MUSI2130/3136 Music and Disability: Semester 2 2014/2015
Seminar (room 2/1079): MUSI2130, Mon 1400-1445; MUSI3136, Mon 16001645
Lecture (room 2/1039): MUSI2130/3136 Thu 1600-1745
Course tutor information: Prof Laurie Stras
email: lastras@soton.ac.uk
Office: Building 2, Room 2029
Open hours: Monday 3-3.45 pm; Thursday 11-11.45 am
Module description
This module is a semester-long introduction to Disability Studies and music. In
this module you will learn how the medical and social constructions of disability
may be applied to the study of musicians, music theory, and music in culture.
This will include thinking about how notions of disability permeate the language of
music analysis and reception; how disability is figured in musical representation;
and how disabled musicians are located in the narratives of music history and
music performance.
Acknowledgement:
I am grateful to Blake Howe and Andrew dell’Antonio for making their
syllabus documents available online – this syllabus owes a huge debt to
their own. Thanks, too, to Bruce Quaglia, Jennifer Iverson, and
Jeannette DiBernardo Jones for allowing me to distribute their
unpublished work.
2
Calendar
We will normally meet twice a week: one double period (90 mins) lecture; one
single period (45 mins) seminar. Seminar slots before the Easter break will be
for student presentations and discussion of readings. Seminar slots after the
Easter break will concentrate on close reading analytical techniques.
Week
1 Seminar
Date
26 Jan
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
29 Jan
2 Feb
5 Feb
9 Feb
12 Feb
16 Feb
19 Feb
23 Feb
26 Feb
2 Mar
5 Mar
9 Mar
12 Mar
16 Mar
19 Mar
Lecture
Seminar
Lecture
Seminar
Lecture
Seminar
Lecture
Seminar
Lecture
Seminar
Lecture
Seminar
Lecture
Seminar
Lecture
9 Seminar
9 Lecture
10 Seminar
10 Lecture
20
23
27
30
Apr
Apr
Apr
Apr
11 Seminar
11 Lecture
12 Seminar
4 May
7 May
11 May
14 May
Topic
No seminars: spend your free hour doing preparatory
reading
Disability theory: what is disability?
Disability theory: Embodiment and narrative
Disability theory: Prosthesis and narrative; enabling
technologies
Disability theory: The disabled performer
Disability and identity in musical culture: Blindness and
deafness
Disability and identity in musical culture: Vocal disfluency
Disability and identity in musical culture: Neurodiversity
Scheduled tutorials 19/20 March
EASTER BREAK
Analytical methods: understanding “close reading”
Musical representations of disability: "objective" madness, freakery
Musical representations of disability: "subjective" ageing; songs about illness
NO SEMINARS – Bank Holiday
Intersectionality: disability/gender/race/ sexuality
No lecture
3
Assignments
Weekly reading responses
(200 words each, pass/fail) x
10
Presentation (10 minutes)
Proposal and bibliography (350
words + indicative
bibliography)
Final project (3250 words)
% of final
mark
10%
Due date
10%
See schedule on
Blackboard
Mon 9/3/15,
1600
In class
Mon 18/5/15,
1600
eAssignment
20%
60%
Each Thu, 1500
Submission
method
Blackboard
eAssignment
Reading responses (c. 200 words, pass/fail)
Before each lecture you will write a reflective response to the week’s readings:
what you have found new or challenging, noting if something in the reading
resonates with personal experience or current events, or answering questions
posed in the Colin Cameron Student’s Guide essays. You should also come up
with one question of your own to contribute to the week’s discussion.
You do not need to summarise the readings, or take notes – this is not the
point of the exercise. I want you to think about them, and articulate those
thoughts prior to the lecture – this should make the lectures and seminars more
interesting and productive for everyone.
You should record your responses and questions in your individual journal
on Blackboard (this will not be seen by other students).
Responses and questions must be posted by 1500 on the day of the
lecture; Blackboard will mark any entries recorded after that time as LATE. You
will receive 8 marks for each entry: there are 10 entries, so a total of 80 marks
available. Each late or missing entry will receive a mark of 0 (zero).
