"What is Time?"

This piece was amazing because the changes in tempo caused differing phenomenological experiences for me.  When the tempo slowed down, I could feel my heart slowing down whereas when the piece sped up, I could feel my heart racing.  Furthermore, this selection reminded me of my childhood, which was very interesting.  Surprisingly, I found myself thinking about the first times I rode a bike.  When the terrain was level and normal, I felt in control of my life much like when Afternoon of a Faun was in adagio and very slow. However, when the selection began speeding up and gaining intensity, I thought of the times when I viciously sped down a steep hill, too scared to pull myself together and pump the brakes.  But, just as the song returned to a slow tempo, when the slope leveled back out, I was again content and relaxed.  This piece had a profound phenomenological impression on me.

The song, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, is quite intriguing. It starts off as a very soothing piece that flows smoothly and allows me to transcend into a state of peacefulness. My ears are glued to the soft sounds of the harp and the flute. It’s the kind of song that that has the ability to put me totally at ease and potentially even put me to sleep (in a good way). As the song continues, however, the pace speeds up at points, and a sense of commotion dominates the song for just a few moments.  At this point, I could tell that this was not a song made solely to please the ear, but also made to articulate a story for the listener. I was drawn into the emotion of the song as it exuded a feeling of betrayal. I could picture in my mind devious acts of trickery. This sensation does not last long, however, before it transforms into a state of joyful triumph. By the end of the song, it has come full circle and I am brought back to my original state of tranquility. The sounds within this song remind me of a Disney movie and the way in which this song is set up also leads my imagination back to childhood films. The cycle of peacefulness followed by evil-doings, which are then concluded with a happy ending reminds me of movies such as snow white and sleeping beauty.

The first soft rising notes remind me faintly of the phantom of the opera’s famous track. The settling of the track into a sweet melody is peaceful and relaxing, yet filled with energy. The music moves though me and not only calms me but rejuvenates me, gives me the energy to push on with my evening. As the track descends deeper it begins to muddle and darken, filling me with confusion and wonder. From the peaceful state I was in before I am transformed to a more hastened state, feeling as if my relaxation in over and that I must inquire and return to the rigors of a harsher world. Settling into the final moments quick transitions between a relaxed state and a hasty state occur, bringing together sounds which confuse but also intrigue me. I wonder where this peace will take me and how it will conclude. As its moment draws to a close the notes string out longer and form familiar patters of finality, easy deep notes. Then static. The piece is over and I have loved it again for what must be the tenth or eleventh time. The music is mystifyingly complex yet oddly simplistic in emotion; it is easy to read and comprehend while still leaving you to question what would follow. I guess in that sense it is good it is a prelude because at least then I have the comfort that there is more to the beauty and wonder which unfolded here, perhaps even an answer to the questions proposed.

When I listened to this song, I was taken on a bit of a journey to different parts of my life where I had heard a similar tune. As I continued to listen to the melodies, I kept being reminded of a different movie or play that I had seen as a child. The opening part of the song instantly made me think of a puppet movie I had seen in my 5th grade music class named “Peter and the Wolf.” The tune sounded strikingly similar as did the instrumentation. The next place my mind took me was to the Disney movie “The Jungle Book.” Now, I haven’t seen that movie in a long time, but I think the connection here had to do with the music that was played when the snake was on screen. Next, I was reminded of another Disney movie called “Bambi.” I think I made the connection between this song and the music that was played during the time the hunter was around. Also, I might have been picturing the baby fawn in “Bambi” when I was thinking about the title. I found this song to be physically relaxing, but mentally eerie. It seemed peaceful in the outside, but I detected danger or some other negative emotion in the back of my mind. Another thing I noticed was that this song seems to loosely follow the intensity pattern of a children’s story. By this, I mean that it begins with information but with little emotion. It then gradually becomes louder and more intense until it reaches a climax, and it fades off with a peaceful resolve at the end. Overall, I enjoyed listening to it, but not more than once.

