Abstract
Traditional analysis and classification of musical instruments is often based on an account of the material characteristics of instruments as physical objects. In this sense, their material basis as a kind of purpose-built technology is the primary focus of concern. This chapter takes the position that musical instruments are better understood in terms of their place in a network of relationships—an “assemblage”—with other objects, practices, institutions and social discourses. Particular attention is applied to the violin, the electric guitar and the phonographic turntable as examples. The assemblage is variable, and the same instrument can be used differently and take on different meanings depending on its place within a particular assemblage; indeed, it is the assemblage that allows us to consider devices like turntables as musical instruments even though they were not designed for such purposes.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgment of taste (R. Nice, trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1990). The logic of practice (R. Nice, trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Born, G. (2005). On musical mediation: Ontology, technology and creativity. Twentieth-Century Music, 2(1), 7–36.
Born, G. (2011). Music and the materialization of identities. Journal of Material Culture, 16(4), 376–388.
Born, G., & Devine, K. (2016). Gender, creativity and education in digital musics and sound art. Contemporary Music Review, 35(1), 1–20.
Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1987). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia (translation and foreword by B. Massumi). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Deleuze, G., & Parnet, C. (1987/2002). Dialogues II (H. Tomlinson & B. Habberjam, trans.). New York: Columbia University Press.
Guattari, F. (1993). Machinic heterogenesis. In V. A. Conley (Ed.), Rethinking technologies (pp. 13–27). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Henriques, J. (2011). Auditory and technological culture: The fine-tuning of the dancehall sound system ‘Set’”. Journal of Sonic Studies, 1(1), October. http://journal.sonicstudies.org/vol01/nr01/a03
Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nye, S. (2011). Headphone-Headset-Jetset: DJ culture, mobility and science fictions of listening. Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music, 3(1), 64–96.
Sachs, C. (1940). The history of musical instruments. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Perlman, M. (2004). Golden ears and meter readers: The contest for epistemic authority in audiophilia. Social Studies of Science, 34(5), 783–807.
Reynolds, S. (1999). Generation ecstasy: Into the world of techno and rave culture. New York: Routledge.
Rodgers, T. (2010). Pink noises: Women on electronic music and sound. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Schloss, J. G. (2004). Making beats: The art of sample-based hip-hop. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
The story of the guitar. (2008). Three-part documentary television series, BBC One, London, broadcast 05, 12, 19 October. Segments of the documentary are available online at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/guitars/
Théberge, P. (1997). Any sound you can imagine: Making music/consuming technology. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press/University Press of New England.
U2. (1987). Where the streets have no name. The Joshua Tree, Island Records.
Waksman, S. (1999). Instruments of desire: The electric guitar and the shaping of musical experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wise, J. M. (1997). Living in a Deleuzian World. In Exploring technology and social space (pp. 57–82). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Théberge, P. (2017). Musical Instruments as Assemblage. In: Bovermann, T., de Campo, A., Egermann, H., Hardjowirogo, SI., Weinzierl, S. (eds) Musical Instruments in the 21st Century. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2951-6_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2951-6_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-2950-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-2951-6
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)