Presentation (10 minutes)
Starting with the seminar on 9 February, there will be short presentations in the
seminars by one or two students (depending on the size of the group). You will
be randomly assigned to a slot: you may swap with someone in your seminar
group if you wish (but you must inform me!). Presentations will run until the
Easter break.
The presentation topics are related to the week’s topic and/or reading –
you may choose from the week’s list. You will need to do some additional work,
consult additional resources etc. in order to prepare your presentation. You may
use Powerpoint, handouts (I’ll photocopy for you if you get them to me by 11am),
YouTube, musical examples etc.
Proposal and bibliography (350 words + indicative bibliography); Final project
At the beginning of Week 7, you will submit a short proposal/abstract (350
words), repertoire list, and an indicative bibliography for your final essay project.
Projects may be modelled on the presentation topics: second-year students may
write up an extended version of their presentations if they wish, but third-year
students should choose a different topic, or apply the methods used in their
presentation to different repertoire/material. Students in both years may also
choose to concentrate on one of the topics covered in Weeks 9-11.
Your proposal should indicate a clear topic and primary material – artists,
composers, musical works – and how you intend to investigate/critique. Your
bibliography does not have to be complete, but should include a wider range of
material than offered in the module reading. You should also indicate any
audio/visual material you intend to discuss.
At the end of Week 8, you will have a scheduled half-hour tutorial to
discuss your proposal so that you can have some individual guidance on turning
4
your proposal into an essay. Your essay is due at 1600 on the first day of the
examination period (Week 13).
Marking criteria
All submissions (reading responses included) should be proofread for spelling,
grammar and punctuation. Your proposal/bibliography and final project should
use a consistent citation/reference style – I am happy to accept Chicago (authordate or full note/bibliography), or the style outlined in Trevor Herbert, Music in
words: a guide to researching and writing about music (London: ABRSM, 2012).
If you have reasons for using another style, that’s fine, but you must be
consistent.
Reading responses
Your reading responses will be marked on their punctuality. If they are there and
complete, full marks. If they are not, no marks.
Presentation
Your presentation will be marked on its:
 clarity (are your points easy to understand? How well do you explain your
points, and how you have arrived at them?)
 structure (is your presentation easy to follow? If your points follow on from
each other, how evident is that? Do you have conclusions? If you don’t, is it
clear why not? Have you stuck to the 10-minute time limit?)
 use of materials (how do you present music/lyrics/video? And how do these
support your presentation?)
Proposal and bibliography
Your proposal and bibliography will be marked on their:
 relevance (have you identified appropriate primary material for consideration?
Does your proposal logically extend one of the presentation options, or adopt
one of the critical approaches covered in the last part of the module? Is your
idea capable of being addressed in the word limit?)
 evidence of initial research (does your bibliography show that you have begun
to extend your search for material beyond the module readings?)
 awareness of next steps (have you articulated what you are going to do next
– do you need more bibliographical support? Are you still looking for an
analytical model to follow?)
Final project
Your final submission will be marked according to the Humanities general criteria
on the Faculty mark/coversheet.
5
Module reading
Before the first lecture, you should read Blake Howe’s post on the AMS/SMT
Music and Disability Studies blog:
http://musicdisabilitystudies.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/disability-studies-formusicians-an-introduction/
and the introductions to these three books:
Cameron, Colin (ed.). Disability Studies: a Student’s Guide. London: Sage,
2014.
McKay, George. Shakin’ All Over: Popular Music and Disability. Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 2013.
Straus, Joseph N. Extraordinary Measures: Disability in Music. Oxford and New
York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
You will be using these books intensively through this course, with some
additional reading/watching for specific lectures and seminars. Although there
are copies in the library, I have asked John Smith’s Bookshop to stock all three
texts, and there are plenty available online (new and used, and all also available
as ebooks). You should definitely consider buying them – if you buy physical
copies, you can always sell them on afterwards online if you don’t want them
anymore.
In each week’s summary you will find a short bibliography, together with a
list of relevant chapters from Colin Cameron’s Student’s Guide (probably useful to
read these first as they will explain concepts you may find in the readings). You
are not required to read everything in the bibliographies, only the asterisked
readings that will form the basis of much of the lecture/seminar discussion – but
please feel free to read on if the topic interests you. You should also use them as
a guide to get you started on your project bibliography.
