Recent studies in scientific and spiritual understandings of music

Abstract

Two books dealing with the nature of music could not be more different than Marcel Cobussen's Thresholds: Rethinking Spirituality through Music and William Forde Thompson's Music, Thought, and Feeling: Understanding the Psychology of Music. The first is a thought-fest of philosophical meanderings, the second a student textbook that includes the highly quantized results of scientific studies; Cobussen has copious exploratory footnotes, Thompson has none; the former cites 113 references from 85 first authors, the latter cites 510 references and 616 first authors; the European-based musicologist focuses primarily upon the spiritual reality of music; the Australian-based psychologist focuses primarily upon the material reality of music. And yet the purpose of this all-too binary list is not to highlight difference, but, rather, to show that in combination Cobussen and Thompson provide impressive insight into the extent of contemporary musical comprehension. Their publications are convincing proof that we are making some headway towards full understanding of what music is and, in their sophistication, depth and coverage, they justify the continuation of the scholarly search. This is not, of course, to imply that full understanding is just around the corner. Yet Cobussen's threshold perspective is alluring in its sense of fit with the ‘gathering up without perceptibly gathering’ that has connoted the postmodern turn; for it is only in comprehending differently that we can renegotiate the discursive stumbling blocks surrounding intangible realities.

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Notes on contributors

Stephanie Rocke

With a particular emphasis on contemporary trends in spirituality and secularisation, Stephanie Rocke is investigating the Concert Mass at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology at Monash University, supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award.