Abstract
Abstract
The second chapter of the book considers aesthetic hearing as adopting a reflective attitude towards game music. Rather than offering an aesthetics of game music or offering aesthetic judgments of specific pieces, it attempts a phenomenology of the structure of aesthetic experience. Central to this is the idea that aesthetic moments halt the listener or player, inviting reflection or hermeneutic interpretation. After introducing the idea of a musical aesthetic moment through a case study of Minecraft, three forms of aesthetic hearing are discussed: nostalgic encounters, which are connected to Marcel Proust; musical experiences of beauty in the virtual nature of open-world video games, which are connected to the natural aesthetics of Ronald Hepburn; and aesthetic listening as hermeneutic interpretation more generally, which is illustrated through a case study of the music of John Adams in Civilization IV.
Publisher
Oxford University PressNew York
Reference272 articles.
1. Music: Drastic or Gnostic?;Critical Inquiry,2004