Ferrara, "Phenomenology as a Tool for Musical Analysis"

Historically, the western mind has yearned to possess objective knowledge.   Current scientific philosophers and phenomenolgists alike, however, have begun to explore the idea of personal knowledge: "the personal (experiential) involvement of a 'knower' in all acts of understanding"(356).   In his article "Phenomenology as a Tool for Musical Analysis," Ferrara examines phenomenology as the means of incorporating experiential knowledge into music analysis.   The phenomenological method does not dominate or manipulate the work as it does in standard analysis, but rather it allows the work to question the analyst and the analyst to respond.  According to Ferrara, a work "functions not only as a series of solved problems to technical questions" but as a "polyphonic texture of syntactical, semantic, and ontological meanings" and therefore it must be attended to in a more human and complex way (357).

Ferrara chooses to analyze Edgard Varèse's Poème électronique, an atonal electronic piece of music, phenomenologically because he believes that most other theoretical approaches cannot function in analyzing this type of music.  In performing this analysis, he is attempting to prove "that applied music theory can be broadened to include the implementation of philosophical interpretation" (358). 

He begins with 3 open listenings.  He maintains that you can and should do as many open listenings as the work lends itself too.  After each listening, he records what he hears, building upon his observations each time, and by the third listening he even begins to try and categorize the sounds into some sort of basic sections.  This leads him into the first listening for syntactical form.  First he describes how he will approach the syntactical analysis - since it will not be as straightforward as a standard syntactical analysis that only works with tonal or structured music, he will have to structure the syntactical analysis around the piece - and then proceeds to analyze each section of the piece (he has broken it up into 10 sections).  Ferrara writes that it is difficult to bracket out "semantic" meanings in a piece like this and focus solely on syntax, since the syntax is made up of sounds like birds in a jungle and crashes which obviously have built-in references.  (This proves, once again, how the analyst must be open to the work and not stuck behind rules).  Syntax is approached on 2 levels in Ferrara's analysis.  Firstly, the analyst brackets out formal training to focus on sounds and textures, and secondly, the analyst may use traditional methods to uncover "higher levels of syntax" and to build upon the first more phenomenological analysis of the music (360).

Ferrara moves on to analyze semantic content and meaning in the work.  Again, there are 2 levels - the obvious, for example a bell tolling, and the second, which deals with a specific and deeper meaning for every sound, such as the bell tolling symbolizing time. Semantic meaning is symbolic and has to do with making references.

The third part of the analysis is onto-historical, which not only grows out of but clarifies the previous syntactical and semantic analysis'.    From listening to the work, Ferrara establishes that "Poème électronique crystallizes what it means to be in the modern era.  In our actual lives, technology (computers, automobiles, or electric can openers) surrounds our existence" (369).   This opens up the work to even more symbolic reference, such as: "The concept of "time ticking away or a heartbeat stopping underscores the importance of temporality in human being (370)".    Additionally, the free and sporadic nature of the music coming in and out of the listener's conciousness parallels the way that realities of our existence come in and out of our conciousness awareness without order.   The onto-logical analysis, therefore, elaborates upon and gives depth to the prior two steps.

The three levels of analysis described in the text are all inter-connected, constantly building upon each other.     In the final open listening, these levels come together to create "an intuitive sense of the whole" (371).  Certain passages, directions, etc. now stand out to Ferrara as he weaves his analysis together, and he is finally able to draw some solid conclusions based in experiential knowledge.

He concludes by stressing that there is no correct way to analyze a work.   He contends that the analysis and the work must be essentially bonded together, grounding the former in the latter.  "If the work functions at levels of meaning other than syntax, then so must the analysis.  Musical analysis must not be limited to a discussion of formal elements"(373).  Ferrara insists that music exists on a multiplicity of levels, and therefore must be approached from many different dimensions, as is explained in the phenomenological analysis.

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I was unsure why this was titled a "phenomenological analysis" - was the whole analysis supposed to be described in a phenomenological sense, or was the phenomenological element supposed to be the most important, with syntax, semantics, and onto-historical worlds to supplement it?  I was also confused by the syntax.  To me, the syntax seemed like a phenomenological analysis - it consisted of phrases like "juxtaposition of hard percussive sounds" and "round, deep tones" (364-5).  The first step of syntactical analysis especially, when the analyst brackets out formal training just to listen to sound is purely phenomenological in the sense that we have spoken of.  Overall, this entire analysis seems to take on a slightly different structure than the eclectic method, but I can see how the eclectic method grew from this.