Philosophy of Musical Relationships: Care Ethics and Moral Responsibility of Musical Agency

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This paper offers a clear overview of (some of) the ethical dimensions of music.

One lingering question is how much of this framework is only applicable to music, and not also to other arts. Sometimes sections of the paper feel easily applicable to other art forms, other less so. Pehaps the Authors could consider addressing this at some point, even just in a footnote.

Author Response

Comment 1:This paper offers a clear overview of (some of) the ethical dimensions of music.

One lingering question is how much of this framework is only applicable to music, and not also to other arts. Sometimes sections of the paper feel easily applicable to other art forms, other less so. Pehaps the Authors could consider addressing this at some point, even just in a footnote.

Response 1: 

Thank you for this useful observation. I have incorporated the following passage into the text, highlighted in yellow:

"This inquiry into classical musical practice as an ethical dimension neither aspires to exhaustiveness nor seeks to ascribe uniquely exclusive qualities to musical practice; rather, it acknowledges that many of these traits are shared with other performing arts. The article’s objective is to explore in depth how these ethical characteristics manifest within the framework of classical musical practice."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is a very strong article which should be published, ranging over a variety of ethical considerations relative to music and musical performance. There are particularly strong sections dealing with alterity, care ethics, and how music deepens our perception of the world.  

A couple of musicological scholars come to mind whose work you might find relevant. If you are not currently familiar with the work of Thomas Turino and Christopher Small, you might find them very useful. Turino’s Music as Social Life: The Politics of Participation particularly provides a useful framework of music, social, and performance behaviors associated with music conceived as presentation (i.e. for stage, recording, what we typically think of as performance) vs music intended to maximize the participatory experience. Chapter 2 sets out some of those distinctions in a straightforward and useful way.

Turino’s work also includes some compelling work on the function of music in society (find in the article where this would be useful), particularly in chapter 7 on music in political movements, with the section on the American civil rights movement offering some particularly poignant ideas.

You might also find Christpher Small’s work in Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening useful, especially in the use of the term musicking to encompass a variety of behaviors associated with musical performance.

The use of Western classical music performance to tease out ethics as discussed by Western philosophers and writers makes sense; have you considered dipping into Non-Western styles of performance or philosophy? Venturing outside of Western music may very well be outside of the scope of this paper, but it might be worth mentioning as a further direction for future study.  You may find it useful for your purposes here. One example that comes to mind is the practice of Indian kirtan (a musical worship process associated with Hinduism, particularly Vaishnava Hinduism, that is based in call-and-response participation – see Milton Singer’s work on Radha-Krishna bhajans).  Indonesian gamelan also provides an interesting musical model of social interdependency in the use of the technique called kotekan, wherein each performer plays an incomplete melody – think every other note, or two out of three – that only becomes complete when combined with another performer. (Michael Bakan’s work is a good place to look for more information – look up the word “Kotekan” in his writings). 

Again, these (or other) examples from non-Western music may be outside the scope of this article, but could provide an interesting space for counterpoint or proposed direction for further research.

Overall, this is a very strong article that is well-written and provides many rich avenues for exploration.  

Author Response

Comment 2: 

This is a very strong article which should be published, ranging over a variety of ethical considerations relative to music and musical performance. There are particularly strong sections dealing with alterity, care ethics, and how music deepens our perception of the world.  

A couple of musicological scholars come to mind whose work you might find relevant. If you are not currently familiar with the work of Thomas Turino and Christopher Small, you might find them very useful. Turino’s Music as Social Life: The Politics of Participation particularly provides a useful framework of music, social, and performance behaviors associated with music conceived as presentation (i.e. for stage, recording, what we typically think of as performance) vs music intended to maximize the participatory experience. Chapter 2 sets out some of those distinctions in a straightforward and useful way.

Turino’s work also includes some compelling work on the function of music in society (find in the article where this would be useful), particularly in chapter 7 on music in political movements, with the section on the American civil rights movement offering some particularly poignant ideas.

You might also find Christpher Small’s work in Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening useful, especially in the use of the term musicking to encompass a variety of behaviors associated with musical performance.

The use of Western classical music performance to tease out ethics as discussed by Western philosophers and writers makes sense; have you considered dipping into Non-Western styles of performance or philosophy? Venturing outside of Western music may very well be outside of the scope of this paper, but it might be worth mentioning as a further direction for future study.  You may find it useful for your purposes here. One example that comes to mind is the practice of Indian kirtan (a musical worship process associated with Hinduism, particularly Vaishnava Hinduism, that is based in call-and-response participation – see Milton Singer’s work on Radha-Krishna bhajans).  Indonesian gamelan also provides an interesting musical model of social interdependency in the use of the technique called kotekan, wherein each performer plays an incomplete melody – think every other note, or two out of three – that only becomes complete when combined with another performer. (Michael Bakan’s work is a good place to look for more information – look up the word “Kotekan” in his writings). 

Again, these (or other) examples from non-Western music may be outside the scope of this article, but could provide an interesting space for counterpoint or proposed direction for further research.

Overall, this is a very strong article that is well-written and provides many rich avenues for exploration.  

Response 2: 

I am thankful for the valuable suggestions provided. I have incorporated new paragraphs referencing both Turino and Small throughout the text where I deemed most appropriate. These new sections are highlighted in yellow.

Regarding the ethics of other musical genres, since my focus is on classical music, I have added the following section at the very end:

Future Directions

"This article focuses on Western classical music as a lens for examining ethics in musical practice. However, it seeks to stimulate further avenues into how musical practice, more generally, unfolds within an ethical dimension. For instance, traditions beyond the Western canon, such as Indian kirtan, with its emphasis on participatory call-and-response, or Indonesian gamelan, with its intricate structures of interdependence, could offer alternative models for investigating the ethics of making music. Similarly, jazz, with its focus on improvisation, collective interplay, and the negotiation of individual expression within a group dynamic, provides a compelling framework for exploring the ethical balance between autonomy and collaboration. Future research incorporating these and other practices could further enrich the debate, offering varied perspectives and highlighting both the universality and diversity of ethical dimensions in music-making".

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf