Jason Baxter teaches Great Books at Notre Dame University. His most recent book is The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis: How Great Books Shaped a Great Mind. Just as Lewis reclaimed the medievals’ enchanted view of reality, Dr. Baxter reclaims Lewis’s vision for our generation.
Norton Ewart
This “got my foot moving” in many ways. I especially enjoyed tying the symphonie’s existence as ethereal and separate from the piano keyboard, yet emanating from the interaction between the player and the technology. As a drummer, I reflected on that beam of light, and what it’s illuminating. When I’m playing, my brain is functioning at both technical and artistic/creative level, and the music I’m making exists separately from the human and the technological instantiation we call a drum set. And, if that music is “good” – if my mind, my body, and the technology are able to work together with the minds, bodies and technologies of the other players in the ensemble, we touch hearts. Our own, and our listeners. And, part of my job is to look at those listeners, and gauge their level of emotional connection with what we’re doing, and try to shift it in positive ways. If I succeed, their feet move, literally.