Rhetorical Analysis of Music And Autism by Gordon Graham

Name

Date

Course

Assignment

`Music and Autism` by Gordon Graham

Audience

Gordon Graham 's article was clearly intended for practitioners of aesthetic education styles including art and music education and therapy , as well as those who do not necessarily believe in the practice , but wish to research it . This is clear from the fact that the article is taken from the Journal of Aesthetic Education , which is most likely a peer reviewed academic journal

Purpose

The purpose of the article is first to inform readers of common

br interpretations and rationale for music therapy and , more importantly to persuade the audience that the idea that music therapy is useful because music allows the autistic individual to share or express emotion is invalid . However , though music may not convey the exact emotional state of the composer , this does not make the practice of music therapy less useful . In essence , the author wishes to define the way music therapy is evaluated . It is evident that this is the case because the author directly states as much in the text . In addition , the bulk of time is spent providing evidence and analogies for why music may not in itself convey the emotions of the composer

Language use

The language in this article is primarily formal and meant to speak to educated professionals and researchers . The author uses both third person perspective (in accounts and case studies ) as well as the first person in expressing his intentions and points of view . Let us agree that profound despondency ' is certainly formal language . There are instances when informal language is used , both in outside quotations and in lay person language such as Autistic people can be described as shut off from others

Structure

The piece is structured in an ly , logically flowing fashion . The author beings by stating the question that will be the focus of his article to prime readers for what follows . The author then provides some general and historical background on autism and idiot savants From there , he moves into his main argument and states his purpose for the article . The author then states and offers illustrations of the problems he finds in equating music with emotion and offers examples and counterpoints to make his own argument . He ends by summing up what he has presented and restating his argument

Argumentation

The thesis of this is that music therapy is a stimulus and occasion for such things as pleasure , interest , and admiration it just is not an expression of these ' The major arguments are that A describing a thing such as music using certain terms (sad ) is not the same as saying that the music actually contains or is made up of sadness . The author uses the analogy of calling colors loud ' or soft ' as evidence that though certain terms make sense in describing something , they do not necessarily pertain to it literally

B ) A given feeling or quality in music is not necessarily translated to the listener . The author states that he...