The Aesthetics Of Computer Music Research

Music that comes from heart and emotion, is a kind of language which has the quality of expressing feelings and original life experience. However, when music meets with modern computer technology which is known as "universal technology", its fate of history and reality needs to be revisited. In the digital technology-art age, traditional musical form like "human voice singing and instrumental symphony" has gradually declined, and is replaced by a new form, namely, the technology-art which is the integration of human and machine. This change is not just a simple musical form revolution art, the most important aspect lies in its deconstruction of the traditional philosophy of music and reconstruction of the way for music appreciation. Specifically speaking, inner subjectivity, reflection, introspection and experience which are stressed by classical music turn to "subjectivity" of machine and "human-machine" interaction. Computer music thereby becomes a major expression of the changes of contemporary human existence-life style, and is associated with the improvement of human survival and value persistence in an artistic way.Based on the above research, the basic idea of this thesis is:making the computer music art ontology as a starting point, and using aesthetics and aesthetic culture as the theory framework, this thesis intends to explore the origins of computer music, and analyze the different aesthetic characteristics between traditional music and computer music. It then goes on to clarify some aesthetic problems related to this burgeoning modern music form including aesthetic subject, aesthetic object and aesthetic appreciation, which then reveals the basic computer music aesthetic connotation. Finally, by using the mass culture research methods initiated by Frankfurt school, the thesis focuses on the aesthetic democratization and the potential risks of the art contained in computer music, so as to provide a possible way for the healthy development of computer music.This thesis is divided into five parts:Chapter I:Introduction. In this part, we analyze the present situation of computer music, which is the major part of this thesis, are also proposed in chapter one theoretical and practical significance of the present research.ChapterⅡ:Computer music background. The present research mainly analyzes concepts of computer music, focusing on the causes which make computer music into being, namely: postmodern philosophy and aesthetic cultural trends, the electronic information technology, and the innovations of music art.Chapter III:Computer music is analyzed from the perspective of aesthetic analysis. This thesis takes the computer music as a form of art aesthetics, analyses its unique aesthetic spirit-mass and entertaining character, diversified and equal character, and interprets the sound attributes and the organizations of the basic aesthetic elements.Chapter IV:Aesthetic reflections on computer music. By using the mass culture research methods, especially the Frankfurt School theory, the thesis analyses the computer music's double effects on music art and human itself. The thesis then pays attention to the liberation and disciplining of aesthetic subject, the artistic and dissimilatory living of aesthetic appreciation, as well as the development of the computer's own binary paradox and other consequences.Finally, in the "Conclusion" section, the thesis puts forward to dialectically analyzing and evaluating the influence of the emergence of computer music on music art and human beings. Thus, the thesis comes to a conclusion from the perspective of aesthetic criticism method, computer is helpful to improve the quality of human life, and music art itself may benefit from it as well.