6
Week 1/2 – Disability theory: what is disability?
Lecture, Thursday 29 January; Seminars, Monday 2 February
Topics for discussion
 Introduction to module – how everything works
 What do you think disability is? Disability and stereotypes/archetypes
 How can we study disability in music?
 How do we perceive the connections between disability and music?
Reading (*asterisked reading is required)
* Cameron, Colin. “Introduction.” In Disability Studies: a Student’s Guide, edited
by Colin Cameron, xv-xvii. London: Sage, 2014.
* Howe, Blake. “Disability Studies for Musicians: an Introduction.” http://
musicdisabilitystudies.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/disability-studies-formusicians-an-introduction/
* McKay, George. “Introduction: Cultural Disability Studies and the Cripping and
Popping of Theory.” In Shakin’ All Over: Popular Music and Disability, 118. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2013.
* Straus, Joseph N. “Introduction.” In Extraordinary Measures: Disability in Music,
3-14. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
* Straus, Joseph N. “Composers with Disabilities and the Critical Reception of
their Music.” In Extraordinary Measures: Disability in Music, 15-44. Oxford
and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Garland‑ Thomson, Rosemarie. “Disability, Identity, and Representation: An
introduction.” In Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in
American Culture and Literature, 5–51. New York: Columbia University
Press, 1997.
* Complementary chapters in Colin Cameron:
 “Impairment” (pp. 75-78);
 “The Medical Model” (pp. 98-101);
 “The Social Model” (pp. 137-140);
 “Stereotypes” (pp. 144-147).
Seminar task
Please come to the seminar with one example of a performer, a song, a dramatic
character, a composer, or a work that links disability with music. Be prepared to
talk about how this example conforms to a cultural stereotype.
7
Week 2/3 – Disability theory: Embodiment and narrative
Lecture, Thursday 5 February; Seminars, Monday 9 February
Topics for discussion
 What is embodiment? What is narrative?
 How do we hear a composer’s disability in their music?
 What are “image schemata” and how do they help us understand the
language of music theory?
Reading (*asterisked reading is required)
* McKay, George. “Crippled with nerves’: polio survivors in popular music.” In
Shakin’ All Over: Popular Music and Disability, 19-53. Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 2013.
* Straus, Joseph N. “Musical Narratives of Disability Overcome: Beethoven.” In
Extraordinary Measures: Disability in Music, 45-62. Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press, 2011.
* Straus, Joseph N. “Musical Narratives of Disability Accommodated: Schubert.”
In Extraordinary Measures: Disability in Music, 63-71. Oxford and New
York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
* Straus, Joseph N. “Disability within Music-Theoretical Traditions.” In
Extraordinary Measures: Disability in Music, 45-62. Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press, 2011.
Kielian-Gilbert, Marianne. “Beyond Abnormality – Dis/ability and Music’s
Metamorphic Subjectivities.” In Sounding Off: Theorizing Disability in
Music, edited by Neil Lerner and Joseph N. Straus, 217-34. New York and
London: Routledge, 2006.
Rodgers, Stephen. “Mental Illness and Musical Metaphor in the First Movement of
Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.” In Sounding Off: Theorizing
Disability in Music, edited by Neil Lerner and Joseph N. Straus, 235-256.
New York and London: Routledge, 2006.
* Complementary chapters in Colin Cameron:
 “Bodies” (pp. 17-20)
 “The Historical Construction of Disability” (pp. 65-68)
Presentation options
 “It is a paradox worth pondering that deformities are valued so differently in
life and in art. Formal deviations, which are dealt with harshly in real life
when manifested as bodily deformities, may be prized within art, and sonatas
with "deformations" are often the most interesting and expressive ones. Here
is an area in which music may have a singular contribution to make to
Disability Studies. In literary forms, disabled characters are generally
stigmatized and disposed of after playing their crucial role of setting the
drama in motion; in musical forms, the "deformations" are often the most
highly valued.” (Straus 2011, p. 113) Discuss this notion, with specific
reference to one of the composers/artists identified in Straus 2011, Chapter 1,
or McKay 2013, Chapter 1.
