Abstract:Building on an implicit ethical critique of music theory in the writings of Marion A. Guck and other feminist music theorists, this paper seeks to displace an implicitmoralcommitment that pervades music-theoretical practice in favor of anethicsin the Deleuzian sense of the term. First, I demonstrate how established music-theoretical approaches remain focused on defining and policing a musical morality—a strict delineation of what ought to count as proper ways of doing music theory, of lovingly engaging with mu… Show more
“…Lochhead retains the structural rationality of conventional music theory in her gestural maps, but also communicates the immediacy of gesture which – as with Kielian‐Gilbert's analysis – suggests embodied engagement with the music. Embodied engagement, including both listening and performance, is explicitly foregrounded in Cusick (1994a), Guck (1996) and Luong (2017). 4 Of the Adagio of Mozart's Piano Concerto in A major, K. 488, Guck writes: For the pianist there is a feel of small stretches, often across sixths, that contrast with closer work.…”
“…Lochhead retains the structural rationality of conventional music theory in her gestural maps, but also communicates the immediacy of gesture which – as with Kielian‐Gilbert's analysis – suggests embodied engagement with the music. Embodied engagement, including both listening and performance, is explicitly foregrounded in Cusick (1994a), Guck (1996) and Luong (2017). 4 Of the Adagio of Mozart's Piano Concerto in A major, K. 488, Guck writes: For the pianist there is a feel of small stretches, often across sixths, that contrast with closer work.…”
“…Once aware of these connections, many music theorists might find benefit in greater engagement with theories of the Anthropocene and collaboration with the MSARN. On the topic of "non/human" encounters, Vivian Luong (2017) and Gavin Lee (2019) draw on queer and feminist theory to model the relationship between music and the human analyst. (11) Similarly, our tendency to invest music with non-human agency by projecting human sensations and actions onto music has been a significant topic in music theory research, such as in Cora Palfy's work on music's "virtual agency" (2022) and Arnie Cox's "mimetic hypothesis" (2016).…”
Music theory's prevailing ontology has been one in which music is intangible, ineffable, and unplaced-a long holdover from nineteenth-century European Romanticism. Yet, as music scholars increasingly engage with issues of decolonization and social justice, many of us are eager to transform our conceptual commitments. A promising contribution to these conversations comes from the newly formed Music Studies in/of the Anthropocene Research Network (MSARN), whose inaugural conference, Ruptures and Convergences, took place in spring 2022. (1) Organized by
“…Our vulnerability to charismatic music offers a key to understanding our vulnerability to charismatic people, institutions, and ideologies more broadly. (Cheng 2019, emphasis in original) The metaphor that Cheng builds between music and a (romantic) partner finds parallels in Vivian Luong's (2017) work on music loving, which is informed by Marion Guck (1996). Describing the historic squeamishness around identifying as a lover of music-especially among music theorists-Luong (2017, [1.5]) notes that "talking about music loving would force us to admit that we are not always in positions of power when we deal with music."…”
Ye’s song “Through the Wire” exists in two versions. The first was recorded in late 2002 after a near-fatal car crash and features Ye rapping through a jaw wired shut as he recovered from reconstructive surgery. After he healed, a second version was recorded in 2003 and released as the lead single from his debut album. Although Ye raps unimpeded in this later version, it was still marketed as the authentic product of physical disablement.
This study explores Ye’s performance of disability across these two versions of “Through the Wire,” focusing on his engagement with a phenomenon known as the masquerade. Adapted from queer and feminist studies to a disability context by Tobin Siebers, the masquerade encompasses a set of strategies for the public negotiation of disabled identities. Two prominent approaches involve 1) exaggerating a disability through a performative act of disclosure, and 2) disguising one disability behind another. I argue that Ye engages in both strategies throughout “Through the Wire,” and that attending to their roles in the song greatly nuances the straightforward narrative of overcoming that he otherwise projects.
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