. Music is a form of art and artists decorate it. The music consists of lesser words with deeper meanings. Frequently people use music as a painkiller to escape from the pain of life.  ‘Musical Notations’ is the leading form to write music. This provides a reference to an artist so he can share with others if necessary. Music is a mood freshener and accompanies us in our pocket devices, on televisions, movies, and the most effective in live concerts.

Different forms of music have different effects on human nature. Music is the greatest creation of mankind in the course of history. A combination of deem lights and calm music encourages the listener to eat less and enjoy the food more. Listening to music positively in a car influences one’s mood leads to safer behaviour and fewer road rages ultimately minimising accidental destructions.

If the students love the music, it helps them in recalling the information more significantly along with improvement in verbal intelligence. The studies have found that listening to favourite songs helps fibromyalgia patients to experience less chronic pain. Music has a direct effect on our hormonal levels. Listening to music decreases the level of the hormone cortisol in our body and counteracts the effect of chronic stress.

The heart-touching music is nothing but creativity with the purest and undiluted form. The combination of vocal or instrumental sounds in such a way that it produces beauty and expresses emotions. Anyone can make their day by enjoying music by listening or by composting or by playing. The global facts say parents intensively use music to soothe children even to interact.

Music touches the heart through the ears. It has divine power to act as an energy booster. Some music assists in motivation while some play the best role in sympathy. Music helps us to fight insomnia. Listening to classical or relaxing music, just before going to bed, improves one’s sleep.

Though music helps to counteract depression and loneliness, people underestimate the impact of music on the human mindset in the age of irony age. On the other side of the coin, there are some types of music that can result in deleterious effects on the human mind and body. Listening to music with high decibels can damage neurons. The effect on the brain subjected to continuous exposure to electronic amplification of rhythmic music is similar to that of drugs.

Genres of Music

While talking about a wide variety of music that ranges from ages belonging to different places, cultures, and types, the list of genres is endless. However, some of the major genres of music are stated as below:

Folk & Traditional Music

Traditional music holds an impression of the culture that it represents. It is usually illustrated and sung with folk music. Folk music is taught by one generation to another vocally through singing it and by listening to it. Various dance performances are in order to make it stay intact through ages. In India, the state of Rajasthan is well known for its Traditional-folk music with its dance. Several other regions are also popular.

Art music describes the characteristics of both classical and contemporary art forms. It is usually sung by just one person and demands a high level of attention from its listeners. It is quite well known in Europe.

Religious Music

The type of music that is affiliated to the worshipping of God by singing it, is known as Religious Music. Every religion has its own style and way of singing it. Christian music is one of the most famous religious music known all over the world.

Popular Music

As the name suggests, the type of music that is popular and accessible to everyone and everywhere is known as Popular Music. Such music is composed mostly by the entertainment industry for the purpose of monetary income. As compared to other types of music, Popular Music attracts a notable audience through different concerts or Live shows.

It has gained immense popularity over a period of time and varies from country to country and from culture to culture. One can listen to it on public platforms, digital platforms, television commercials, radio, and even at shopping centres.

Popular music can be subcategorized into numerous types such as Hip Hop Music, Rock Music, Polka Music Music, Jazz Music, Pop Music Latin Music, Electronic Music, Punk Music, and many more. Among different types of Popular Music, Hip Hop Music is vividly famous, especially among the youth population. The culture of Hip Hop music originally started in New York City and now has taken over its place everywhere. The culture of Hip Hop dance has also emerged because of the same. With passing time, a lot of changes are happening in the field of Music but it will never go out of style.

Music is a healer to all human emotions from sadness to depression. It is a cause of happiness. Music content has many genres to play. Emotional expressions have been regarded as the most important criteria for the aesthetic value of music. Sometimes, some crises of life are impossible to express in proper sentences and their music plays its best part. Log on to Vedantu to find exciting essays on other topics and learn how to frame one perfectly from experts.

FAQs on Music Essay

1. What Role Does Music Play in Our Life?

Music is a very important part of our life as it is a way to express our feelings as well as emotions. For some people, music is a way to escape from all the pain. It gives you relief and allows you to destress yourself. Music plays a crucial role in our life rather than just being a source of entertainment. More importantly, music is something that can be enjoyed by everyone irrespective of their caste, creed, age, or gender.

2. Why is Music So Powerful?

Music is a language of emotion in that it can represent different feelings of a soul without any boundaries or limitations. When people feel really low and think that no one understands them, they listen to music. It is a good weapon to imitate emotions and reduce them. Music is something that can be felt from within our soul. Music is connected with Nature. There are numerous incidents of various singers where singing had led towards the showering of rains. 

3. How Can I Write an Essay on Music?

Get to know the topic. You can't start writing about music until you've familiarised yourself with the concept. Do research thoroughly. Understand the important points and jot them down. Then draw a structure and start writing an essay. A student needs to realise the importance of music and the belonging of its culture for a better understanding and ease of writing. Talking to different artists from this field may also help in writing the essay. Refer to this essay framed by the experts of Vedantu and compile on your own.

