Geoffrey Dean

The Orphic I: A Philosophical Approach to Musical Collaboration starts from the premise that music is a realm of intersubjective human experience. Drawing on ideas common to both hermeneutic and pragmatic aesthetics, it examines forms of collaboration involving those who create, perform, and listen to music. A new interpretation of the Orpheus myth suggests a model for thinking about creative interactions where composer and performer adopt each other’s perspectives. This imaginative transfer of self—the Orphic I—has significant implications, both for the listener’s perception of authenticity in musical performance, and for the interactions of performers within a musical ensemble. Empathy and entrainment emerge as seminal animating forces in group music-making, providing a non-verbal basis for ethical decision-making among group members. The originality of The Orphic I is due in part to its truly unique, first-person illustrations of the theoretical theses. But Dean’s real innovation is in the specificity of his philosophical approach. His book is a clear example of the applicability of philosophical knowledge, of how ideas that too often remain solely in the realm of academic discourse can actually “work” in the discussion of cultural phenomena. —Dr Pravda Spasova,Professor of Philosophy, National Art Academy, Sofia

Geoffrey Dean, PhD, served on the music faculty of the American University in Bulgaria for over twenty years. He has performed internationally as a chamber musician and recitalist and premiered many new works at his AmBul Festival of American and Bulgarian Music. His articles have appeared in the Sofia Philosophical Review, Bulgarian Musicology, and Strings Magazine, and his transcriptions have been heard around the world. Now living in Minneapolis, he leads the orchestra program at Parnassus Preparatory School, a leading US institution for classical education.

The originality of The Orphic I is due in part to its truly unique, first-person illustrations of the theoretical theses. But Dean’s real innovation is in the specificity of his philosophical approach. His book is a clear example of the applicability of philosophical knowledge, of how ideas that too often remain solely in the realm of academic discourse can actually “work” in the discussion of cultural phenomena.

—Dr Pravda Spasova,Professor of Philosophy, National Art Academy, Sofia