The Construction of Listening in Electroacoustic Music Discourse
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Learning to Listen: The Construction of Listening in Electroacoustic Music Discourse Michelle Melanie Stead School of Humanities and Communication Arts Western Sydney University. September, 2016 A thesis submitted as fulfilment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Western Sydney University. To the memories of my father, Kenny and my paternal grandmother, Bertha. <3 Acknowledgements Firstly, to Western Sydney University for giving me this opportunity and for its understanding in giving me the extra time I needed to complete. To my research supervisors, Associate Professor Sally Macarthur and Dr Ian Stevenson: This thesis would not have been possible without your mentorship, support, generosity, encouragement, guidance, compassion, inspiration, advice, empathy etc. etc. … The list really is endless. You have both extended your help to me in different ways and you have both played an essential role in my development as an academic, teacher and just ... as a human being. You have both helped me to produce the kind of dissertation of which I am extremely proud, and that I feel is entirely worth the journey that it has taken. A simple thank you will never seem enough. To all of the people who participated in my research by responding to the surveys and those who agreed to be interviewed, I am indebted to your knowledge and to your expertise. I have learnt that it takes a village to write a PhD and, along with the aforementioned, ‗my people‘ have played a crucial role in the development of this research that is as much a personal endeavour as it is a professional one. To my dearest and most cherished friends, colleagues and co-workers Jacob Leonard, Paul Smith and Stephanie Doohan. You have offered a vital support network based on mutual love and respect. You have provided unwavering friendship during periods of personal crisis, and you have read endless drafts of my writing and offered much-needed feedback on the research. Above all else, you are just absolutely beautiful, irreplaceable friends. To Dr Maria Angel, you read my work as a friend, a role model and a colleague. You have helped me immeasurably by including me in symposia, by being extremely generous with your time, and by offering your advice and your feedback. To Dr David McInnes, you offered your expertise in helping me to understand the process of discourse analysis that inevitably shed a light on things in the data that I did not think existed. You graciously invited me to various discourse analysis workshops, you provided me with a lot of opportunities to help develop my analytical skills, and you have shown me immense kindness and compassion for which I am indebted. To all of my students past, present and future, who give me the strength and motivation to get out of bed each day and who drive my passion for research, for education and for musicology. To my best friend of at least 25 years and now husband Mark Thomas, the length of this thesis could not adequately describe the level of patience and support you have offered me throughout this lengthy process. Your fortitude has been bedrock. To my loving parents Blanka and Kenneth Stead who have always allowed, encouraged and nurtured my free thinking even when that led to argument. And lastly to Jack, this thesis will be submitted as you turn 92. You are the oldest and most extraordinary person I have ever met. You are not only my grandfather in-law but you are also one of my most precious friends. Statement of Originality The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original except as acknowledged in the text. I hereby declare that I have not submitted this material, either in full or in part, for a degree at this or any other institution. Michelle Stead. Table of Contents Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................... i List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... iii Abstract .................................................................................................................................... iv Chapter 1. Introduction How I Learnt to Listen .................................................................. 1 1.1 Theoretical Framework and Methods .......................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Significance ............................................................................................................................................... 14 1.3 Summary of Chapters ................................................................................................................................ 15 Chapter 2. Defining the Discursive Limits .......................................................................... 21 2.1 Terminology............................................................................................................................................... 25 2.2 But that‘s not music! .................................................................................................................................. 28 2.3 The Grand Narrative of Electroacoustic Music.......................................................................................... 34 2.4 ‗Writing‘ the Wrongs of Music HIStory .................................................................................................... 54 Chapter 3. Discipline and the Mechanics of Ear-Training ............................................... 72 3.1 Disciplining Listening: Music Theory, Ear-Training and Sight Singing in the Western Tradition ........... 75 3.2 The Exercises ............................................................................................................................................. 77 3.3 Self-Discipline ........................................................................................................................................... 84 3.4 Disciplinary Knowledge ............................................................................................................................ 89 3.5 Looking and Listening ............................................................................................................................... 96 3.6 Power and Resistance .............................................................................................................................. 110 Chapter 4. Enunciative Modalities of Listening to Electroacoustic Music.................... 114 4.1 Enunciative Modalities ............................................................................................................................ 117 4.2 The Enunciative Modality of Acousmatic Listening: .............................................................................. 118 4.3 The Enunciative Modality of Techno-Aesthetic Listening ...................................................................... 137 4.4 The Enunciative Modality of Referential Listening ................................................................................. 147 4.5 Epistemologies of Listening .................................................................................................................... 157 Chapter 5. Gender and the Enunciative Modality of Corporeal Listening .................. 159 5.1 ‗Women Should Be Seen and Not Heard‘ ............................................................................................... 168 5.2 Oliveros‘ Deep Listening ......................................................................................................................... 176 5.3 Alternative Listening Epistemologies ...................................................................................................... 185 Chapter 6. Enunciative Strategies, Experts and „What Can Be said‟ ........................... 187 i 6.1 Processes and Function of the Surveys and Interviews ............................................................................ 188 6.2 Recruitment and Demographic ................................................................................................................ 189 6.3 Surveys and Interviews ............................................................................................................................ 190 6.4 Methods and Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 192 6.5 Analysis and Findings .............................................................................................................................. 194 6.6 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................. 218 Chapter 7. Conclusion Imagining an Aesthetics of Listening: Non-Normative Listening Subjectivities and the Art of the Listening ........................................................................ 220 7.1 Imagining an Aesthetics of Listening: ..................................................................................................... 235 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 239 Appendix 1 Survey Questions ............................................................................................. 260 Appendix 2 Interview Questions........................................................................................