4. Is Music a Means of Therapy?

In this modern era where everyone is busy living their hectic life, music plays an important role in soothing one’s mental health. Over a course of time, it has been scientifically proven that music acts as a therapy for a person suffering from depression or anxiety. Even the sound of waves in the ocean helps to heal a person mentally. Thus, psychologists suggest hearing calm and soothing to gain relief from worldly distress.

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• Writing Guides

Art Essay Writing Guide

Table of Contents

What is the purpose of an art essay?

Generally, an art essay is an essay that talks about art in sculpture, paintings, architecture, music and portraits.

These kinds of essays are used for:

• Painting visual pictures: an art essay is an essay that showcases visual arts and creative ideas that people have come up with.
• Improving creativity: the whole purpose of art essays is to provide a platform for students to tap into their creative side and vividly paint a picture of a certain image using words.

Art essay topic choice

Like every other essay, there are general tips that should be considered when coming up with an art essay writing topic.

• The type of art: this may include a painting, a sculpture or just a simple hand diagram. The type of art is important as it sets out what you are supposed to write about.
• What intrigues you about the art: this is the most important part of the essay. The whole art essay is based on what you want others to know about the piece of art.
• Personal interests: what you, as a writer, love is very important as it narrows down the topic. It is easier to write on topics that are well-known to you.

There are a number of art essay writing topics to choose from.

Below is a list of topics for an art essay

• Differences between Picasso’s concepts and Matisse’s
• The history of art in the Netherlands
• Differences between Bernini and Borromini
• The inspiration behind famous painting
• The Mona Lisa
• Leonardo Da Vinci
• Ancient Roman structures
• The sculptures of nude women
• Impressionism era of art in Netherlands
• The graphics of modern day art
• Insinuations behind ‘The Thinker’
• The Pieta of Michelangelo
• The contribution of Vincent Van Gogh and Piet Mondrian
• Flemish Baroque in the 17th century.

The above are some of the good topics for an art essay.

Structure of an art essay

The art essay topics determine the kind of structure to build on. However, most have a standard art essay structure.

Sample of art essay outline

Introduction.

The Mona Lisa is one of the most known paintings in the world. This is the painting of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco Del Giocondo, believed to have been painted in the 16th century. It is the work of Leonardo da Vinci and it was purchased by King Francis I. The Mona Lisa is currently under the ownership of the French government.

Thesis statement

The Mona Lisa has had a great impact towards the contribution of art in France:

(i)    It is one of the most famous paintings in the world. The Mona Lisa is the painting that everyone wants to see. It is so precious that only a copy of it is actually showcased in the museum.

(ii)    It has led to the growth of art. The Mona Lisa has inspired artists all over France. There has been a rise of many artists including Camille Pissarro, a painter, and Etienne-Jules Marey, a photographer.

It is clear that the Mona Lisa is the soft spot in France. The French take pride in it and have used it to improve their lives. Besides its contribution to art, it has also placed France among the leading countries that celebrate art. This has therefore created a culture of being drawn to art and it is reflected in their way of life.

The above is a sample of outline for an art essay.

Arts essay tips on writing the introduction

An art essay introduction identifies the art and the artist. Art is diverse, as it could be sculptures, architecture, performing arts or paintings in it. This is where you state why you chose that topic.  It also contains a history of the said art and brief details, like who the artist is, the year, the location, etc.

The introduction for an art essay states the thesis. It may be a general statement about the art or a specific aspect of it.

Tips on thesis writing

The thesis statement should be simple and easy to write about. Too complex statements tend to be confusing.

• Pick a statement that is closer to your understanding.
• Ensure it is as simple as possible.
• To avoid irrelevancy, one can have an art essay draft that they can build on.

Tips on the body (transitions, paragraphs, and length)

This is the main part of the essay where you derive analysis based on your point of view.  Describe why the art is so appealing to you. Ensure that your defense covers an angle that has not already been covered for uniqueness. For example, one can focus only on the strokes of a portrait. However, ensure that what you describe is relevant to the thesis of your art essay topics.

The essay should not be too long. The sentence construction should also be well done. For this reason, it is advisable to have your points arranged into paragraphs. Ensure that each paragraph is independent and speaks volumes. This ensures that the art essay hooks the reader.

The transition from one paragraph to the next should also be smooth. Using cliché transitions makes the essay boring; therefore, you need to be creative.

Tips on conclusion writing

In an art essay conclusion, one needs to state their opinion. What you think the artists` feelings were and why they decided to paint it the way they did. At this point, you can state the events that contributed to the artist coming up with that art. The conclusion for an art essay requires a lot of research into the background of both the art and the artist(s). For this reason, the references and sources of the information should be cited.

Advice for writers

In art essay writing it is important to first do your research. Art is so diverse and this can be sometimes confusing. The topic to write on should be related to your interests, for example, as a musician, you would find it easier to write about performing arts and music. Besides this, do not plagiarize any work done. Cite and state all sources, making sure that you observe all rules of patent and copyrights.

For you to be a good writer, these art essay tips will be very helpful.  The best writer is the one who admits to being in a need of help. The art essay writing guide can also be used to find more about art essay writing steps. Different sources could give different art essay outlines so you need to be careful.

