feb. 22

-Finished "Resounding Truth" yesterday. Very helpful (basic) survey of music's historical relationship to Christianity. Begbie places music within a "Christian ecology", or the "web of basic faith commitments that emerge from the gospel", giving particular attention to a doctrine of creation. Very helpful introduction to speaking of music theologically.

Started Zizek's "violence" today. Zizek is very fun to read. His critiques of pop culture are extremely illuminating.
Alain Badiou's "atonal worlds"- lacks the intervention of a master-signifier to impose meaningful order onto the confused multiplicity of reality".
-"the external threat that the community is fighting is its own inherent essence."

-Watched "A Labyrinth of Time", a film about the life and music of Eliot Carter.
Some very interesting themes of conflict and confrontation.
-"How humans live with constant encounters"
-different fields of activity -thick, thin- constantly overwhelmed with confused problems.

Listened, with scores, to "Raising Sparks", "A different World", and "Sowetan Spring".

-Looking through an analysis of Schnittke's Concerto Grosso.
- "symbol of an external force".

Trying to focus on conflict and confrontation. Some potentially very interesting themes in Schnittke and Carter. Hope to finish Zizek in next two days and start some analysis of Schnittke. Also need to get Schnittke's book.