Postmodern Music Discourse
後現代音樂論述
Instructor：Yuh-wen Wang
Semester：Fall 2003
Credit：3
Introduction
Music discourse has been influenced by postmodern thinking in
fields such as architecture, literary criticism, cultural criticism, etc. in
the recent decade. More and more writings about music can be found that reflect
such interest. They may be related to various topics, such as unity/disunity,
music autonomy, music narrativity and narratology, gender study, politics of
musical composition and performance, social and cultural criticism, the music
aesthetic and sociological concept of Adorno and other Frankfurt school
scholars, cultural plurality and relativism, and the study of canon.
This course explores how music is discussed in the postmodern era.
There are at least two basic directions to be considered: (1) discussion and
exploration of the so-called
“postmodern music”; and (2) postmodern critique and discussion of
musical compositions. Regarding the second direction, one may find (A) music
theoretical writings to be applied generally to a group of compositions, and
(B) analysis, interpretation and critique of individual composition(s). These
directions and areas form the main outline if this course.
Since the amount of writings under this definition of postmodern
music discourse is tremendous, what is chosen to read in this course only
reflects s small portion of what the instructor deems important in this
direction.
Content
1. Postmodern musical style: what kinds of music, what styles and
composers are considered to be “postmodern”? What is postmodern musical style
defined or described?
2. Analytical and critical method of multimedia musical works: Use
of multiple media is one of the features of postmodern music. Although there
has been many investigation on multimedia works, such as films and MTVs, few
concentrate upon the analytical or critical method of music in such works. In
this regard, Nicholas Cook’s recent book Analyzing Music Multimedia offers
a theoretical framework and groundwork.
3. How music is listened, considered, discussed and criticized
under the postmodern thought: This is a huge area, even the topics of which
cannot possibly be exhausted in this course. What is done in this course is
simply choose one or two topics for discussion. In this course the selected
topic will be politics of music—how musical composition, performance and
reception relate to the political situation of various groups.
Evaluation
class discussion 40%; final report 60%
Final report includes two formats: oral and written. Students
should discuss their topics and outlines with the instructor in order to choose
a proper topic and make a proper outline.
Main Reference:
Bohlman, Philip. “Musicology as a Political Act,” Journal of
Musicology 11 (1993): 411-36.
Cook, Nicholas. Analysing Musical Multimedia.
----------. “Music Theory and the Postmodern Muse: An Afterword,” Concert
Music, Rock, & Jazz Since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies, ed. by
---------- and Mark Everist, eds. Rethinking Music.
Cusick, Susanne . “Of Women, Music and Power: A Model from
Seicento Florence,” Musicology and Difference De
Everist, Mark. “Reception Theories, Canonic Discourses, and
Musical Value,” in Nicholas Cook & Everist, eds. Rethinking Music,
pp. 378-402.
Kramer, Jonathan. “Beyond Unity: Toward an Understanding of
Musical Postmodernism,” in Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz Since 1945: Essays
and Analytical Studies, ed. by
Tomlinson, Gary. Music in Renaissance Magic.
Treitler, Leo. “Postmodern Signs in Musical Studies,” Journal
of Musicology 13/1 (1995)
----------, “Gender and Other Dualities of Music History,” in Ruth
A. Solie, ed. Musicology and Difference; pp. 23-45.
Van den Toorn, Peter C. Music, Politics, and the Academy.
Other Reference
Abbate, Carolyn. Unsung Voices: Opera and Musical Narrative in
the Nineteenth Century.
Attali, Jacques. Noise: the Political Economy of Music.
Brian Massumi, trans.
Bergeron, Katherine & Philip Bohlman, eds. Disciplining
Music: Musicology and Its Canons.
Dennis, David B. Beethoven in German Politics, 1870-1989.
Eyerman, Ron & Andrew Jamison. Music and Social Movements:
Mobilizing Traditions in the Twentieth Century.
Frith, Simon, ed. World Music, Politics, and Social Change:
Papers from the International Association for the Study of Popular Music.
