•  66
    Platonism vs. Nominalism in Contemporary Musical Ontology
    In Christy Mag Uidhir (ed.), Art & Abstract Objects, Oxford University Press. pp. 197. 2013.
    In this essay I first outline contemporary Platonism about musical works – the theory that musical works are abstract objects. I then consider reasons to be suspicious of such a view, motivating a consideration of nominalist theories of musical works. I argue for two conclusions: first, that there are no compelling reasons to be a nominalist about musical works in particular, i.e. that nominalism about musical works rests on arguments for thoroughgoing nominalism, and, second, that if Platonism …Read more
  •  67
    Review: Art as Performance (review)
    Mind 114 (453): 137-141. 2005.
  •  237
    Silent Music
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 68 (4): 343-353. 2010.
    In this essay, I investigate musical silence. I first discuss how to integrate the concept of silence into a general theory or definition of music. I then consider the possibility of an entirely silent musical piece. I begin with John Cage’s 4′33″, since it is the most notorious candidate for a silent piece of music, even though it is not, in fact, silent. I conclude that it is not music either, but I argue that it is a piece of non-musical sound art, rather than simply a piece of theatre, as St…Read more
  •  145
    Musical recordings
    Philosophy Compass 4 (1): 22-38. 2009.
    In this article, I first consider the metaphysics of musical recordings: their variety, repeatability, and transparency. I then turn to evaluative or aesthetic issues, such as the relative virtues of recordings and live performances, in light of the metaphysical discussion.
  •  171
    All Play and No Work: An Ontology of Jazz
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 69 (4): 391-403. 2011.
    I argue for an ontology of jazz according to which it is a tradition of musical performances but no works of art. I proceed by rejecting three alternative proposals: (i) that jazz is a work performance tradition, (ii) that jazz performances are works of art in themselves, and (iii) that jazz recordings are works of art. I also note that the concept of a work of art involved (1) is nonevaluative, so to deny jazz works of art is not to judge it inferior to artistic traditions with works, and (2) i…Read more
  •  50
    Music
    In Berys Gaut & Dominic McIver Lopes (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics, Routledge. pp. 639-648. 2013.
    An overview of analytic philosophy of music.
  •  115
    Works of music: An essay in ontology by Dodd, Julian (review)
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 66 (2). 2008.
    A review of Julian Dodd's book, Works of Music
  •  20
    Piece for the End of Time: In Defence of Musical Ontology: Articles
    British Journal of Aesthetics 48 (1): 65-79. 2008.
    Aaron Ridley has recently attacked the study of musical ontology—an apparently fertile area in the philosophy of music. I argue here that Ridley's arguments are unsound. There are genuinely puzzling ontological questions about music, many of which are closely related to questions of musical value. While it is true that musical ontology must be descriptive of pre-existing musical practices and that some debates, such as that over the creatability of musical works, have little consequence for ques…Read more
  •  36
    Groove: A Phenomenology of Rhythmic Nuance by Tiger C. Roholt
    Journal of Aesthetic Education 51 (1): 115-119. 2017.
    Musicians of all sorts talk of getting “into a groove,” whether using those words or others; musical listeners also talk about the groove of a passage of music, a performance, or a recording. In his four-chapter essay, Groove, Tiger Roholt offers answers to questions that seem obvious candidates for philosophical inquiry yet that few philosophers have even touched on: what is a groove, exactly, and what is it to perceive or understand—to get— a groove? His answers are intriguing, not just becaus…Read more
  •  74
    A Musical Photograph?
    with Richard Beaudoin
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 70 (1): 115-127. 2012.
    We compare William Henry Fox Talbot’s 1835 photographic negative 'Latticed Window (with the Camera Obscura) August 1835' with Richard Beaudoin’s 2009 solo piano work 'Étude d’un Prélude VII -- Latticed Window'. We claim that the score of Beaudoin’s work is a musical photograph of a performance of another musical work, and support the claim by describing their respective photographic and compositional processes, emphasizing the uniqueness of this score in being mechanically counterfactually depen…Read more
  •  66
    I argue that if we want to condemn sexual relationships between professors and students we must also condemn friendships between them. On the other hand, if we want to allow such friendships, we must condone (some) professor-student sexual relationships. My main reasons for this conclusion are, first, that the differences between close friendships and sexual relationships are more subtle than most people think — there is no clear boundary between the two — and, second, anything that would concer…Read more
  •  468
    The philosophy of music
    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2008.
    This is an overview of analytic philosophy of music. It is in five sections, as follows: 1. What Is Music? 2. Musical Ontology 3. Music and the Emotions 4. Understanding Music 5. Music and Value
  •  210
    Making tracks: The ontology of rock music
    Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 64 (4). 2006.
    I argue that the work of art in rock music is a track constructed in the studio, that tracks usually manifest songs, which can be performed live, and that a cover version is a track (successfully) intended to manifest the same song as some other track. This ontology reflects the way informed audiences talk about rock. It recognizes not only the centrality of recorded tracks to the tradition, as discussed by Theodore Gracyk, but also the value accorded to live performance skills, emphasized by St…Read more