 Pick one of the following works briefly mentioned by Straus in his chapters,
and expand on his interpretation. Present your analysis to the class with an
annotated score and audio examples of crucial passages.
o Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1 [Ghost]
(1809): First movement, Allegro vivace e con brio
o Franz Schubert, Piano Trio in B‑ flat Major, Op. 99, D. 898 (1828): First
movement, Allegro moderato
8
Week 3/4 – Disability theory: Prosthesis and narrative; enabling
technologies
Lecture, Thursday 12 February; Seminars, Monday 16 February
Topics for discussion
 What is prosthesis?
 What is assistive technology?
 What is narrative prosthesis?
 How can the concept of prosthesis be used in music? In composition? In
performance?
Reading (*asterisked reading is required)
* Iverson, Jennifer. “Mechanized Bodies: Technology and Supplements in Björk’s
Electronica” (forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of Music and Disability
Studies).
*Mitchell, David T. and Sharon L. Snyder. “Narrative Prosthesis and the
Materiality of Metaphor.” In Narrative Prosthesis: Disability and the
Dependencies of Discourse, 47-64. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, 2000.
* Quaglia, Bruce. “Musical Prosthesis: Form, Expression, and Narrative Structure
in Beethoven’s First-Movement Forms” (forthcoming in the Oxford
Handbook of Music and Disability Studies).
* Complementary chapters in Colin Cameron:
 “Access” (pp. 1-3)
 “Barriers” (pp. 14-17)
Presentation options
Read one of the following texts, and report to the class on how its author uses
the concept of prosthesis to describe a compensatory, corrective, or supplemental
function (real or metaphorical).
 Singer, Julie. “Playing by Ear: Compensation, Reclamation, and Prosthesis in
Fourteenth‐‑ Century Song.” In Disability in the Middle Ages: Reconsiderations
and Reverberations, edited by Joshua R. Eyler, 39–52. Farnham and
Burlington: Ashgate, 2010
 Lerner, Neil. “The Horrors of One‐‑ Handed Pianism: Music and Disability in
The Beast with Five Fingers” In Sounding Off: Theorizing Disability in Music,
edited by Neil Lerner and Joseph N. Straus, 75–89. New York and London:
Routledge, 2006.
9
Week 4/5 – Disability theory: The disabled performer
Lecture, Thursday 19 February; Seminars, Monday 23 February
Topics for discussion
 What is staring? What is passing? What is masquerade? What is
enfreakment? What is engulfment?
 How does musical performance relate to the social performance of disability?
 How do we perceive disability in musical performance?
Reading (*asterisked reading is required)
* Garland‐‑ Thomson, Rosemarie. “Why Do We Stare?” and “What Is Staring?” In
Staring: How We Look, 3-46. Oxford and New York: Oxford University
Press, 2009.
* McKay, George. “Corpus crippus: Performing Disability in Pop and Rock.” In
Shakin’ All Over: Popular Music and Disability, 87-119. Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 2013.
* Straus, Joseph N. “Performing Music and Performing Disability.” In
Extraordinary Measures: Disability in Music, 125-149. Oxford and New
York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Honisch, Stefan. “Re‐‑ narrating Disability through Musical Performance.” Music
Theory Online 15, nos. 3–4 (2009).
Howe, Blake. “Paul Wittgenstein and the Performance of Disability.” The Journal
of Musicology 27 (2010): 135–80.
* Complementary chapters in Colin Cameron:
 The Affirmation Model (pp. 4-7);
 Disability Arts (pp. 30-33);
 Identity (pp. 72-75);
 Media Representations (pp. 95-98);
 The Personal Tragedy Model (pp. 116-119).
Presentation options
Watch one of the following autobiographical documentaries on a physically
disabled performer. What does the artist reveal about his disability, and his
attitude to it? What does the film reveal about his disability, and the director’s
attitude to it? Consider the directorial choices (narration, editing, camera angles,
etc.).
 Thomas Quasthoff: The Dreamer, dir. Michael Harder (2005) – borrow
from me.
