Inthis learning activity, you’ll continue to explore the idea of aesthetics as informed by the bible and learning science. You will expand your understanding of our “God-given aesthetic capacity.”

Upon successful completion of the course material, you will be able to:

· Interpret self-selected experiences with art and music using the language of Western aesthetics.

· Discover how Christianity aesthetically expresses meaning and inspiration through music and art.

· Identify live-streamed, virtual musical performances or virtual museum tours, with art exhibitions for subsequent analysis, interpretation and aesthetic response.

· Describe selections from upcoming live-streamed, virtual musical performances or artworks from virtual museum tours that include specific art exhibitions for subsequent analysis, interpretation and aesthetic response.

Resources

· File:

WS1 Youtube Video Playback Posting Procedure x

· File:

Composers for Concert Presentation

· File:

Artists for Museum Presentation

· Video: Understanding Aspect Ratio and Harvesting Digital Images from the Internet

Background Information

Definitions Review:

Imago Dei: Humans are made in the likeness of God both in physical and spiritual form.

Biblical Dimensions of Human Experience: heart (feelings), soul (will), strength (physical) and mind (thoughts)

Bloom’s Domains of Human Experience: affective (feelings), psychomotor (physical), cognitive (thoughts)

Aesthetic Encounter: Simultaneously interacting with music or art with all our heart (affective), mind (cognitive), soul (will) and strength (psychomotor).

Aesthetics: Fully accessing, then discussing a work’s inspirations, messages and meanings, and potential as a memorable and valuable experience in life.

Worship

:

Expressing love for God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, often through creative forms of musical and artistic expression.

Biblical Dimensions and Bloom’s Domains of Human Experience:

Confirming the Biblical Dimensions of Human Experience

In Workshop 1, we learned that Jesus confirms the God-given dimensions of human experience as first stated by Moses.  You may recall this scripture:

(Jesus) answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’”  

Luke 10:27a

(NIV)

In the gospel of John, these words of Jesus are recorded, as he explains to a woman from Samaria how people should worship.

But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”  

John 4:23-24

(NASB)

Here, Jesus confirms the dimensions of human experience again as related to worship.

To “worship the Father” implies a physical interaction. We pause to reflect about or physically express our love for God.  These expressions of love involve physical activity – singing, speaking, standing, clapping, etc.  In addition, we physically position or posture our bodies so that God becomes the center of our attention.  The bible extends this into our everyday life, describing how everything we “do” can be considered an act of worship, when gratefully, lovingly and thoroughly rendered.  See 1 Cor. 10:31. This is worshipping God with all our strength.

To “worship in truth” suggests we both learn and remember information about God that is true.  We have this information in the bible.  Astute worship planners will prompt you to think about certain attributes of God as related to a particular focus or emphasis at a gathering.  You will learn or be reminded about how God is love, God is gracious, God is all-powerful, etc.  Expanding and reflecting on the observable, describable, understandable aspects of who God is what Jesus is teaching us to do.  This is worshipping in truth with all our mind.

To “worship in spirit” suggests that thoughts about God prompt feeling-filled responses.  We become aware of how we feel about God, given what we know about our personal experiences with Him. In worship, we express how we feel about what we believe to be true about God.  Isn’t it interesting how this happens frequently in worship by means of music or visual art?  This is worshipping in spirit, with all our heart.

Thoughts about God prompt feelings about God.  Thoughts and feelings turn into beliefs about God as the mind and heart, thoughts and emotions, converge in the human soul.  Love for God is expressed celebrating the truths about God and how they apply directly to our lives in this realm.  Our spirit (feelings) and our mind (thoughts) are fully engaged (physically).  Faith is expressed and strengthened at the same time.

Here’s a joyous truth.  While God gave us our aesthetic capacity primarily to interact with His real spiritual presence in life, he also gave it to us to fully enjoy what it means to be alive as human beings.  We can learn to enjoy, appreciate and recall those interactions which are the most inspiring (feelings), most meaningful (thoughts) and the most memorable (lasting value).  This happens simultaneously as we experience life in its fullest, richest, and most satisfying forms.

You can learn to further grow and develop your aesthetic abilities both for worship and for interacting with the masterworks of musical and visual art.  God gave you your aesthetic capacity as a personal “scanner” through which you can live life abundantly.  Let’s further explore this idea.

