Event overview
Familiarity Breeds Consent? Proximity and Distance in Fringe Music Writing.
What motivates us when we write about music? Critical distance – moving beyond given conceptual frames, criticising artistic content – is a crucial but often neglected value in music writing. Music’s semiotic flexibility and economic fragility often leads to boosterish tendencies in critics and scholars. This is felt all the more in contexts where access and even intimacy characterise the writer-musician relationship.
This talk looks at a series of case studies – John Brackett on John Zorn, Tara Rodgers on electronic music, Stephen Graham on underground music and a selection of shorter pieces from magazines and zines like the Wire – in light of this. Dr Graham examines the various ways that scholars and journalists write themselves into and out of conflicts of interest, often with unpredictable results. Writing to promote something doesn't always lead to complicity, just as critical distance doesn't guarantee independence of thought.
Dr Stephen Graham is a Lecturer and co-head of the Department of Music at Goldsmiths.
The Music Research Series is designed to help postgraduate students advance their research and careers. The events stimulate exchange, hones skills, facilitates the creation of professional networks and helps to consolidate the department’s postgraduate community, all over a glass of wine! Attendance is strongly recommended for all postgraduate students (MA, MMus and PGR) in Music but of course undergraduates, music researchers, and visitors from across the college and the community are also most welcome to these public lectures.
Photo Credit: The Taj Mahal Travellers, Young Vic, London, 1971, from The Wire 416
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Mar 2019 | 5:30pm - 7:00pm |
Accessibility
If you are attending an event and need the College to help with any mobility requirements you may have, please contact the event organiser in advance to ensure we can accommodate your needs.
