When the sounds of the local are recreated, but with added harmony, they become more than they are in their environment, presented in aesthetic unity. They become musical motifs of sensuous energy that can be seen as synonymous with Schopenhauer’s idea of the Will. Making music from the experiences of people in an area, and the area itself shows these elements combined with harmony; a harmony that resonates through all things, dissembling our individuality as metaphysical energy, like the Will. The idea of the Will is particularly applicable to music because Schopenhauer says ‘music does not, like all other arts, exhibit the idea or grades of the Will’s objectification, but directly the will itself.’ (Schopenhauer, p.448) Schopenhauer also says how music acts directly on the Will by raising or altering feelings and passions, so that makes music an immediate way to feel local places in a way that does not rely on language but feeling itself as a tool of communication. Music allows us to access ‘secret information on the feelings expressed in the worlds’ in their ‘real true nature’ (Schopenhauer, p.448). The raw meta-physical thing in itself can be accessed by music for Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer also says poetry is ‘welcome’ in music, however, and being able to relate to the phenomenal world is key to the particular project I am doing. The music transcends the material world of the lyrical, but the lyrical ideas do give a reference point for the listener that can improve the surface of the music.
Discussing the surface and the metaphysical side of art is key to Hegelian aesthetic ideas where the ‘semblance’ and ‘sensuous’ should correspond directly. Hegel’s theories on art deal with the direct tension between the ‘two contradicting worlds’ one of eternal being, one of the phenomenal now, which both deal with a kind of different truth. The sensuous side deals with eternal being and the semblance deals with the phenomenal now. The metaphor of human body and spirit and how body can represent spirit is a useful way of understanding Hegel’s ideas of aesthetics.
Composing the North East 