tracking the spiritual roots of pop from Plato to Motown /
First Statement of Responsibility
Joel Rudinow
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.
Ann Arbor, MI :
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
University of Michigan Press,
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
c2010
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
xiii, 250 p. ;
Dimensions
24 cm
SERIES
Series Title
Tracking pop
INTERNAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES/INDEXES NOTE
Text of Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
CONTENTS NOTE
Text of Note
Preface -- Introduction -- What is soul? (And what is soul music?) -- Devil's music (Can music be evil?) -- Between Saturday night and Sunday morning (The dark night of the soul) -- Blue notes and Greek philosophy (Pythagoras, Plato, and spiritual intonation) -- Bio-rhythms (From formalism to somaesthetics) -- Fake it till you feel it (Race, ethnicity, authenticity in performance) -- Speaking in tongues (Isn't this all too Straussian?) -- Music as a healing art (Music and medicine, body and soul) -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Recommended listening and viewing -- Index
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SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
The idea is as strange as it is commonplace--that the "soul" in soul music is more than just a name, that somehow the music truly taps into something essential rooted in the spiritual notion of the soul itself. Or is it strange? From the civil rights movement and beyond, soul music has played a key, indisputable role in moments of national healing. Of course, American popular music has long been embroiled in controversies over its spiritual purity (or lack thereof). But why? However easy it might seem to dismiss these ideas and debates as quaint and merely symbolic, they persist. In Soul Music: Tracking the Spiritual Roots of Pop from Plato to Motown, Joel Rudinow, a philosopher of music, takes these peculiar notions and exposes them to serious scrutiny. How, Rudinow asks, does music truly work upon the soul, individually and collectively? And what does it mean to say that music can be spiritually therapeutic or toxic? This illuminating, meditative exploration leads from the metaphysical idea of the soul to the legend of Robert Johnson to the philosophies of Plato and Leo Strauss to the history of race and racism in American popular culture to current clinical practices of music therapy
PARALLEL TITLE PROPER
Parallel Title
Tracking the spiritual roots of pop from Plato to Motown