Musicking
The Meanings of Performing and Listening
by Christopher Small · first published 1998
100% recommend
Extending the inquiry of his early groundbreaking books, Christopher Small strikes at the heart of traditional studies of Western music by asserting that music is not a thing, but rather an activity. This new work outlines a theory of what Small terms "musicking," a verb that encompasses all musical activity from composing to performing to listening to a Walkman to singing in the shower. Using Gregory Bateson's philosophy of mind and a Geertzian thick description of a typical concert in a typical symphony hall, Small demonstrates how musicking forms a ritual through which all the participants
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Great article. Have you read Musicking by Christopher Small? If not, you definitely should. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Musicking-Meanings-Performing-Listen... Also, it might be interesting to chat a bit more. Drop me an email - rob at [see…
on “Crowd Patronage: How A 400 Year Old Model Can Save The Music Industry” ↗…recordings; there are many unexplored avenues and they should pursue those instead. As an example, I'm imagining my music more and more as an interactive app compared to a standard album. Christopher Small's Musicking[0] has influenced my thinking on this topic. The gist of the book is to understand music more as a verb ([communal] activity) than a noun (product, object). [0] https://www.amazon.com/musicking-meanings-performing-listeni...
on “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Rocker” ↗for a really illuminating look into some of the more "social" aspects of this field of study, i would highly recommend the book "Musicking" by Christopher Small [0]. it dives into many ways that humans interact with and experience music, using the foil of classical western concert music against many other forms of traditional and popular…
on “What, if anything, is universal to music cognition? (2024)” ↗