Unit 3
Language points
1 For lack of a better terminology, one might name these: (1) the sensuous plane, (2) the expressive plane, (3) the sheerly musical plane. (Para 1) The expression for lack of a better terminology is used to introduce rather inexact terms. It means since we don’t have any exact terms, I’m going to use these rather rough terms.
The word sensuous suggests physical pleasure which relates to your physical senses rather than to your emotions and thoughts.
A plane is a level of thought, development or existence.
The word sheer is used to emphasize the amount or degree of something. The sheerly musical plane refers to the level of the musical material, melodies, rhythms,
harmonies etc. The sheer pleasure (Para 2, Line 2) means great or pure pleasure. 2 The only advantage to be gained from mechanically splitting up the listening process into these hypothetical planes is … (Para 1) The word hypothetical means to be based on situations or events that seem possible rather than on actual ones. Here, the planes are not real, they are just part of a model for analysis and discussion.
3 One turns on the radio while doing something else and absent-mindedly bathes in the sound. A kind of brainless but attractive state of mind is engendered by the mere sound appeal of the music. (Para 2)
To bathe means to swim or wash yourself in a bath, river or lake. To bathe in the sound means to immerse yourself in the sound, like in water.
To engender means to cause a feeling or attitude to exist. The expression
engendered by the mere sound appeal means to be created only by the appeal or
attraction of the sound.
4 Music allows them to leave it ... dreaming because of and apropos of the music yet never quite listening to it. (Para 3)
The expression apropos of means relating to; it is used to introduce something else about the subject you are talking about. The expression is derived from French, and the final -s is silent in pronunciation.
5 ... but you must not allow it to usurp a disproportionate share of your interest. The sensuous plane is an important one in music ... but it does not constitute the whole story. (Para 4)
To usurp means to take a job or position that belongs to someone else without having the right to do this.
The sentence you must not allow it to usurp a disproportionate share of your interest means don’t let it take up a wrong amount of your interest.
The expression it does not constitute the whole story means there is more to it than this.
6 Here, immediately, we tread on controversial ground. (Para 5)
The expression we tread on controversial ground contains a metaphor: These are
ideas that some people will probably disagree about or not approve of. 7 Composers have a way of shying away from any discussion of music’s expressive side. (Para 5)
To shy away from something means to avoid someone or be unwilling to do something because you are nervous, afraid or not confident.
8 Is it pessimistically sad or resignedly sad; is it fatefully sad or smilingly sad? (Para 6)
The word resignedly means with resignation, accepting that something unpleasant must happen or that you cannot change it. The whole sentence gives nuances – shades of meaning – of different kinds of sadness: sadness which has a feeling of pessimism (things are bad and we can’t change them easily), sadness to which we may feel resigned – we accept it, sadness that we feel is part of our fate – we can’t avoid it and it is part of our life, and sadness that also has humour, so we smile even though we feel sad.
9 It is very important for all of us to become more alive to music on its sheerly musical plane. (Para 9)
To become / be alive to something means to know that something is happening and realize how important it is.
10 After all, an actual musical material is being used ... He must hear the melodies, the rhythms, the harmonies, the tone colors in a more conscious fashion. (Para 9)
The musical materials refer to the elements of music, usually discussed under the