Read Chapter 2 (attached)
What to Post First
Everyone should first post a response to the following questions within the first week of the module:
In Chapter 2, Hesmondhalgh begins constructing his book-length argument about “why music matters” (*). (Note that in so doing, he refers carefully and precisely to other authors’ arguments that are relevant to his own.) The chapter may not be long, but it is nonetheless challenging. Our primary goal in discussing it here is to cooperate in order to better and more fully understand it. To get the discussion started, each of you should do the following:
Consider your own experiences with and knowledge of music. Provide your own example of “music’s capacity to enrich our lives via the feelings and emotions it engenders” (Hesmondhalgh, p. 11) together with an explanation of how your example connects to some aspect of Hesmondhalgh’s argument in the chapter.
Provide you own example of “the limits of [music’s capacity to enrich our lives via the feelings and emotions it engenders] in modern societies” (Hesmondhalgh, p. 11) together with an explanation of how your example connects to some aspect of Hesmondhalgh’s argument in the chapter.
Finally: Can you find any way to relate the magazine article by Drew (on rave parties) to any of the ideas, vocabulary, or arguments of Hesmondhalgh’s Chapter 2?
(*) Note that there is much discussion of affect in this chapter. Please realize that the author is NOT using the word pronounced with the stress on the second syllable (a-FFECT) but rather the word with the stress on the “a” (A-ffect): as involving “emotions, feelings, and moods” (Hesmondhalgh, p. 11). For more about concepts of “affect” (e.g., in philosophy, in rhetoric, in psychology), you might begin by consulting various pertinent entries in Wikipedia. For our purposes, though, it should suffice to keep in mind that “affect” is a matter of emotions, feelings, and moods. (The word “affective” is also used, meaning “relating to feelings or emotions.”)
