University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 12-2009 Sound Scenes: Performativity, Politics, and Capital in New Music Ensembles John Robison Pippen University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Music Commons Recommended Citation Pippen, John Robison, "Sound Scenes: Performativity, Politics, and Capital in New Music Ensembles. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2009. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/551 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by John Robison Pippen entitled "Sound Scenes: Performativity, Politics, and Capital in New Music Ensembles." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Music, with a major in Music. Rachel May Golden, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Leslie C. Gay, Jr., Wesley Baldwin Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by John Robison Pippen entitled “Sound Scenes: Performativity, Politics, and Capital in New Music Ensembles.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music, with a major in Music. Rachel May Golden, Major Professor We have read this dissertation or thesis and recommend its acceptance: Leslie C. Gay, Jr. Wesley Baldwin Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) Sound Scenes: Performativity, Politics, and Capital in New Music Ensembles A Thesis Presented for the Master’s of Music Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville John Robison Pippen December 2009 ii Dedication I dedicate this thesis to my partner, Abigail Shupe, a wonderful musician and my dearest friend. Abby provided my initial contact with Alarm Will Sound, and helped me find lodging with friends in New York City for my fieldwork. She has encouraged me from the beginning and helped me clarify my ideas many times along the way. iii Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude for the people who helped me with this project. To all the members of Alarm Will Sound, eighth blackbird, and Yarn/Wire, many thanks for agreeing to participate. I really appreciate your patience with my questions and with my presence at your rehearsals. Thanks to the other musicians, especially my good friends Sarah, Dave, and Jeremy, for granting me interviews. I am grateful to Aisha Ahmad‐Post, Aleks Dubov, and Caleigh Drane for putting me up in New York City during my fieldwork. I am also indebted to my parents, Julie and Keith Schap, who have been incredibly supportive of my project. Finally, I owe a great deal to my professors, Dr. Leslie Gay and Dr. Rachel Golden for all their help. They taught me to think critically and write well. Both pushed me hard while encouraging me all the way. I hope to have as positive an impact on my students as Les and Rachel have had on me. iv Abstract This thesis examines classical music as a cultural practice and centers on my ethnographies of three musical ensembles in the United States: Alarm Will Sound, eighth blackbird, and Yarn/Wire. Each group is a non‐profit performing arts organization formed by conservatory‐trained members and each performs and promotes new classical music, or “new music” as it is commonly called. I draw also on my own experience performing and interacting in new music communities. From these mixed domains, I demonstrate new music ensembles as dynamic and complex entities in which individuals negotiate between the elitist conventions of classical music and populist ideals. In particular, I argue that aesthetic differences correspond to political struggles for recognition. Groups perform musical works in certain styles that reflect their respective aesthetics. With such activities, new music ensembles endeavor to make a name for themselves and gain prominence in new music culture. They thus embody a struggle for prestige. The mechanism for these pursuits entails a circulation of symbolic capital and its conversion into real capital. I frame the activities of the three ensembles within an established history of practice and examine the documented tensions between classical composers and commercial musics, and between internal struggles of modernist and postmodern composers and performers. Finally, I problematize evolutionary concepts of modern and postmodern by portraying the older groups, Alarm Will Sound and eighth blackbird as postmodern, and the younger group, Yarn/Wire, as comparatively modernist. v Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................................... iii CHAPTER 1 AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF NEW MUSIC..........................................................................1 TERMINOLOGY............................................................................................................................................................5 METHODOLOGY.......................................................................................................................................................12 REVIEW OF LITERATURE.......................................................................................................................................24 CONCLUSIONS..........................................................................................................................................................30 CHAPTER 2 A BRIEF HISTORY OF NEW MUSIC PRACTICE..................................................... 31 SERIALISM AND THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF ART MUSIC .......................................................................34 EXPERIMENTALISM AND INDETERMINACY ........................................................................................................38 MINIMALISM, POSTMODERNISM, AND ACCEPTING POPULAR MUSIC ...........................................................42 CHAPTER 3 (DIS)ORDERED BODIES: PERFORMANCE, DIFFERENCE, AND TIME............ 52 BREAKING THE MOLD: THE POSTMODERN PERFORMANCES OF ALARM WILL SOUND AND EIGHTH BLACKBIRD...............................................................................................................................................................65 YARN/WIRE IN THE CONCERT HALL..................................................................................................................83 CHAPTER 4 IT’S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY: PATRONAGE AND SOCIOECONOMIC STRUCTURE........................................................................................................................................... 89 SYMBOLIC CAPITAL ................................................................................................................................................92 “REAL” CAPITAL .....................................................................................................................................................98 CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................................................... 106 CHAPTER 5 REFLECTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................108 CONCLUSIONS....................................................................................................................................................... 110 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................................115 APPENDIX ............................................................................................................................................125 VITA .......................................................................................................................................................141 vi List of Figures Figure 1. "Manifesto" by George Maciunas................................................................................................126 Figure 2. The Bang on a Can All­Stars with guest violinist Owen Pallett.........................................127 Figure 3. Audience arrangement at the 2008 Bang on a Can Marathon .........................................128 Figure 4. Standard arrangement for a modern symphony orchestra..............................................129 Figure 5. Arrangement of classical musicians..........................................................................................129 Figure 6. Program of Alarm Will Sound's concert with Dennis DeSantis........................................130 Figure 7. Alarm Will Sound's program from 2007 Arrhythmia concert .........................................131 Figure 8. Alarm Will Sound publicity photograph..................................................................................132