Spectacular Listening - Music and Disability in the Digital Age

Imagine a powerful listening experience that you want to share with others. You could describe it to someone with words, or you may choose a flashier alternative. You could, for example, costume yourself and take to the stage in a famous concert venue, delivering a rousing air guitar interpretation of a beloved rock solo for a live audience. Maybe you seek something more subtle, so you pull out your smartphone and record yourself lip-syncing to a guilty pleasure, showing your followers how seamlessly the music fits your movements. Perhaps instead you want others to hear how the music makes you feel, which leads you to record a podcast episode that translates the thrill of listening into audible exclamations. In ways both mundane and sensational, listening can be an expressive act, enabling people to stage consumption as a public practice -- what author Byrd McDaniel calls "spectacular listening." Contemporary digital platforms not only support such activity but actively encourage people to package personal music reception into a performance that may be widely shared. With a range of compelling ethnographic case studies, McDaniel investigates a broad shift in contemporary listening norms and the stakes for listeners with disabilities. He reveals how listening-as-performance can be an opportunity for play, as well as a critical practice that exposes ableism in music institutions, technologies, and discourse.

Product details

• Authors: Mcdaniel, Byrd McDaniel, Byrd (Assistant Director of Student Deve Mcdaniel, Byrd (Assistant Director of Student Development McDaniel
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 04.06.2024, delayed
• EAN: 9780197620458
• ISBN: 978-0-19-762045-8
• No. of pages: 216
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Music > Music theory; MUSIC / Genres & Styles / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / People with Disabilities, Disability: social aspects, Popular Music, Music: styles & genres