Synopses & Reviews
A groove is commonly understood as the feel of a rhythm. While this points in the right direction, it is notoriously vague. In this innovative work, Tiger C. Roholt demonstrates that a groove has three aspects: slight timing variations, perceptual structure, and bodily feeling.
Roholt argues that grooves are likely to arise in experience when listeners direct their attention to a rhythm's pulse, allowing the timing variations to recede into the perceptual background. He invokes Merleau-Ponty's notion of perceptual indeterminacy and illustrates how these feelings of tension transform into positive feelings once regularities and expectations take hold - such as a rhythm's being "in the pocket," "laid back," "buoyant," and so on. Finally, he claims that body movement to a pulse is not merely a reaction to a rhythm but that it aids the listener in establishing a perceptual structure conducive to experiencing a groove, while also intensifying the bodily feelings.
Written by an experienced drummer and philosopher, Groove is a vivid and exciting study of one of music's most central and relatively unexplored aspects.
Synopsis
Written by an experienced drummer and philosopher, Groove is a vivid and exciting study of one of music's most central and relatively unexplored aspects. Tiger C. Roholt explains why grooves, which are forged in music's rhythmic nuances, remain hidden to some listeners. He argues that grooves are not graspable through the intellect nor through mere listening; rather, grooves are disclosed through our bodily engagement with music. We grasp a groove bodily by moving with music's pulsations. By invoking the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty's notion of "motor intentionality," Roholt shows that the "feel" of a groove, and the understanding of it, are two sides of a coin: to "get" a groove just is to comprehend it bodily and to feel that embodied comprehension.
About the Author
Tiger C. Roholt is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Montclair State University, USA. A professional musician prior to embarking upon his academic career, Roholt earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy at Columbia University. His recent essays have appeared in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism and Contemporary Aesthetics. He is author of Key Terms in Philosophy of Art (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013).
Table of Contents
Introduction
Groove
The Role of Groove
Preview
Chapter 1. First Aspect of Groove: Slight Timing Variations
1.1 Musical Nuance
1.2 The First Aspect of Groove
1.3 Is a Groove Identical to the Variations?
1.4 Is a Groove Identical to the Variations Plus Other Musical Elements?
Chapter 2. Second Aspect of Groove: Perceptual Structure, Ways of Perceiving
2.1 Art's Perceptual Ambiguity
2.2 Musical Meter
2.3 Slight Variations as Objects of Attention
2.4 Slight Variations as Perceptually Indeterminate
Chapter 3. Third Aspect of Groove: Bodily Feeling
3.1 What it's Like
3.2 Maurice Merleau-Ponty's Motor-Intentionality
3.3 Moving to a Pulse
3.4 Conclusion
Bibliography
Discography
Index