5. What claims have minimalist composers made with regards to the objectivity of their music?

In what ways do these values intersect with those of Holocaust historians and diarists between 1945-1965? 6. According to Wlodarski, in what ways does the source material (interviews) shape the form of Reichs work and its narrative? Anthony Carrella 7. How does this work compare to John Adamss Transmigration of Souls? Would you argue 003455520 one represents a more authentic representation of the tragedy of which it speaks? Due April 25 Blim, Dan. Meaningful Adjacencies: Disunity and the Commemoration of 9/11 in John Adamss On the Transmigration of Souls. Journal of the Society for American Music 7, no. 4 (2013): 1. What connections does Blim make between the musical content of On the Transmigration of Souls and the way people experience traumatic memories? 2. Blims study relies on theories regarding trauma, musical analysis, and audience surveys. In your opinion, what can audience surveys add to the musicologists interpretation of a work? What are the potential pitfalls of ethnographic work? 3. In your opinion, what makes the development of memorials (musical or otherwise) particularly challenging? 4. What are the connections between the textual and musical in John Adams work?

1. The textual inuences in The Transmigration of Souls yielded responses that bordered with insulting. Some audience members called it too vivid and that it brought back too many unwanted memories. Blims research suggests that trauma is not experienced when the initial event occurs, but only after painful memories are rekindled in the victims mind. The Transmigration of Souls does that to listeners because it is a testament to all of the nuances of September 11, 2001: from the soundscape of the city, to the listing of names, last words, descriptions etc. It brings an unwanted catharsis to some audience members.

2. One of the benets to having an audience survey is that the opinion of the piece comes from an unbiased and uninformed place. Normally, we receive ideas about a particular work from its composer, and that is not always the best outlet for interpretation. An audience member can tell the interviewer what they heard in the piece, and the composer can therefore gauge how effective the composition is. On the other had, the issue lies in individuality. Audience members come from varying homes and lifestyles while some may praise a piece, others may not due to various socio-cultural differences. The Transmigration of Souls was deeply impactful for everyone, but, some did not welcome the feelings of grief because they were too strong. The pitfalls of writing an ethnographic is that is only appeals to certain people. Some feel deeply connected and rooted to some elements in the work, while others nd it insulting and mentally bruising.

3. There are many issues in the development of memorials. For instance how do we know that a particular person would want to be memorialized in a certain way? There were over 2,000 victims in the attacks on the World Trade Center and it is quite clear that they would all not want to be memorialized in the same way. Its laughable to think that the living make arrangements for the memorialization of the dead, but the truth is that John Adams facilitates a musical memorialization for the victims of the attacks on 9/11. Some may perceive this as being selsh: but I think that Adams had good intentions when writing the piece, and that he wanted

to create a soundscape that (for 25 minutes) allows people to live the nal moments of thousands. Which I think is quite admirable.

4. The text in The Transmigration of Souls is extremely raw. Adams constructs soundscapes based on texts used on and around 9/11. The piece simply begins with the word missing and the text grows from here. The addition of last words, descriptions, and pleas for the return of survivors blossoms over time in the piece. This represents a very minimalist idea that basic elements evolve over a long duration in a particular piece. The music follows this minimalist idea beginning with a soundscape of the city, growing larger with string and brass, exploding, and then gradual diminution to the original soundscape. I think that this is extremely symbolic to the re-building of 1 World Trade Center. There is a ow from normalcy to chaos, loss, and eventual re-birth.