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"The Mind is Listening": Listening for Meaning in Steve Reich's 'The Desert Music'

This thesis examines _The Desert Music_ by Steve Reich in the context of the composer's artistic perspective and advocates studying the subjective listening experience as a tool for musical analysis. Challenging conventional approaches in musicology and music theory, this work examines how a specific analytical approach in turn shapes the values assigned to that work. Systematic documentation of the author's listening experience is presented as an application of this premise and as a template to use in subsequent investigations of how other listeners respond to the work. The author concludes, mirroring the ideas implied in _The Desert Music_ itself, that instead of suppressing individual responses as opinions too myriad and divergent to be relevant, we should recognize that these reactions are products of shared cultural experience and that discussing them collectively may lead to powerful revelations about artistic meaning that may not emerge any other way.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/193300
Date January 2007
CreatorsFisher, Sarah Lynn
ContributorsSturman, Janet L., Sturman, Janet L., Brobeck, John, Rosenblatt, Jay
PublisherThe University of Arizona.
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext, Electronic Thesis
RightsCopyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

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