Finalizing the essay

After writing the art essay, it is important to have a clean essay. This calls for proofreading and editing. Proofreading ensures that you do not have any grammatical errors, the art essay outlining is as required, your sentence construction is good and the language used is the required one. Some sites offer art essay writing guide for use when one gets stuck.  Proofreading also ensures that the art essay structure is followed. After this is done, ensure that the format used is correct whether APA, MLA or Chicago.

Essay on Art

500 words essay on art.

Each morning we see the sunshine outside and relax while some draw it to feel relaxed. Thus, you see that art is everywhere and anywhere if we look closely. In other words, everything in life is artwork. The essay on art will help us go through the importance of art and its meaning for a better understanding.

What is Art?

For as long as humanity has existed, art has been part of our lives. For many years, people have been creating and enjoying art.  It expresses emotions or expression of life. It is one such creation that enables interpretation of any kind.

It is a skill that applies to music, painting, poetry, dance and more. Moreover, nature is no less than art. For instance, if nature creates something unique, it is also art. Artists use their artwork for passing along their feelings.

Thus, art and artists bring value to society and have been doing so throughout history. Art gives us an innovative way to view the world or society around us. Most important thing is that it lets us interpret it on our own individual experiences and associations.

Art is similar to live which has many definitions and examples. What is constant is that art is not perfect or does not revolve around perfection. It is something that continues growing and developing to express emotions, thoughts and human capacities.

Importance of Art

Art comes in many different forms which include audios, visuals and more. Audios comprise songs, music, poems and more whereas visuals include painting, photography, movies and more.

You will notice that we consume a lot of audio art in the form of music, songs and more. It is because they help us to relax our mind. Moreover, it also has the ability to change our mood and brighten it up.

After that, it also motivates us and strengthens our emotions. Poetries are audio arts that help the author express their feelings in writings. We also have music that requires musical instruments to create a piece of art.

Other than that, visual arts help artists communicate with the viewer. It also allows the viewer to interpret the art in their own way. Thus, it invokes a variety of emotions among us. Thus, you see how essential art is for humankind.

Without art, the world would be a dull place. Take the recent pandemic, for example, it was not the sports or news which kept us entertained but the artists. Their work of arts in the form of shows, songs, music and more added meaning to our boring lives.

Therefore, art adds happiness and colours to our lives and save us from the boring monotony of daily life.

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Conclusion of the Essay on Art

All in all, art is universal and can be found everywhere. It is not only for people who exercise work art but for those who consume it. If there were no art, we wouldn’t have been able to see the beauty in things. In other words, art helps us feel relaxed and forget about our problems.

FAQ of Essay on Art

Question 1: How can art help us?

Answer 1: Art can help us in a lot of ways. It can stimulate the release of dopamine in your bodies. This will in turn lower the feelings of depression and increase the feeling of confidence. Moreover, it makes us feel better about ourselves.

Question 2: What is the importance of art?

Answer 2: Art is essential as it covers all the developmental domains in child development. Moreover, it helps in physical development and enhancing gross and motor skills. For example, playing with dough can fine-tune your muscle control in your fingers.

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The Importance Of Art And Music

Nowadays it has become a heated topic that there are various perspectives toward this issue, some people might believe that Younger school children should not be required to study art and music in addition to math, science, history and language. The reasons are that math and science is more important than art, In addition to, If students study at art and music, they must loss time to focus on their major course, so their grade will not as good as the students who only major course. They hence, math and science are more important than art and music because people need to use science product every day. While others maintain that it cannot ignored that learning music can make child become smarter, nor can it denied that learning art can make child feel happy. According to Aristotle once said "The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet, I personally concur with the second perspective. In the following paragraphs, three conspicuous reasons will cogently elucidate my perspective. First of all, art and music would broaden student 's horizon and therefore make them thoughtful. It is well known that the art and music are not bound by country border, and they are something that is shared by the people from every parts of this world and is symbols of various cultures. Under this circumstance, learning art and music enables students to appreciate the fruits of eminent artists and musicians and to feel the fascination of different cultures. For instance, students are able

How Did George Whitefield Want Freedom?

Art and music were not seen as an important part of culture, and merely a distraction from what was really important. Architecture, while a valuable skill was seen to only be useful if in practical instances. Many talented artists and musicians often returned to English. That is why, even though music and art play a role in American society today, it plays a much bigger role in European society. 2.Racial Fusion

Rhetorical Analysis Of Don T Listen To Music While Listening By David Cutler

The topic of whether or not music has an impact on studying abilities is a conversation that many people have many different opinions on. In David Cutlers article, “Don’t Listen to Music While Studying”, he tries using evidence and reasoning to support, connect, and persuade his audience. In the article, David Cutler uses pathos and storytelling to connect with his readers. In the first couple of paragraphs, Cutler explains how he likes listening to music while studying also.

How To Stop School Shootings

I think this would be a lot better just choice for our teachers and student 's

Why We Should Be Able To Listen To Music In School

The students should be able to listen to music in school because it had good qualities about. I know that you don’t want to have music in the school, but some students need it. Music can be helpful for studying, for working, and sometimes for test taking. For this project on music I looked up reasons why we should have music. I hope that you will let us listen to music again.

