M J Grant
Biographic Data
| ID | 30529 |
|---|---|
| NAME | M J Grant |
| GIVEN NAMES | M J |
| FAMILY NAME | Grant |
| SIGNATURE | GRANT M J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0764-5496 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1989 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
David Suisman, Instrument of War
David Suisman, Instrument of War: Music and the Making of America’s Soldiers. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2024. 358 pp. ISBN 978-0-226-82292-1 (hbk). $34.99
A Berlin School of Music Sociology
Bleed a little louder
Music, like medicine, can be used to damage as well as to heal, and there is a long history linking music with punishment rituals, and torture. However, the common tendency to think about violence and injury in terms of physical force and visible scars means that impacts of psychological and social violence have often been downplayed, even silenced. The emphasis on physicality also results in erroneous ideas about music torture: for example, the …
Auld Lang Syne
In Auld Lang Syne: A Song and its Culture, M. J. Grant explores the history of this iconic song, demonstrating how its association with ideas of fellowship, friendship and sociality has enabled it to become so significant for such a wide range of individuals and communities around the world. This engaging study traces different stages in the journey of Auld Lang Syne, from the precursors to the song made famous by Robert Burns to the traditions a…
On Music and War
The musicology of war and collective violence is a relatively young field, and appropriate theoretical frameworks for this research are still emerging. Here, an approach is outlined which, in keeping with the programme for music sociology outlined by Christian Kaden, is both systematic and historical in its approach. Perspectives from the sociology of violence (Randalls Collins, Charles Tilly) can help us understand the dynamics of collective vio…
Music, Art and Diplomacy
This is one of several volumes arising from a conference on ‘East–West Cultural Exchange and the Cold War’ held in 2012. The focus of the volume is the 1940s–1960s, and all of the chapters deal in some way with the Soviet Union as agent or target of cultural diplomacy. Four of the eight case studies deal directly with music, and the focus throughout is on high as opposed to popular culture. In her foreword, Susan E. Reid notes that the ‘Iron Curt…
Musik – Macht – Staat. Kulturelle, soziale und politische Wandlungsprozesse in der Moderne. Hrsg. von Sabine Mecking und Yvonne Wasserloos. Göttingen
The Soundtrack of Conflict
Since the early twentieth century, radio has been one of the most important media both generally and in the specific context of armed conflict. Relatively cheap and with the ability to transmit over long ranges – and over international borders – radio has become central to the wartime strategies of governments and guerrilla groups alike. The role of music on radio in wartime and in conflict situations has, however, only rarely been the focus of s…
The Big Empty
Journal Article The Big Empty: The Great Plains in the Twentieth Century Get access The Big Empty: The Great Plains in the Twentieth Century. By R. Douglas Hurt. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2011. xx, 315 pp. Cloth, $65.00. Paper, $29.95.) Michael Johnston Grant Michael Johnston Grant Kentucky Department of Agriculture Lexington, Kentucky [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Jou…
Series and Place
The phrase ‘site-specific music’ is commonly used to describe developments in music since the latter part of the twentieth century in which the exact environment chosen is integral to the conception of the piece or the installation. In this essay, I shall argue that the alternative term ‘place-specific music’ may help describe one of the most important characteristics of many pieces and projects by Wandelweiser composers: a relationship to the pl…
Music and Conflict
This article offers a brief review of literature which demonstrates how interdisciplinary collaboration could help understand the role music plays in conflict situations. Research into the anthropology of armed conflict and into propaganda are two areas where the focus has only rarely covered music and musical activity. A number of concrete examples demonstrate how the use of music in conflict situations has implications for the justice system an…
The Invention of 'Folk Music' and 'Art Music
In his book Understanding Scotland: The Sociology of a Stateless Nation (London, 1992; 2nd edn. 2001) David McCrone analyses what Scots and others perceive to be the essence of Scottish character and society—for example, the idea that Scottish society is inherently more egalitarian than English society, and that Scottish society is more socially mobile. He could also have added the one about the Scots inventing anything of any significance—televi…
Klang und Linie von Pierrot Lunaire zu Ionisation
The premiss of this book is that the unusual instrumental resources found in so many ensemble compositions between roughly 1910 and 1930 may have had a structural function, as expression of a new form of polyphony, over and above the simple, modernist interest in the new and the unusual. Thirteen works by a total of nine composers, and a general chapter on Varèse, provide a broader analytic footing than is generally given in studies of this kind,…
Buhne, Film, Raum und Zeit in der Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts
Many a musician could be forgiven if their eyes glaze over at the very mention of the word ‘Vienna’. It is a city of mythic proportions in a manner that no other in the Austro-German musical tradition can ever be. Even the protagonists of the so-called Second Viennese School felt themselves indebted to the weight of this tradition; and the power and devastating critique implicit in Viennese modernism throughout the arts and social sciences could …
From Prairie Farmer to Entrepreneur
In their study of corn belt agriculture during the twentieth century, Dennis S. Nordin and Roy V. Scott challenge the historical interpretation that the transition from small-scale to large-scale farming has robbed rural America of what makes it special. The book begins around 1900 by exploring the rural Midwest, which was large enough to hold a diversity of love of land, neighborly support, economic hardship, and drudgery. In their survey of the…
Thorsten Klages
Klangkunst. Hrsg. von Helga de la Mottehaber; Elektroakustische Musik. Hrsg. von Elena Ungeheuer
Attsim
Music and Conflict
This article offers a brief review of literature which demonstrates how interdisciplinary collaboration could help understand the role music plays in conflict situations. Research into the anthropology of armed conflict and into propaganda are two areas where the focus has only rarely covered music and musical activity. A number of concrete examples demonstrate how the use of music in conflict situations has implications for the justice system an…
