Queering+the+Flute+(paper+proposal)

Abstract:

Language is often used as an index of the way we conceptualize our experience of external phenomena (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980). It is interesting, then, that much of our language in talking about music should be gendered, either covertly (//aggressive// tones, //sensual// harmonies) or overtly (//feminine// and //masculine// endings). To be sure, there are many ways that cultural and social (top-down) forces contribute to such a description of the music. However, are there perceptual and cognitive (bottom-up) processes at work here as well? How does the "acoustic fact" of the music motivate the conceptualiztion of gender?

This paper explores our conceptualization of music as gendered vis-à-vis our cognitive experience of it, through the analysis of a particular performance I gave of my piece, ".................", for flute. The paper begins by classifying specific verbal audience responses in relation to the language of gender. It goes on to discuss the ways in which the musical performance motivates such a response. This is done by analyzing the acoustic phenomena present in the piece, in terms of the relevant principles of perceptual organization and conceptual metaphors involved. Throughout, this is compared with similar analyses of other pieces in the flute repertoire. Finally, the paper concludes by relating this to the problem space I posited while writing the piece, my own experience as a flute player, and the history of flute playing in Western art music as a whole. By drawing on material from cognitive science, feminist and gender theory, psychoacoustics, musicology, and personal narrative, I show how a musical stimulus can motivate a gendered conceptualization, and how this conceptualization may not be as simple as it would first appear.

[//Aaron//] The first (and far superior) draft of this abstract was lost when I tried to save it. Keeping that in mind, I'd appreciate any responses, questions, suggestions, discussion, etc.

[//Batya//] Reading your proposal, it reminded me of a sort of game I play with the radio where I try to guess the gender of the soloist performing (in the case of violinists, to see if I can guess who it is). Is that of any interest or relevance?

[//Jerry//] The primary widely used way in which language is permitted to influence our "take" on music is through the device of giving the music a name or a title. In this regard, I found it interesting/puzzling that you would give the piece a "wordless" title like ".........." (In fact, how //do// you refer to this piece using spoken language?) Given that, I found myself wondering what language //per se// has to do with the questions you are asking here. Although not familiar with the piece, it seemed to me that the issues you were raising were more about //non-verbal// information that influences how we ascribe gender to music.

[//Aaron//] The role language has to play here, is as the domain used to gather the "data" if you will. What I'm interested in is the listener's conceptualization of gender. The thing that I have as evidence of this are the listeners' words ("I never knew the flute could be so loud", "the piece had such a strong physical presence", etc.). The reason I have to deal with language here, is to first demonstrate how such language is actually evidence of the conceptualization of gender (as a way of, perhaps, bringing legitimacy to my assertions about the gender of the sounds). The assumption here is that, if listeners used gendered language to describe their experience of the piece, then their experience of the piece (as sound) was in some way gendered. I don't mean to give the impression, however, that the bulk of the paper will focus on the language of gender. I'd mostly like to deal with the ways in which the sound of the piece motivates a conceptualization of gender as part of the experience, especially since all of these reactions were motivated without a "verbal" title.

[//Jerry//] The "problem space you posited while writing the piece", was that gendered? The reference is a bit cryptic.

[//Aaron//] Sorry, I was trying to summarize in this abstract, rather than get bogged down in too much detail. What I meant by this was that, when writing the piece, I felt like I was contributing to a canon of pieces that challenges the normative experience of gender vis a vis the flute (a particular type of femininity) and more importantly that my piece ran counter to normative experiences of gender in flute playing.

[//Jerry//] Also, with such a "mixed bag" of influences, I worry about how/whether you can synthesize them into a coherent whole.

[//Aaron//] If you think this is a little ambitious (it may be), I could simply focus on the first two parts of the paper (looking at the language of the listeners in terms of their experience of gender, and analyzing the piece in terms of how "the sound" of it contributes to such an experience), without going into all the socio-historical significance.

[//Jerry//] Biting off a smaller piece in the way you suggest sounds good. What I'd suggest to "flesh things out" would be to include some observations on either a single "contrast" piece of music (preferred), or less systematic insertions of multiple contrast pieces (less preferred but still OK), particularly on "the sound" I suppose, although maybe you could gather some informal data regarding language. And of course, citations from relevant literature. Sounds like you are already in tune with this aspect of things, but let me know if there are additional references you need.

[//Ian//] Aaron, I'm actually planning for my next jury piece to deal with issues of gender and how they relate to, well, me. I'm reading some feminist theory to prepare for it, we should talk about other things you think I should look into...