Negative Effects Of Music Education

Another example can be seen by Sharon Begley’s July 24 issue of Science and Technology in which she stated that listening to music starting at a young age helps a child do better in math and science. Again, others might claim that music education in school is a “waste of money and time”. This statement can be contradicted by researcher MIT professor Jeanne Bamberge. Bamberge claims that because of music, children are able to listen and learn better and faster than those who aren’t blessed with music educations. In addition, music increases students’ abilities to listen and learn.

The Negative Effects Of Music On Child Development

Since, music is considerable as the useful tool and it makes things seems easier for people just by listening to it while concentrating or working on things. It is obvious that music is the best tool in relieving from stress and one study shows that music improves the performance of people at their work or children in school more effectively compared to their performance without music. Music does not just relaxing people but there are many benefits on the development of children with their brain, behavior, intellectual and cognitive that leads children to grow further than they could without music (Silberg, n.d.). This topic was interesting to work and conduct researches on because

Should Music Classes Be Compulsory In Schools

Considering my past experiences, my opinion is that fine arts should not be required. They should remain purely as electives, available to students that are personally interested in them. I would never wish the stress and hopelessness I felt in fine art programs or classes upon even my worst enemies”. This shows that forcing students to partake in music classes can make them feel like a chore rather than a fun activity, which is really the opposite of what music classes should strive for. Like it or not, the best way to achieve the goal of educating and getting students interested in music is having it as an elective, not a mandatory class that can potentially turn the students off the subject

Persuasive Essay: Why Have Arts In Schools

These are large pieces of information that show that involvement in the arts can help with far more than just reading music or singing. Another very reliable source, the Department of Education, has also noticed this. “Studies conducted by the DOE [Department of Education] have found a positive correlation between arts involvement and success in other subjects such as mathematics, science, and literature” (Flynn). Clearly, arts have an impact on students, their core education, and even the student’s

Art Integration Essay

Introduction Visual and performing arts tend to act as separate entities within the field of education; considerably isolated from the majority of academia, these sectors are often considered to be secondary or elective options after completing primary education. The arts are an essential part of a well-rounded education, however, when an institute begins a budgeting process, the arts are rarely considered a top priority. For example, during periods of recession many public schools within the United Stated were forced to cut visual, performing and musical arts programs, despite studies that proved the exposure to the arts to be beneficial for students both academically and in extracurricular activities. Learning in an art-infused environment

The Importance Of Art In Communities

The painter, the photographer, and the sculptor create their joy as if they are a child with a box of crayons. Forged in creativity, their piece growing closer to their heart and the viewers. Art heals, art helps, and art teaches. Without it, we are not human but with it, we can create galaxies. Art’s beneficial impact on communities is evident through effective health treatment, adaptive education, and economic gain.

Importance Of Art Essay

1.2 Statement of Significance Art can do lots of things that can create powerful and great changes in ourselves. Artist is someone that is so hard to read if we fail to understand them to interpret the underlying meaning behind their painting because it is their getaway to express their emotions and desires to the community. To accomplish this, the artists are communicating with the society by delivering their messages through their artworks.

Essay On The Importance Of Arts In Education

The arts in education can impact a person 's success in education. “A well-rounded educational experience that includes the arts is closely linked to academic achievement, social and emotional development, civic engagement, and equitable opportunity” (Velasco). Adding fine arts into the educational experience has strong benefits in and outside of the classroom. Studying the lyrics of music can teach students about syllabification, phonics, vocabulary, imagery, history, myths, folktales, geography, and culture.

Benefits Of Listening To Music Essay

Listening to music gives humans huge amount of benefits towards their personal life. A lot of students listen to music to, help reduce stress, boost up their mood and provides motivation in their daily life. Music is an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and affection in significant forms through the components of rhythm, melody, harmony, and colour. Some students use music to overcome the emotional effects of stress or anxiety when engaged in their leisure time, such as studying for a test or quiz, completing homework or assignments that they were given by teachers or lecturers, or while reading and writing. Most of the student choose to listen to their favorite genre of music when they study or do their homework without understanding

Argumentative Essay On Education And Education

Education is a huge issue that not only affects kids and their parents, but their community as well. Schools teach young kids to become the next generation of engineers, technicians, and political leaders, working towards creating a better future for their country and their community. Teachers have the unique job of creating the future leaders of the world, and preparing them for both college and life beyond, by putting a special push towards math and science, the so-called “foundation” of our society. The hard truth is, no one can be anything they want to be. Some people are simply not cut out to be engineers, doctors, or psychologists.

Benefits Of Student Exchange Essay

I Believe that as well as accessing these opertunities many students would also have the chance to learn

More about The Importance Of Art And Music

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• High school

The Role of Art and Music Therapies in Mental Health and Beyond

Prescribing art therapy , yoga, and music lessons is truly a breakthrough for mental health treatment . I want to be completely clear here, this is a breakthrough, but not a breakthrough therapy per se. It is a huge step forward, on the level of readjusting our mental health system, it is really a systems course correction at the root of it. Art therapy, music, etc., all are tested modalities for improving mental health conditions; almost all of them. For chronic, highly disordered and severely dysfunctional patients, this is not a miracle cure. These are, at best, supplementary, tandem, and co-functioning treatment methods to mitigate the severity and intensity of symptoms.