The beginning of Debussy’s piece, “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,” at the beginning, was very peaceful and sounded almost recognizable. However, then with the change of pace, the high pitched, sharp notes, makes me feel as if I need to stretch to be calm and is almost uncomfortable. The slow pace of the beginning and after the high-pitched notes, bring me back to a more comfortable and relaxed state. This piece reminds me of an old timey black and white movie with someone walking through some sort-of forest, somewhat of the Wizard of Oz. With the difference in pace, I think the specific scene from the Wizard of Oz that I’m thinking of is when Dorothy wakes up from her dream and is Munchkin Land walking around.  Towards the end of the song, however, gives me a different temporal experience. I receive more of a picture of a somber, almost depressed feeling. It seems as if something is coming to and end and it is being dragged out. Obviously the piece is ending, but the slowness of pace and lower pitched notes makes me obtain this temporal experience as well. Overall, I enjoyed listening to it and it put me in a good mood.

I thought Debussy’s piece, “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,” was a very beautiful piece of music. Like with a lot of the music we have listened to this semester, I noticed how the tempo of the piece affected my temporal experience of listening. When the song sped up, my heart rate physically increased, and when the song slowed down, I felt more relaxed. The tempo and rhythm of the music, with its varying speeds and beats, made the song more interesting to listen to. If the song had just been at one slow tempo, or one fast tempo, I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it as much. I thought that the auditory interaction of the instruments with the notes played and the tempo created almost a light atmosphere, and there were parts in the piece that I would picture being played in a movie that had a scene taking place in a field of daisies or something of that nature. Another aspect of this piece affected my temporal experience of not listening to the song, but reading the poem that inspired it. I read the poem while listening to the piece, and I noticed that when the plot of the poem got more heated, the tempo of the music sped up and got more heated. Likewise, when the poem was starting or when there was a lull in the plot, the piece’s tempo was slow. I don’t know if that is because of the speed at which I read the poem or if Debussy meant for that to happen, but I thought that listening to the piece while reading the poem created an interesting temporal experience.

When I was reading the Proust reading, I feel like I was able to understand it much easier than the other readings. One of the reasons is because the language was much more common. Another reason is because I think I could relate to it. Proust continuously relates to waking up and being confused as to where he is and why he is there. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I think that I am in my room at home and then go to stop my alarm or check my phone. However, when it is not where I thought it was, for the seconds that follow that I am scared and very confused. Then once I figure out that I am in my dorm I calm down and realize that I was just confusing my present with my past. I think this is a very interesting concept that Proust experiments with. The confusion in those seconds is an interesting feeling that is unlike anything else. Proust says it quite well: “The past is hidden somewhere outside the realm, beyond the reach of intellect, in some material object of which I have no inkling. And it depends on chance whether or not we come upon this object before we ourselves must die.” This is true to the instances of those seconds of confusion. We may never remember those past moments if we didn’t have these moments of confusion when the past is mixed up with the future. We may be confused and feel “out-of-mind” but when you think about it, it is a memory that we may never get back.

My first reaction to reading the Proust excerpts was that the ideas that he attempts to talk about are very bold and abstract.  His ideas sometimes do not really flow one after the other and they are very sporadic in where they are placed throughout his writings.  When he brings in a new point and begins to elaborate on it, he is also very direct in what he is trying to say and does not sway from what he believes.  He does not   These were a few of the main things that stood out at a first glance from his writings than others that we have read in this class.

From a comprehension standpoint, the fact that his ideas flow irregularly and normally in long, dragged out sentences made it somewhat harder for me to understand all the points he was trying to make.  But I thought many of his topics were relatable such as the experience of waking up from a deep sleep and not knowing basically anything such as where you currently are.

After reading the excerpt, I began to think about dreams and how we seem to only remember them from a specific time in the dream. Then, once we awake, we are in a completely different atmosphere than our dream. Reality once again sets in and our perception of time is reestablished. Also, the feeling of displacement after waking up from a dream. Everyone has woken up and felt as if they do not remember falling asleep in the very spot they awoke in. Lastly, referring back to the feeling of displacement, the feeling of falling in your sleep and then you awake and your heart is beating fast comes to mind. Your  perception of time is then sped up due to your heart racing.

While reading these excerpts I started to think about my perception of time. See how I view it or I should say viewed was just a track that with everything that happens being a stop along the track. And with that the déjà vu aspect just a look back at where we’ve already been. But through the excerpt and some of the discussions I’m starting to think of time like a extra dimension where it was just the original three dimensions making blocks of space but now with the new dimension it’s like those three were on one plane and time was a desperate plane going through them.