Theory for Music-Thomas Turino

I defintely agree with Thomas when he says that music has a big role in shaping our socitey. Many times, the type of music a person listens to, tends to be how they act. Or, maybe that is just a stereotype, still, a major impact on life and the way people see things. I thought it was interesting how he said, "It seems to me that the challenge for the next generation is to develop a theory of music in relation to what is usually called "emotion"-- "
To me, this means that music has kind of died out and our generation is responsible for coming up with different emotions, or feelings, for different genres of music. And with coming up with these emotions, we are to define a theory of why we decided upon that such emotion for that genre.

When reading the part about sign, object, interpretant, I pictured it as the coming of "sign language," a way for people to communicate without using words, just symbols and gestures. I feel he is making a connection with Peirce's Semiosis process. When he points out the fact that he feels music is the sign "of" feeling, not the sign "about" feeling; I have to agree, because when I listen to music, I get a feeling. Depending on what genre of music, the singer/band, and such, I get a sense of emotion. When their music begins, I don't feel that when I turn on the radio, the singers/bands are making you try to feel a certain way about something, I think they are expressing their views and their thoughts, and want you to interpret them any way necessary.

I appreciate the fact that he puts terms into "English," if you would. Since I am not a musical person at all, some of the words and terms make absolutely no sense to me. But then, following in the next sentence, is an example of what he is talking about. For example, when he is talking about the term "legisign," he talks about the Star-Spangled Banner and the color red.

The pictures were confusing, because I wasn't exactly sure what they were illustrating, but they helped a little bit understand more of what was going on. I'm sure if someone reading this article knew what all those words and terms meant, they would be able to appreciate the illustrations much more than me.

He brings in to effect, normal everyday people and experiences. Some of which include, used car salesmen, false lovers, politicians, and actors/actresses. We all watch T.V. and have a political figure in our life somewhere or another, whether it be your mayor, govenor, senator, or president. They play a major role in our life. Actors/actresses are a common everyday practice in our lives, watching movies or T.V. Everything we do, and everything we see, affects our vision of music, ways of thinking, and different steps to coming up with a theory for music.

The properties, or categories of firstness, secondness, and thirdness threw me off a bit. But as I kept reading, I realized they were traced back to the trichotomies that Peirce had discovered. Overall, music is awesome! And I couldn't go a day without it. Maybe everyone should have their own theory of music?