I am not knocking or trying to minimise the importance of this breakthrough. These are not only important modalities in and of themselves, but also support the creativity , independence, and freedom of patients to not only choose their own method of care but also nourish their capacity to carry on treatment more autonomously without being under direct supervision . 

Even more importantly, the system is broken, in total if not complete disarray, and needs to be revised urgently if we are to advance treatment at the speed it requires to meet the mental health crisis where it’s at. These new prescribed modalities will not only serve to add ‘person-centredness’ to the paradigm but also new flexibility within the limits of the system.

Even highly disordered patients are extremely creative during their darkest hour. Art therapy, music, and all of these modalities which draw upon creativity and promote purposeful free-flowing ideas are as self-soothing as they are productive in reducing the negative impact of active symptoms.

I can tell you that I have benefited from a music or art group on an inpatient unit in the hospital many times. Some of my fondest memories from experiencing first-episode psychosis in the hospital were singing and dancing to Stevie Nicks , at my request, when I could barely speak from word salad symptoms and was just a few moments away from being transferred to a higher level of inpatient care for unresolved psychosis. But I danced and laughed like the floor was on fire.

Art, music, yoga, all of these modalities are terribly inaccessible to most patients living off state benefits, who are consigned to a life shut-in and isolated in their homes. Aside from ‘getting out more’, these patients simply don’t have the resources to pay for and maintain a connection to art therapists and other more non-traditional treatment in the community. Unless you are connected to a special service or have the best insurance, these modalities simply aren’t an option for most service users and people with a severe mental health condition.

I truly applaud this shift in the systems paradigm that for so long was all about medication and traditional psychotherapy. We really need more of this in countries supposedly promoting better mental health treatment.

I also want to suggest that therapists who practice traditional talk therapy , straight CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) can continue to add new self-soothing and proven techniques to their toolkit. I am always encouraging my student therapists to do artwork, let their children dance in therapy. Yes, you read this right, just dance, when the time is right and fits the course of treatment.

We need to get out of this traditional black and white thinking of what therapy is and is not . Therapy is what people need in the moment, to feel and behave in a manner that better suits their goals, chosen lifestyle, and needs. So with this said, why not let a child who is struggling to adjust to a new foster parent, dance in session when he can’t play at home. Sure, not for every session and for the duration of every patient contact, but sometimes, when it will benefit the patient, you just have to do it. 

Yes, this is truly a breakthrough in thinking among us practitioners and the higher-ups in our discipline who say what’s what in mental health treatment. It signals that we need to be dynamic, and shift our thinking as practitioners, peers, and anyone charged with providing therapeutic intervention . It is high time we see more of it, from government-sponsored care and any system which is charged with the care of people with a psychiatric disability, or who needs therapeutic intervention to find relief from whatever problem in their life is causing them distress.

Max E. Guttman, LCSW  is a psychotherapist and owner of Recovery Now, a mental health private practice in New York City.

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Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness

Courtesy of Viking (Penguin Random House)

April 9, 2024

• Tod Machover Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Music and Media; Academic Head, Program in Media Arts and Sciences
• Rebecca Kleinberger Former Postdoctoral Associate
• Alexandra Rieger Research Assistant
• Media Lab Research Theme: Connected Mind + Body
• Media Lab Research Theme: Cultivating Creativity

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Fleming, Renée, et al. "Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness." Viking (Penguin Random House LLC). April 9, 2024. ISBN 9780593653197

World-renowned soprano and arts/health advocate Renée Fleming curates a collection of essays from leading scientists, artists, creative arts therapists, educators, and healthcare providers about the powerful impacts of music and the arts on health and the human experience.  The new book contains a significant chapter by the Media Lab’s Tod Machover (Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Music & Media), Rébecca Kleinberger (PhD ’21), and Alexandra Rieger (PhD researcher) called Composing the Future of Health , where they describe the Opera of the Future group’s unique approach to combining research, technology building and music creation to provide innovative solutions to sonic wellbeing.

A compelling and growing body of research has shown music and arts therapies to be effective tools for addressing a widening array of conditions, from providing pain relief and alleviating anxiety and depression to regaining speech after stroke or traumatic brain injury,  and improving mobility for people with disorders that include Parkinson’s disease and MS.

In Music and Mind Renée Fleming draws upon her own experience as an advocate to showcase the breadth of this booming field, inviting leading experts to share their discoveries. In addition to describing therapeutic benefits, the book explores evolution, brain function, childhood development, and technology as applied to arts and health.

Much of this area of study is relatively new, made possible by recent advances in brain imaging, and supported by theNational Institutes of Health, major hospitals, and universities. This work is sparking an explosion of public interest in the arts and health sector.

In her introduction to  Music and Mind , Renée Fleming writes: "Technology will continue to benefit the field [of music and health].  Tod Machover ,  Rébecca Kleinberger , and  Alexandra Rieger  from the  MIT  Media Lab  show in their chapter how technology, music, and creative design can address intractable problems, from stuttering to Alzheimer’s and autism. I have performed Tod’s composition  VocaGammified,  which uses the 40-hertz vibration that has been found to reduce plaques and tangles in the brain by researchers at MIT. Imagine attending a concert and practicing brain hygiene at the same time!"