Modes of Aesthetic Scanning

Aesthetic scanning is the process by which the human senses perceive, organize and respond to the creative and expressive properties in music and art.

While many models for aesthetic scanning exist, for the purposes of this course we’ll use the following three:

The first mode of aesthetic scanning,
emotionalism, is the one with which you are most familiar. It is likely that you’ve been functioning quite nicely with an awareness of how music and art makes you feel.  This is perhaps the first and most natural capacity possessed by humans for aesthetic interaction.  You become keenly aware when music or art “moves” you.  It is likely, however, that your feelings were prompted by something your mind perceived or discerned in the work.  Dismiss that idea for a moment.  We should stop and marvel at how God gave us the ability to feel certain ways about the persons, places, things, and experiences we have in life.  Feelings are evidence of being fully alive.  They are often highly personal and unique to each God-created human soul.

The affective domain, the realm of the heart, is valued equally among all domains when appreciating music and art.  Feelings about art and music are every bit as important as thoughts about art.  Both represent ways of knowing and experiencing life.

This is what makes the study of music and art unique as academic disciplines.

Feelings or emotions are an important aspect of your God-given aesthetic capacity. You should know how to sense, describe and participate in how music and art makes you feel.  You can further develop your ability to do so.

But human emotions by themselves are incomplete.  The realms of thought, feeling and psycho-physicality are designed to be interactive and interdependent. The most powerful moments of aesthetic encounter occur when interaction informs thoughts and thoughts inform feelings.  Feelings, in turn, prompt more interaction and the aesthetic cycle continues. The next step in your aesthetic development involves understanding how music and art makes you feel as it does.

The second mode of aesthetic scanning,
functionalism, is the first step in a thoughtful aesthetic interaction – learning to leverage your cognitive capacity to add aesthetic impact to your encounter. Completing a simple background study on an artwork and its artist or a composition and its composer is a great place to start.  In preparing for your live arts encounter in this course, we’ll show you how to research the work, the creator, the circumstances under which it was created, and the purposes for which it was created.  This is the essence of basic functional aesthetic scanning.  You learn to look for information about a work that may add meaning and inspiration to your upcoming encounter.  As you complete this step, see if a moment of unexpected discovery surprises, even delights you.  To gain maximum impact when interacting with a work or art or music, you must complete this step.

The third mode of aesthetic scanning will be the subject of the next workshop’s lesson in aesthetics and the bible.  Essentially,
formalism or formalistic scanning
unlocks the mystery of “how” an artist or music composer engages our aesthetic capacity by design and technique.  Artists and composers know that meaning, inspiration and value are discovered in a work of art or music in this very way. Thus, they compose and create works that engage the aesthetic attention of their audience by expressively presenting essential elements.  Their goal is both the thoughtful and emotional human response to their creative and skillful arrangement (and presentation) of these elements.  This course will help you develop your ability to do just that.

Bloom, B.S. (Ed.). Engelhart, M.D., Furst, E.J., Hill, W.H., Krathwohl, D.R. (1956).

Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I

: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc.

Shimamura, A. P., & Palmer, S. E. (2012). Aesthetic science: Connecting minds, brains, and experience.  Oxford University Press.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.

2. Re-read the Background Information provided here. Note: information in this portion will be included in your 2.2 quiz.

3. Navigate to the Discussion page. 

a. Create a new thread. Name it “Selection Name” by “Creator Name” is Inspiring – “Student Name.”

4. Observe the following instructions for your initial post.

a. For Internet-streamed, Virtual Concert Attendees: If you’re attending an internet-streamed music concert for your virtual arts encounter, you must identify a video example of a musical selection from the concert’s program.  Your musical selection of choice must have been written by a composer from the “Composers for Concert Presentation ” listed in the “Resources” section above. Each student must choose a different composer.

i.

If using Youtube.com, find your video selection first by searching by its title or by your composer’s name. Choose a selection that appeals to you, one with 
players playing or singers singing.  This is required.

i. Copy the URL.  

ii. In your forum thread, place your cursor in the Comments section below your other caption. (This is where you usually type forum text.)

iii. Choose the “Insert Stuff” button.

iv. Scroll down to the YouTube option.

v. Paste the URL for your chosen musical selection.

vi. Select it from the list, and then click “Next.”

vii. Review the details and preview the video frame.

viii. Choose “Insert” to add the video frame to your post.