Philip Auslander

School of Literature, Media, and Communication, Georgia Tech

  • About
  • Books
    • REACTIVATIONS: ESSAYS ON PERFORMANCE AND ITS DOCUMENTATION (2018)
    • LIVENESS: PERFORMANCE IN A MEDIATIZED CULTURE (2008)
    • PERFORMING GLAM ROCK: GENDER AND THEATRICALITY IN POPULAR MUSIC (2006)
    • BODIES IN COMMOTION: DISABILITY AND PERFORMANCE (2005)
    • PERFORMANCE: CRITICAL CONCEPTS IN LITERARY AND CULTURAL STUDIES (2003)
    • LIVENESS: PERFORMANCE IN A MEDIATIZED CULTURE (1999)
    • FROM ACTING TO PERFORMANCE: ESSAYS IN MODERNISM AND POSTMODERNISM (1997)
    • PRESENCE AND RESISTANCE: POSTMODERNISM AND CULTURAL POLITICS IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN PERFORMANCE (1992)
    • THE NEW YORK SCHOOL POETS AS PLAYWRIGHTS: O’HARA, ASHBERY, KOCH, SCHUYLER AND THE VISUAL ARTS (1987)
  • Downloads
  • Publications/CV
  • Interviews
  • Course Syllabi
  • Contact
  • IN CONCERT: PERFORMING MUSICAL PERSONA (2021)

Powered by Genesis

IN CONCERT: PERFORMING MUSICAL PERSONA (2021)

The conventional way of understanding what musicians do as performers is to treat them as producers of sound; some even argue that it is unnecessary to see musicians in performance as long as one can hear them. But musical performance, counters Philip Auslander, is also a social interaction between musicians and their audiences, appealing as much to the eye as to the ear. In Concert: Performing Musical Persona addresses not only the visual means by which musicians engage their audiences through costume and physical gesture, but also spectacular aspects of performance such as light shows.

Although musicians do not usually enact fictional characters on stage, they nevertheless present themselves to audiences in ways specific to the performance situation. Auslander’s term to denote the musician’s presence before the audience is musical persona. While presence of a musical persona may be most obvious within rock and pop music, the book’s analysis extends to classical music, jazz, blues, country, electronic music, laptop performance, and music made with experimental digital interfaces. The eclectic group of performers discussed include the Beatles, Miles Davis, Keith Urban, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Frank Zappa, B. B. King, Jefferson Airplane, Virgil Fox, Keith Jarrett, Glenn Gould, and Laurie Anderson.

 

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Recent Posts

  • Watch My Virtual Book Launch!
  • New Book! IN CONCERT: PERFORMING MUSICAL PERSONA
March 2023
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Feb