Fleming has presented on this material in over fifty cities across North America, Europe, and Asia, collaborating with leading researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners. With essays from notable musicians, writers, and artists, as well as leading neuroscientists, Music and Mind is a groundbreaking book, the perfect introduction and overview of this exciting new field.

Opera of the Future @ BSO's Music for the Senses Festival

Listen to the panel discussions and concerts happening in Symphony Hall as part of this festival!

Giving Voice to Philadelphians

Tod Machover shares his insights into the creation and community of "Philadelphia Voices."

Before humans ate chickens, we treasured them as exotic pets

"The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week" dives into research by alum Rébecca Kleinberger showing that parrots seem to enjoy video chats.

Singing About Singing, Using the Voice as a Tool for Self-Reflection

Kleinberger, R. "Singing About Singing, Using the Voice as a Tool for Self-Reflection"

Role of Music in Our Life Essay

Music is one of the greatest and most mysterious spheres of art, which is worth admiring. It is music that speaking to our heart makes people laughing and crying. Music is one of the strongest means of a persons inspiration and one of the most important part of our life.

It is obvious that like any other form of art music has its own language. Pictorial art speaks with us by means of paints, literature with the help of words, and music by virtue of magic sounds of various musical instruments. All the branches of art are tightly interconnected with each other serving the one goal – to bring up the sense of beauty and harmony in a person.

It goes without saying that every individual is talented in its own way. From early childhood, a person unconsciously tries to express oneself by means of art. Some child may be noticed in a process of painting, while another hums in a low tone his favourite song. It is of great importance to recognize a childs inclinations in order to develop them in a full manner in future.

True art forms an aesthetic sensibility and it is very important to instill in children love for beauty from the cradle. The development of creative potential, nice sense of beauty and possibility to notice something unusual are those factors that help artistic people in creation. The creative approach helps a person in his daily activity. Moreover, the admiration of beauty provides us with additional energy in overcoming difficulties.

Those people who have a sense of beauty are optimists and dreamers in a certain manner. As a rule, they possess qualities that are necessary to be successful in life. That is why it is of great importance to introduce children to the world of music, poetry, pictorial art and literature, because art promotes a childs pursuance of beauty and ideal.

It is also noticed that art education promotes the cognitive development of a child. As a rule those children who attend musical classes have better progress in education.

At the same time, children should not be forced to deal with activity to which they have no propensity. It is a task of parents to recognize a childs inclinations and abilities. There may be found numerous examples when a child who has been compelled to attend music lessons leaves his study, finding himself in another sphere of art. For instance a parent, impressed by a virtuoso guitar technique of his favorite musician, decides for himself to do his best in order his child to become a great guitar player, while his child has inclination for drawing.

There are also examples when a child with an obvious aptitude for music has no desire to attend music lessons. In such a case, motivation plays a very important role. There are many possibilities to cultivate love of art in a child. It is possible to visit an art museum or a concert of classic music. It does not matter if a child pays more attention to the mere process of visit than to an exhibition in itself. The key point of such a visit is to stimulate childish interest. The appreciation of masterpieces in a museum will be later.

While motivating interest for music many teachers pay much attention to concerts, in which a child is involved. They say that a feeling of anxiety before such a concert is changed with a sense of euphoria and satisfaction after a successful playing. This factor serves as a key point in motivation.

It is impossible to imagine our life without art or music. It creates a new world of thoughts, lofty sentiments and passions. It is art that makes us spiritually wealthy.

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IvyPanda. (2020, July 3). Role of Music in Our Life. https://ivypanda.com/essays/role-of-music-in-our-life/

"Role of Music in Our Life." IvyPanda , 3 July 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/role-of-music-in-our-life/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Role of Music in Our Life'. 3 July.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Role of Music in Our Life." July 3, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/role-of-music-in-our-life/.

1. IvyPanda . "Role of Music in Our Life." July 3, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/role-of-music-in-our-life/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Role of Music in Our Life." July 3, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/role-of-music-in-our-life/.

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Early Literacy- What Do Music and Art Have To Do With It?

Posted on April 12, 2024 by hallma

The melodies and rhythms of music are the gateway to language and literacy skills during the early years. From soothing lullabies to lively dance tunes, music captivates young children. Repetitive chants, rhymes, and songs lay the foundation for phonemic awareness and vocabulary expansion as children internalize the tone, rhythm and structure of language.

Likewise, the visual arts offer a multitude of opportunities to support cognitive development and growing imaginations. From finger painting and collage-making to exploring colors, shapes, and textures, children are on a multi-sensory  journey of self-expression and discovery. Through open-ended hands-on activities, children develop fine motor skills, spatial awareness and visual-spatial reasoning which are  skills that underpin more advanced literacy acquisition.

Exposure to visual arts also enhances children’s visual literacy (the ability to interpret and comprehend visual information) which is essential in today’s multimedia world.  Making sense of pictorial narratives and interpreting visual cues support children’s comprehension skills and  understanding of visual storytelling techniques which are valuable skills for later textual comprehension and critical thinking.

Incorporating music and visual arts to support early literacy development promotes inclusivity and accommodates diverse learning styles and abilities. Embracing a multimodal approach to literacy instruction empowers children to use their strengths, preferences, and cultural capital to learn.

