The flux between sounding and sound: Towards a relational understanding of music as embodied action

Abstract

In this article I consider implications for the body inherent in two aspects of contemporary musical practice: normative and computer-assisted. I separate music into bodily action and resulting vibration, or the act of sounding and the material of sound. From this ground, I examine the field for an understanding of music that questions the exclusive role of listening in musical experience.

Keywords:

• Listening
• Performing
• Embodiment
• Technology
• Dualism
• Visuality

Notes

[1] A. J. Ayer makes this point concerning philosophers and dualism in an article, ‘Mind and Body’ (Underwood, 2001, p. 115).

[2] On the etymology of ‘performance’ and its implications, see Barilli (1993, pp. 105 – 106).

[3] The quotation is of Dewey quoting Coleridge in Art as Experience (Dewey, 1934, p. 5).