Books like The quest for voice by Lydia Goehr

Extending the inquiry of his early groundbreaking books, Christopher Small strikes at the heart of traditional studies of Western music by asserting that music is not a thing, but rather an activity. This new work outlines a theory of what Small terms "musicking," a verb that encompasses all musical activity from composing to performing to listening to a Walkman to singing in the shower. Using Gregory Bateson's philosophy of mind and a Geertzian thick description of a typical concert in a typical symphony hall, Small demonstrates how musicking forms a ritual through which all the participants explore and celebrate the relationships that constitute their social identity. This trip through the concert hall will have readers rethinking every aspect of their musical worlds.

Sight and sound are equally crucial to our understanding of the world, yet the visual has dominated discussions of cultural experience. The very way we relate to and think about, our everyday world has been influenced by this emphasis on sight over sound. Providing a definitive overview of an emerging field, this pioneering reader is the first to redress a glaring imbalance, by investigating how auditory culture subtly and profoundly impacts on our everyday lives. From the evocative tolling of village bells to the grating rattie of exhaust pipes, what we hear influences how we feel and what we do. As technology advances, the world has become an increasingly noisy, confusing and disturbing place. The recent addition of mobile phones alone has irrevocably changed our auditory experiences. In order to retreat from jarring sounds, we seek new sounds -- sounds that calm, block, soothe. Beginning with the role of sound in historical and social thought. The Auditory Culture Reader moves on to consider city noise, music, voices, and new technologies and media of sound. It explores, for example, the sectarian sounds of North Belfast, sounds of the powwow among Native Americans, football chants, recorded sermons, and the power and influence of the DJ's voice. Filling a significant gap, this groundbreaking and multidisciplinary reader combines classic texts, interviews and original contributions by leading social and cultural theorists. It represents a landmark statement on a surprisingly overlooked aspect of our everyday experience.

Explore how music shapes the body, mind, and cosmos through science, psychology, and inspiring stories of musicians and researchers.

Examines the performance of Western high-art music, the politicized theorizing of it, and the use of "melody, solitude, and affirmation" in it.