Email her at [email protected] 

https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/ecc/index.html

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IN CONVERSATION

For maggie nelson, criticism is an expression of love, by mike mills, april 10, 2024.

Photo courtesy of Maggie Nelson.

When he got on a Zoom call last week with the acclaimed writer and critic Maggie Nelson , the director Mike Mills was a bit nervous. “ You intimidate me on a lot of levels,” he confessed. That might have something to do with Nelson’s sensitivity and erudition, which is on full display in her new book Like Love: Essays and Conversations , in which essays, reviews, profiles and interviews with artists, published over a period of two decades, are all collected for the very first time. They range from conversations with Maggie’s longtime pal Eileen Myles , to a discursive fan-to-fan email exchange with Bjork , to an intimate profile of the artist Carolee Schneemann , with whom Nelson spent time in upstate New York. “ It’s a real spiritual practice to empty yourself enough to actually hear what someone’s telling you about their work,” she told Mills, the Oscar-nominated writer and director of delicate family dramas like 20th Century Women and C’mon C’mon . On the day of Nelson’s book release, she and Mills went deep on the meaning of criticism and the utility of language.

MAGGIE NELSON: I’ve done a lot on Zoom this week. It’s really like a PTSD feeling.

MIKE MILLS: Are you in your office?

NELSON: I am in my office.

MILLS: Okay. Let’s talk about your book. It was really fun. In the conversation with Eileen Myles, you talk about the book as the container. As a reader and a fan of yours, I have the same feeling. It’s like, “Oh, I’m getting to see this other side of your practice, your interests, your relationships.” It did really feel like you were cruising around, visiting different friends and people you’ve just met or known forever. I was curious what it was like for you to put that all together. Was it freeing or something, or has it changed things?

NELSON: Before I put it together, I didn’t really think about how it would change things. I’ve been very book-focused and I write a lot of art essays. But the art essays, I write them kind of on the sly and it felt like a free space for me, because I haven’t thought a lot of people read them. They’re just in catalogs and there tends to be a more private transmission between the artist and the gallery or whatever. The idea of the book was like, “These haven’t really been published all together, or I haven’t really conceived of them like that.” 

MILLS: Yeah. It struck me that it refracted back to the different people you were interacting with. It kind of gave me a behind-the-scenes feeling. I love you saying that you feel stupid when you write, like in that Eileen conversation. That was so nice to read as an admirer of yours.

NELSON: That’s nice.

MILLS: Also, the thing about writing where, at one point, it was an empty space or a private space where you could process and find yourself or have this selfhood. And then it was really gone and you’re struggling to recreate this private space. I did get the sense that, in these essays, you’re hiding away in public but you’re very much there.

NELSON: The great thing about writing and art, as you know, is there’s never any hiding. It’s all about tricking yourself into continuing to be an expressive person, because there are anxieties that go with public expression, whether or not you think one person or 1,000 are going to be looking at it. I like that conversation with Eileen, too. We met when I was 19, so it felt very interesting for somebody that was so marked as making all of my beginnings possible, in an early moment of life, to revisit and be like, “Wow, how has this whole life thing been going?

MILLS: Right. I’ve read you talking about Eileen over the years in different contexts and here it gave me that behind-the-scenes quality. I would love to ask you for the whole 45 minutes to try and recreate the private space, because I find that really fascinating. And I was surprised, because in reading your stuff I always feel like you’re very free and not burdened by that. But, of course, everyone is.

NELSON: Right. People have talked about a lot of my books as being dialogic or interpersonal in some way. But you learn how to make things, at least I do, by looking at things that I admire. A lot of the people in this book provoke this deep hunger while I’m in the gallery of understanding their tone. You can’t go home and be like, “How can I do it writing?” Because you’re not them and it’s not the same medium. But this book is a lot of my immersion of these people into my work. I’ve admired things that I’ve been like, “Wow, how would you get that tone?” or “How would you get that orientation or stance?” 

MILLS: I love what Hilton [Als] wrote, which you got the title from. I feel a really similar thing with you and Hilton where sometimes a writer’s facing you and telling you stuff, and often I feel like I’m alongside you and you’re showing me something. You’re along for the ride. He has his arm around you and he’s sort of talking to you about stuff. I love that feeling, especially in the heightened, intelligent space that you both work in. 

NELSON: That’s nice. I really like writers like Hilton where, even within a sentence, you think you’re starting in one place and then you’re happily bewildered by where they’re bringing you.

MILLS: Why did you use that for the title?

NELSON: I wanted this book to be a collection of criticism, broadly defined. But when people hear criticism or they say someone’s a critic, that means evaluative. I wanted to announce that the book had to do with things that I like and love, but that because of the weirdness of Hilton’s phrase, and because of the propulsiveness of what he’s talking about, it’s not a simple version of, “Oh, I love that.” I really liked the web of associations that came with that. Part of my critical practice, starting when I was in graduate school, is that only things I thought were great and needed more light on them merited the powers of my attention. I made that decision early on and I have mostly stuck to it.

MILLS: Right. And within that complicated definition of love, there’s a lot of push and pull. Also, I didn’t really know that much about Carolee Schneemann. I’ve seen some images, but I’m not knowledgeable about her or her work. All that parsing out of your experience with her is so beautiful and interesting. I mean, you describe her tub. It’s just great. Sorry, to be so simple. 

