The Sonic Self: Musical Subjectivity and Signification

Semioticians began by looking at literature but have gradually applied their techniques to other disciplines, including music. The late Naomi Cumming . . . based this consideration of the sources of musical expression on her experiences as a performer--with interesting, if rarely surprising, results. --Choice

Using classical violin music as her principal laboratory, the author examines how a performance incorporates distinctive features not only of the work, but of the performer as well--and how the listener goes about interpreting not only the composer's work and the performer's rendering of the work, but also of the performer's and listener's identities. A richly interdisciplinary approach to a very common, yet persistently mysterious, part of our lives.

Author: Naomi Cumming
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 01/22/2001
Pages: 392
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.59lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.88d
ISBN: 9780253337542

Review Citation(s):
Choice 09/01/2001 pg. 128

About the Author

Naomi Cumming was a fine violinist and music theorist. She published a host of journal articles and lectured internationally on the philosophy, psychology, and semiotics of music; her article on musical semiotics will appear in the Revised New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. She was a Fulbright fellow at Columbia University, a research fellow in music theory at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Melbourne, and recipient of an award from the Society for Music Theory in 1998.