I was just watching a special feature that AMC produces with each new episode of Mad Men, where the creator of the show, Matthew Weiner, was describing the thematic subtext of the episode. It was about displacement, going away to another place, and being with who you want to be with while doing so. This gave me pause, as I hadn’t really been thinking about anything like that when watching the episode. Today, I realized that my experience was like that of many concertgoers who hear a piece of music, and are affected by it – sometimes deeply so – and aren’t aware of why. The piece of music can be completely and justifiably enjoyed without knowing how it is constructed or why it was constructed in that manner. Some pieces are better appreciated if their deep structure is known, but most music can simply be enjoyed (or not) on the listener’s own subjective criteria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was just watching a special feature that AMC produces with each new episode of Mad Men, where the creator of the show, Matthew Weiner, was describing the thematic subtext of the episode. It was about displacement, going away to another place, and being with who you want to be with while doing so. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[148,115],"tags":[3034,3031,3669,3033,3032],"class_list":["post-7542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-appreciations","category-music","tag-appreciation","tag-mad-men","tag-music","tag-structure","tag-themes","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1XE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":730,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/03\/more-adams\/","url_meta":{"origin":7542,"position":0},"title":"more adams","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"If you enjoyed last night's first run of the Adams, word is you can come back with your ticket stub from last night in hand and get in to see the piece again tonight. Judging from the response of the audience last night, there may be more than a few\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21157,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2021\/03\/04\/podcast-launch-on-friday\/","url_meta":{"origin":7542,"position":1},"title":"podcast launch on friday","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Over at my sister site Classical Currents, I'm launching a podcast that will explore the people that make up the groups that you've been long familiar with. The first episode is with Kimberlee Uwate, violist of the Degani Quartet. We talk about their upcoming Pieces of America program and more.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/cc-podcast-sm-copy.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14384,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2016\/11\/05\/murakami-on-creativity\/","url_meta":{"origin":7542,"position":2},"title":"murakami on creativity","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Japanese author Haruki Murakami has a new book of conversations with the eminent conductor Seiji Ozawa (available for pre-order, in stores November 15, 2016). In a piece promoting the book at The Guardian newspaper, he has this great quote about creative people: Creative people have to be fundamentally egoistic. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B01C1LUFAA&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=dailyobservat-20","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":796,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/23\/music-and-the-soul\/","url_meta":{"origin":7542,"position":3},"title":"music and the soul","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I got home today and felt so tired, so just absolutely empty and wiped, that I decided that going for a brisk walk was just the right medicine. I grabbed my iPod, loaded with updated podcasts of shows that I listen to when time allows, and went to the multi-use\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4700,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/05\/24\/second-night-thoughts\/","url_meta":{"origin":7542,"position":4},"title":"second night thoughts","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, I feel like I redeemed myself after my fuzziness on Saturday night, and in general, many things went better for the entire orchestra on Sunday evening than the Saturday opening night's concert.\u00a0 As much as I love the Mahler First Symphony, the work that is capturing my heart this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2965,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/08\/10\/kalmar-and-grant-park-do-mahler-9\/","url_meta":{"origin":7542,"position":5},"title":"kalmar and grant park do mahler 9","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The OSO's music director Carlos Kalmar has demonstrated an affinity for the music of Gustav Mahler throughout his tenure with the orchestra, usually opening or closing a season with a major work of the Austrian composer.\u00a0 This year, at his other gig, Kalmar began the home stretch of the season\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}