NELSON: No, that’s awesome. I was asked to write a long piece on Carolee, like a retrospective of the work, and they sent me up there, so I got to spend some time with her. A lot of my other writing about art is more like, I go to the gallery, go to the studio, get the slides, get the press materials, do my own research, but this was different. So, the tub matters and us going out for dinner matters.

MILLS: You made me just so interested in this person.

NELSON: I’m so glad. It really matters a lot for Carolee, because she had a lot of cultural capital and was always talked about as one of the most famous feminist performance artists, alongside Marina Abromovic and Yoko Ono. But it didn’t translate, as it so often the case, into money for Carolee. It’s also really important, because people sometimes think that she didn’t want all that, but of course she wanted all that. And then you get into this career where everyone’s lauding you for precisely this thing that has been really difficult, which is not being attractive to any promotional machines. So, there’s a paradox there as well. One of the really interesting things about writing about other people’s art is the tension between wanting to and having to write about what you got from the work. I make an analogy with Alice Notley talking about when people say, “Well, you’re such a feminist, why are you always writing about men?” And she says, “My dead are men, and I need to talk to them.” There’s a poignancy and a lot of energy there that I find very moving.

MILLS: Yeah. Sticking with Carolee for one more minute, you’re in this conversation with her and you use the word precarity. It seems you’re often drawn to precarity or–

NELSON: Maybe, yeah. Maybe I’m working something out. It kind of brings us to the conversation with Jacqueline Rose and how she’s all about holding these ambivalences or contradictory or things that make us feel precarious because they can’t be resolved. I was really happy to talk to her because she’s so articulate about that in her work. I really wanted to take the opportunity to ask her to define thinking, in this context, as really just being able to hold contradictory things like feelings. And then, because she’s a psycho-socio-political critic, linking that to fascism resistance and the promises that the neo-fascist makes, that there will be an end to the agony and joy via a process of scapegoating and repression. The things that cause us distress can be dealt with. So the book is not about that; the book is about art, but it helps me to be around these people and their work. It helps me to feel like all that can be held and it won’t tear us apart.

MILLS: Mm-hmm. Often, when I’m reading you, I feel a couple things. One is, “Wow, I’m really with this person thinking”—and it’s this very physical act. And it was interesting in the Eileen Myles conversation you’re like, “Ideas are like concrete objects in your mind, like furniture that you can move around in a room.” And I felt like, “Exactly, I feel like I’m in that room.” But then, sometimes there’s this great attention to your love of language from a poet’s background. The way your appreciation for Hilton was captured by words is really pronounced. 

NELSON: In everything that I write, even if it’s very lyrical or autobiographical, there’s something that you need to say, and saying it in language that’s pleasing is kind of the secondary goal. With some of these essays, I want them to have precision and hopefully the pleasure of language. But it’s not the very first thing in the order of business.

MILLS: Right. Someone needs to turn the Bjork piece into a play or something, because that’s another delight of the book. It’s great to see you at all these different places and the way that Bjork is speaking to you. And I love that you spoke back in your way. It was like a direct letter to her. You used everything in your toolbox and she wrote very much from her own toolbox. 

NELSON: Yeah. We have different idioms, for sure. 

MILLS: But each piece is very precise and articulate and honest, and also it’s fun to read you guys fan out on each other. It’s important for all of us to see. It’s a silly, weird way of feeling community.

NELSON: Yeah. When I titled all these pieces, I picked different titles for them than how they may have originally traveled. I mean, another big danger when writing about art is you see their art, and then you see a flicker of one of your hobby horses pass by, and then you kind of distort their whole project to this thing you have in mind. I noticed common themes when I put the book together, and sometimes I had to take out paragraphs from different people’s essays where I was clearly working on the same topic in multiple ways. Not to sound too hokey, but it’s a real spiritual practice to empty yourself enough to actually hear what someone’s telling you about their work.

MILLS: Yeah. Because, one of your themes is attention and care and trying to understand others and understand differences. It seems like you’re drawn to people with a talent for blurring, messing with categorizations. That keeps coming up in a way that I find liberating, interesting, and nurturing. It’s like you’re feeding yourself on all these things. You’re finding little bits of nutrients that reflect your interests but are also different.

NELSON: Yeah. There’s that moment in the Hilton Als essay where I’m saying, “How do you do this?” And then I say, “Well, one good answer is read Hilton Als.” There isn’t really a philosophical or ethical edict like: “How do you do it? You do it like X.” Art is the practice of making manifest. So you look at what shape things into being in and what they sound like and what work they do.

MILLS: Yeah. You keep saying this is a collection of essays about art, and you always surprise me every time you say it, because I’m like, “It’s a bunch of portraits of people’s thought practices and life-ways and bodies in mental and physical structure.” 

NELSON: Yeah, and it’s definitely not all about art. Do you have any other burning questions or things we didn’t hit?

MILLS: No. I want to take a class with you.

NELSON: Oh my gosh. Well, that’s really nice. I feel convinced that this will be my favorite conversation about this book, so I appreciate it. I mean it.

MILLS: It was fun to be nervous. You intimidate me on a lot of levels.

NELSON: Oh, give me a break.

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