Thinking (as) Difference
Lesbian Imagination and Music
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5850952 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Elizabeth Gould (0000-0002-8358-0236, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 17-28 |
| Publication date | 2007-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Women & music (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1090-7505 • E-ISSN: 1553-0612 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/wam.2007.0026 |
| OpenAlex | W2040350134 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 12 |
PHILIP BRETT'S DECLARATION, ALL MUSICIANS ... are faggots (2006, 17-18, emphasis in original), both recalls and refers to deviant social positionalities of musicians--regardless of their sexual practices--in Western societies. Moreover, Brett argues that musicians willingly, if not exactly knowingly, enact this deviancy in ways that do not challenge and may actually sustain societal norms of decorum and restraint. The of closet thus constructs deviant role of musician as (male) homosexual and consequently feminized, conflating homophobia and misogyny (Bredbeck 1995; Spurlin 2001). This conflation in turn contributes to both homosexual panic and assertions of male values related to competitiveness, rigor, masterfulness (Brett 2006, 18) among musicians, in music, as well as in communities. The term faggot, Brett admits, comes from the parlance of male locker room (2006, 18) and does not address experiences of musicians. Nevertheless, he acknowledges misogyny of composers such as Aaron Copland and Charles Ives, crediting latter at least being blatant in his abuse of European composers as homosexuals or (Brett 2006, 22). That Ives does not distinguish between homosexuals and women demonstrates for Brett how deeply intertwined terms are as well as impact they have on marginalization of women (and, by implication, lesbians) in specific and education roles and practices. Even as open secret becomes more public and less pejorative, however, and musical roles and practices change both in terms of who or what enacts them as well as what is enacted, difference understood in terms of identity continues to inform and education, constraining and limiting individuals as well as two professions. Brett notes that associated with identities, such as musicality and homosexual, are not to much good. They are tools of social control dressed up in one case as 'talent' [and] in other as 'condition' (2006, 22). Consequently, he enjoins and gay musicology ... to interrogate both terms unceasingly as it researches our history, proposes new theories of music, and devises a new pedagogy (Brett 2006, 23). Ways of thinking beyond labels and identities, then, may enable unbounded understandings of and teaching/learning. If we can move beyond what is expected because it has always been, then our participation in musicology and education as well as in other musical practices in addition to itself may be unfettered. Although I am not a musicologist, I wish to take up Brett's call with its pedagogical imperative and extend it as well to education and education philosophy, where and gay scholarship is practically nonexistent and and gay musicology is all but invisible. (1) I follow Brett's lead by starting from Suzanne Cusick's lesbian with music (2006, 67), in which power is shared between those interacting with and itself. Defining in terms of the gender of beloved in a specific practice related to sexuality between women that is negotiated within what she calls power/intimacy/pleasure triad (2006, 71), Cusick argues that relationships exist outside traditional sex/gender system in which men are privileged and women are socialized to be non-dominating with virtually no pernicious discursive and societal models (2006, 72) of relationships between women to resist. In combination, these factors contribute to lesbians being more likely to construct alternative relationships based on sharing power. Her lesbian relation serves as a catalyst for my invoking lesbian imagination: a space of rupture in which difference may be refigured beyond identities (e.g., Brett's labels), traditional power relations, and discourses and in which profession--how we hear, create, and teach/learn music--may be re-visioned and enacted in ways that reflect values implied in Cusick's relation
Imagination · Sexual difference · Diverse Music Education Insights · Music History and Culture · Theater, Performance, and Music History
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |