Voices, Bodies, Practices

Identity and subjectivity in musical performancesWho is the “I” that performs? The arts of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have pushed us relentlessly to reconsider our notions of the self, expression, and communication: to ask ourselves, again and again, who we think we are and how we can speak meaningfully to one another. Although in other performing arts studies, especially of theatre, the performance of selfhood and identity continues to be a matter of lively debate in both practice and theory, the question of how a sense of self is manifested through musical performance has been neglected. The authors of Voices, Bodies, Practices are all musician-researchers: the book employs artistic research to explore how embodied performing “voices” can emerge from the interactions of individual performers and composers, musical materials, instruments, mediating technologies, and performance contexts.

This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).

"Voices, Bodies, Practices" was written by Catherine Laws, William Brooks, David Gorton, Nguyễn Thanh Thủy, Stefan Östersjö and Jeremy J. Wells.

Catherine Laws is a pianist, reader in Music at the University of York, and senior artistic research fellow at the Orpheus Institute.

William Brooks is professor of music at the University of York, emeritus professor at the University of Illinois, scholar-in-residence at the Newberry Library, and senior research fellow at the Orpheus Institute.

David Gorton is a composer, senior postgraduate tutor and associate head of research at the Royal Academy of Music, associate professor at the University of London, and associate researcher at the Orpheus Institute, Ghent.

Thanh Thủy Nguyễn is a đàn tranh player, a PhD candidate at Malmo Academy of Music at Lund University, and a đàn tranh teacher at Vietnam National Academy of Music.

Stefan Östersjö is a guitarist, chaired professor of Musical Performance in Piteå School of Music at Luleå University of Technology, and associate researcher at the Orpheus Institute, Ghent.

Jez Wells is an audio designer and senior lecturer in Sound Recording in the Department of Music at the University of York.

Yes, "Voices, Bodies, Practices" is part of the "Orpheus Institute Series" series.

Throughout the Orpheus Institute’s various activities there is a clear focus on the development of a new research discipline in the arts, one that addresses questions and topics that are at the heart of musical practice, building on the unique expertise and perspectives of musicians and in constant dialogue with more established research disciplines.

Within this context, the Orpheus Institute launched an international Research Centre in 2007 that acts as a stable constituent within an ever-growing field of enquiry. The Orpheus Research Centre is a place where musical artists can fruitfully conduct individual and collaborative research on issues that are of concern to all involved in artistic practice. It is important that at the centre of the international Orpheus Institute network is a place, a building, a community. As the concepts and methodologies of artistic research in music have evolved, work at Orpheus Institute has found new structures. Since 2012, research has been consolidated into a number of groups focused on specific areas, each led by a principal investigator of substantial international reputation as a practicing musician. The work of Orpheus Institute is disseminated through events, publications and musical performances, and through its active animation of discussion within the sector.

This series of peer-reviewed publications —launched in 2013— encompasses monographs by Research Fellows and associates of the Orpheus Institute, compilations of lectures, texts, and performances from seminars and study days, and edited volumes on topics arising from work at the institute. Research can be presented in digital media as well as printed texts. As a whole, the series is meant to enhance and advance discourse in the field of artistic research in music and to generate future work in this emerging and vital area of study.

Editorial board

William Brooks (Chair, Series Editor), Peter Dejans, Jonathan Impett, Kathleen Coessens, Paulo de Assis, Heike Vermeire, Ed Crooks, Laura Cull, Aurelie Daems

Proposals

Proposals and enquiries can be sent to the series editor William Brooks.
Please make use of the submission form to present your manuscript or proposal to our board.
Authors interested in Open Access can consult the available funding options.

Links & Resources

Figures
Contents of the Online Repository of Supplemental Files

Introduction
Catherine Laws

Chapter 1Austerity Measures I: Performing the Discursive Voice
David Gorton and Stefan Östersjö

Part 1: Collaboration and the discursive voice
Part 2: Analysing the discursive voice in performance
Conclusions

Chapter 2Being a Player: Agency and Subjectivity in Player PianoCatherine Laws

Part 1: Player Piano and Saying “I”
Part 2: The Embodied Subject in Player PianoPart 3: Instrument as Agent
Part 4: From Instrument to Ecology
Postlude: “Alone With My Ten Fingers”?

Chapter 3Footnotes
William Brooks, Stefan Östersjö, and Jeremy J. Wells

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Chapter 4Arrival Cities: Hanoi
Nguyễn Thanh Thủy and Stefan Östersjö

Arrival Cities: Hanoi
1. Introduction
2. Modes of collaboration
3. Documentary, empathy, and inter-subjectivity
4. The making of Arrival Cities: Hanoi
5. The discursive voice in intercultural collaboration

Conclusion
Catherine Laws

References
Notes on Contributors
Index