Fulcher, Jane F. The Nation’s Image: French Grand Opera as
Politics and Politicized Art.
----------. The Quest for Voice: Music, Politics, and the
Limits of Philosophy.
Clarendon Press, 1998.
Lipsitz, George. Dangerous Crossroads: Popular Music,
Postmodernism, and the Poetics of Place.
McClary, Susan. Conventional Wisdom: the Content of Musical
Form.
Nehring, Neil. Popular Music, Gender, and Postmodernism: Anger
Is an Energy.
Norris, Christopher. Music and the Politics of Culture.
Pratt, Ray. Rhythm and Resistance: Explorations in the
Political Uses of Popular Music.
Rowe, David. Popular Cultures: Rock Music, Sport and the
Politics of Pleasure.
Said, Edward. Musical Elaborations.
Schwarz, David, Anahid Kassabian &
Disciplinarity, Culture.
Solie, Ruth A. Musicology and Difference: Gender and Sexuality
in Music Scholarship.
----------. “What Do Feminists Want? A Reply to Pieter van den
Toorn,” Journal of Musicology IX/4 (1991), pp. 400-410.
Stockfelt, Ola. “Adequate Modes of Listening,” trans. by Anabid
Kassabian and Leo G. Svendsen in David Schwarz, Anahid Kassabian & Lawrence
Siegel, eds. Keeping Score: Music, Disciplinarity, Culture, pp. 129-46.
Subitnik, Rose Rosengard. Developing Variations: Style and
Ideology in Western Music.
----------. Deconstructive Variations: Music and Reason in
Western Society.
Weber, William. The Rise of Musical Classics in
Eighteenth-Century
Weiner, Marc A. Undertones of Insurrection: Music, Politics
& the Social Sphere in the Modern German Narrative.
NB: There are other important
readings which are not included here, such as writings by Lawrence Kramer and
McClary. Because some of them have been discussed in other courses, they will
not be assigned in this course. However, they may still be discussed during the
class, especially when they are mentioned in the assigned reading (for example,
in Leo Treitler’s “Postmodern Signs,” Van den Toorn’s Music, Politics &
the Academy).
In addition, many discussions of pop music is related to
postmodernism. Because they often involve pop culture, they should be treated
in a separate course, and is not included in this course.
Syllabus
◎Weeks 1-4
Kramer, Jonathan. “Beyond Unity: Toward an Understanding of
Musical Postmodernism,” in Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz Since 1945: Essays and
Analytical Studies, ed. By
----------. “The Nature and Origins of Musical Postmodernism,” Current
Musicology
----------. “Can Modernism Survive George Rochberg?” Critical
Inquiry 11 (1984), pp. 341-54.
Rochberg, George. “Can Art Survive Modernism?” Critical Inquiry
11 (1984), pp.317-40.
Pasler, Jan. “Postmodernism, Narrativity, and the Art of Memory,”
De
◎Weeks 5-8
Cook, Nicholas. Analysing Musical Multimedia.
Preface & Introduction to Part I: Music and Meaning in the
Commercials (pp. v-xi, 1-23)
◎Weeks 9-12
Edwards, George. “Music and Postmodernism,” Partisan Review 58/4
(1991), pp. 693-706.
Treitler, Leo. “Postmodern Signs in Musical Studies,” Journal
of Musicology 13/1 (1995)
Cook, Nicholas. “Music Theory and the Postmodern Muse: An
Afterword,” Concert Music, Rock, & Jazz Since 1945, pp. 422-39.
◎Weeks 13-16
Van den Toorn, Peter C. Music, Politics, and the Academy.
Treitler, Leo. “Gender and Other Dualities of Music History,” in
Ruth A. Solie, ed. Musicology and Difference; pp. 23-45.
Cusick, Susanne . “Of Women, Music and Power: A Model from
Seicento
Musicology and Difference Bohlman, Philip. “Musicology as
a Political Act,” Journal of Musicology 11 (1993): 411-36.