The Soundtrack of Conflict
Since the early twentieth century, radio has been one of the most important media both generally and in the specific context of armed conflict. Relatively cheap and with the ability to transmit over long ranges – and over international borders – radio has become central to the wartime strategies of governments and guerrilla groups alike. The role of music on radio in wartime and in conflict situations has, however, only rarely been the focus of s…
Attsim
Klangkunst. Hrsg. von Helga de la Mottehaber; Elektroakustische Musik. Hrsg. von Elena Ungeheuer
Thorsten Klages
Buhne, Film, Raum und Zeit in der Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts
Many a musician could be forgiven if their eyes glaze over at the very mention of the word ‘Vienna’. It is a city of mythic proportions in a manner that no other in the Austro-German musical tradition can ever be. Even the protagonists of the so-called Second Viennese School felt themselves indebted to the weight of this tradition; and the power and devastating critique implicit in Viennese modernism throughout the arts and social sciences could …
From Prairie Farmer to Entrepreneur
In their study of corn belt agriculture during the twentieth century, Dennis S. Nordin and Roy V. Scott challenge the historical interpretation that the transition from small-scale to large-scale farming has robbed rural America of what makes it special. The book begins around 1900 by exploring the rural Midwest, which was large enough to hold a diversity of love of land, neighborly support, economic hardship, and drudgery. In their survey of the…
Klang und Linie von Pierrot Lunaire zu Ionisation
The premiss of this book is that the unusual instrumental resources found in so many ensemble compositions between roughly 1910 and 1930 may have had a structural function, as expression of a new form of polyphony, over and above the simple, modernist interest in the new and the unusual. Thirteen works by a total of nine composers, and a general chapter on Varèse, provide a broader analytic footing than is generally given in studies of this kind,…
The Invention of 'Folk Music' and 'Art Music
In his book Understanding Scotland: The Sociology of a Stateless Nation (London, 1992; 2nd edn. 2001) David McCrone analyses what Scots and others perceive to be the essence of Scottish character and society—for example, the idea that Scottish society is inherently more egalitarian than English society, and that Scottish society is more socially mobile. He could also have added the one about the Scots inventing anything of any significance—televi…
Music and Conflict
This article offers a brief review of literature which demonstrates how interdisciplinary collaboration could help understand the role music plays in conflict situations. Research into the anthropology of armed conflict and into propaganda are two areas where the focus has only rarely covered music and musical activity. A number of concrete examples demonstrate how the use of music in conflict situations has implications for the justice system an…
Series and Place
The phrase ‘site-specific music’ is commonly used to describe developments in music since the latter part of the twentieth century in which the exact environment chosen is integral to the conception of the piece or the installation. In this essay, I shall argue that the alternative term ‘place-specific music’ may help describe one of the most important characteristics of many pieces and projects by Wandelweiser composers: a relationship to the pl…
The Big Empty
Journal Article The Big Empty: The Great Plains in the Twentieth Century Get access The Big Empty: The Great Plains in the Twentieth Century. By R. Douglas Hurt. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2011. xx, 315 pp. Cloth, $65.00. Paper, $29.95.) Michael Johnston Grant Michael Johnston Grant Kentucky Department of Agriculture Lexington, Kentucky [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Jou…
The Soundtrack of Conflict
Since the early twentieth century, radio has been one of the most important media both generally and in the specific context of armed conflict. Relatively cheap and with the ability to transmit over long ranges – and over international borders – radio has become central to the wartime strategies of governments and guerrilla groups alike. The role of music on radio in wartime and in conflict situations has, however, only rarely been the focus of s…
Musik – Macht – Staat. Kulturelle, soziale und politische Wandlungsprozesse in der Moderne. Hrsg. von Sabine Mecking und Yvonne Wasserloos. Göttingen
Music, Art and Diplomacy
This is one of several volumes arising from a conference on ‘East–West Cultural Exchange and the Cold War’ held in 2012. The focus of the volume is the 1940s–1960s, and all of the chapters deal in some way with the Soviet Union as agent or target of cultural diplomacy. Four of the eight case studies deal directly with music, and the focus throughout is on high as opposed to popular culture. In her foreword, Susan E. Reid notes that the ‘Iron Curt…
On Music and War
The musicology of war and collective violence is a relatively young field, and appropriate theoretical frameworks for this research are still emerging. Here, an approach is outlined which, in keeping with the programme for music sociology outlined by Christian Kaden, is both systematic and historical in its approach. Perspectives from the sociology of violence (Randalls Collins, Charles Tilly) can help us understand the dynamics of collective vio…
Auld Lang Syne
In Auld Lang Syne: A Song and its Culture, M. J. Grant explores the history of this iconic song, demonstrating how its association with ideas of fellowship, friendship and sociality has enabled it to become so significant for such a wide range of individuals and communities around the world. This engaging study traces different stages in the journey of Auld Lang Syne, from the precursors to the song made famous by Robert Burns to the traditions a…
Bleed a little louder
Music, like medicine, can be used to damage as well as to heal, and there is a long history linking music with punishment rituals, and torture. However, the common tendency to think about violence and injury in terms of physical force and visible scars means that impacts of psychological and social violence have often been downplayed, even silenced. The emphasis on physicality also results in erroneous ideas about music torture: for example, the …
A Berlin School of Music Sociology
David Suisman, Instrument of War
David Suisman, Instrument of War: Music and the Making of America’s Soldiers. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2024. 358 pp. ISBN 978-0-226-82292-1 (hbk). $34.99
Art (8 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Music History and Culture (5 works) · Musicology and Musical Analysis (5 works) · Diverse Musicological Studies (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · History (3 works) · Law (3 works) · Literature (3 works) · Musical (3 works)