Hulse, Brian. 2010. “Of Genre, System and Process: Music Theory in a ‘Global Sonorous Space.’” In Musiktheorie als interdisziplinäres Fach. 8. Kongress der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie Graz 2008 (GMTH Proceedings 2008), edited by Christian Utz. Saarbrücken: Pfau, 531‒536. https://doi.org/10.31751/p.93
eingereicht / submitted: 28/10/2008
angenommen / accepted: 05/04/2010
veröffentlicht (Onlineausgabe) / first published (online edition): 07/03/2022
zuletzt geändert / last updated: 12/09/2010
veröffentlicht (Druckausgabe) / first published (printed edition): 01/10/2010

Of Genre, System and Process

Music Theory in a “Global Sonorous Space”

Brian Hulse

Drawing on Jean-Luc Nancy’s concept of a “global sonorous space”, this essay considers the radical nature of today’s listening environment; an environment saturated with musics from around the world. Made possible by such technologies as recording, ipods and the internet, any music can be anywhere at any given time. This situation has profound implications for traditional notions of genre in which musical systems and cultures are treated as isolated from one another; namely it can be argued that these systems are far more interconnected and dynamic than is generally thought. Following Michael Tenzer’s speculation about the potential for a “world music theory”, a conceptual space is laid out in which such a theory could be founded. This space is modelled upon concepts developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari such as the rhizome, smooth space and the idea of unstable systems “at the edge of chaos”.

Schlagworte/Keywords: Félix Guattari; Gattung; genre; Gilles Deleuze; globale Musiktheorie; Michael Tenzer; process; Prozess; Rhizom; rhizome; system; world music theory

Dieser Artikel erscheint im Open Access und ist lizenziert unter einer Creative Commons Namensnennung 4.0 International Lizenz.

This is an open access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.