An Analysis of the Basic Musical
Divisions in Psychological Relation to the Elements. If the unconscious and the
subconscious line up, objectively, against their subjective – and male –
counterparts, the conscious and the superconscious, as contended in my previous
entry, then this may not only be equivalent to fire and water on the female
side of life vis-à-vis vegetation (earth) and air on its male side but, in musical
terms, to rhythm and harmony vis-à-vis melody and pitch, the former pair
equivalent to fire and water, the unconscious and the subconscious, but the
latter pair equivalent, by contrast, to vegetation and air, the conscious and
the superconscious. Thus not only would
rhythm and harmony appertain to the objective, or female, side of life, but
they would correspond to will and spirit, power and glory, whereas melody and
pitch, their subjective, or male, counterparts, would correspond to ego and
soul, as though in association with form and content(ment). And in broad musical terms I can think of no
better genre distinctions for each of these contrasting attributes of the
musical totality than ballet and opera vis-à-vis the symphony and the concerto,
taking the former pair as largely synonymous with rhythm and harmony, power and
glory, but the latter pair as largely synonymous with melody and pitch, form
and content(ment).
Doubtless other musical genres, such as jazz and pop vis-à-vis rock and
electronica, could also be cited in this respect, but the fundamental
distinction between rhythm and harmony on the one hand, and melody and pitch on
the other would seem to confirm a gender dichotomy between the unconscious and
the subconscious, fire and water, on the female side of things, and between the
conscious and the superconscious, vegetation and air, on its male side. In terms of contrasting axes, however, it
could be contended that rhythm and melody would stand hegemonically apart from
what may be called antipitch and antiharmony where
state-hegemonic/church-subordinate criteria are concerned, rhythm and antipitch
lining up as metachemistry over antimetaphysics
at the northwest point of the intercardinal axial
compass, and melody and antiharmony lining up as physics over antichemistry at
its southeast point. By axial contrast,
it could be contended that pitch and harmony would stand hegemonically apart
from what might be called antirhythm and antimelody where church-hegemonic/state-subordinate
criteria were concerned, pitch and antirhythm lining up as metaphysics over
antimetachemistry at the northeast point of the intercardinal
axial compass, and harmony and antimelody lining up as chemistry over antiphysics at its southwest point. But that is another story, and it suffices
here if we limit our criteria to the fundamental distinctions between
unconscious rhythm and subconscious harmony where noumenal and phenomenal
objectivity are concerned, and between conscious melody and superconscious
pitch where phenomenal and noumenal subjectivity are concerned, thereby
establishing the likelihood of a noumenal antithesis between unconscious rhythm
and superconscious pitch, fire and air, power and content(ment), will and soul,
but of a phenomenal antithesis between subconscious harmony and conscious
melody, water and vegetation, glory and form, spirit and ego. And if this is not commensurate, in classical
terms, with an antithesis between ballet and the concerto on the one hand and opera
and the symphony on the other hand, then I should be the first to concede to
being the most surprised individual on earth!