 Ian Dury: On My Life, dir. Mike Connolly (2009) http://bobnational.net
(sign in with your Soton login) – note, contains strong language!
 Jimmy Scott: If Only You Knew, dir. Matthew Buzzell (2002) – borrow
from me.
10
Week 5/6 – Disability and identity in musical culture: Blindness and
deafness
Lecture, Thursday 26 February; Seminars, Monday 2 March
Topics for discussion
 What are the stereotypical presentations of blindness and deafness in musical
culture?
 What are the implications of sensory dis/ability for an established musician?
 How does Deaf culture use music?
 Can blind musicians use music as a path to autonomy?
Reading (*asterisked reading/watching is required)
* DiBernardo Jones, Jeannette. “Imagined Hearing: Music Making in Deaf
Culture.” (forthcoming in Oxford Handbook of Music and Disability Studies)
* Glennie, Evelyn. “How To Truly Listen” TedTalk, 2003.
https://www.ted.com/talks/evelyn_glennie_shows_how_to_listen
* Rowden, Terry. “Introduction” and “Blind Tom and the Cultural Politics of
Visibility.” In The Songs of Blind Folk: African-American Musicians and the
Cultures of Blindness, 1-34. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2009.
* Straus, Joseph N. “Prodigious Hearing, Normal Hearing, and Disablist Hearing.”
In Extraordinary Measures: Disability in Music, 150-181. Oxford and New
York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Maler, Anabel. “Songs for Hands: Analyzing Interactions of Sign Language and
Music.” Music Theory Online 19/1 (2013).
McKay, George. “Johnnie-Be-Deaf: One Hearing-Impaired Star, and Popular Music
as Disabling (Deafening) Culture.” In Shakin’ All Over: Popular Music and
Disability, 120-149. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2013.
Rowden, Terry. The Songs of Blind Folk: African-American Musicians and the
Cultures of Blindness. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2009. [the rest
of the book!]
Wood, Elizabeth. “On Deafness and Musical Creativity: The Case of Ethel Smyth.”
The Musical Quarterly 92/1–2 (2009): 33–69.
* Complementary chapters in Colin Cameron:
 “Inclusion” (pp. 78-81)
Presentation options
 There are several websites that contain the lyrics for Stevie Wonder’s songs
throughout his career. Look for references to disability in these lyrics, and
report to the class on any interesting trends that you find. Track down
recordings of the relevant songs online, and play excerpts for the class.
 Compare these signed performances of the song “Just the Way You Are”
(Bruno Mars, 2010). How do these performances differ from one another?
How do commenters on YouTube respond to the “fluency” of the signers in
their performance languages [ASL = American Sign Language; PSE = Pidgeon
Signed English; BSL = British Sign Language]?
o anonymous performance posted by Kelsey S:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjEw5NwaU1Q
o Julia Skye: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8TYel6ikKQ
o Jason Listman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vrboKNjpMk
o Fletch@: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak-SCoXl0aQ
11
Week 6/7 – Disability and identity in musical culture: Vocal disfluency
Lecture, Thursday 5 March; Seminars, Monday 9 March
Topics for discussion
 What are the implications of vocal trauma for the singer?
 What do we understand by the disrupted voice?
 What is a technologically-enabled voice?
Reading (*asterisked reading is required)
* McKay, George. “Vox crippus: Voicing the Disabled Body.” In Shakin’ All Over:
Popular Music and Disability, 54-86. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, 2013.
* Oster, Andrew. “Melisma as Malady: Cavalli’s Il Giasone (1649) and Opera’s
Earliest Stuttering Role.” In Sounding Off: Theorizing Disability in Music
edited by Neil Lerner and Joseph N. Straus, 157-72. New York and
London: Routledge, 2006.
* Stras, Laurie. “The Organ of the Soul: Voice, Damage, and Affect.” In Sounding
Off: Theorizing Disability in Music edited by Neil Lerner and Joseph N.
Straus, 173–84. New York and London: Routledge, 2006.
Barthes, Roland. “The Grain of the Voice (1977).” In On Record: Rock, Pop, and
the Written Word, edited by Simon Frith and Andrew Goodwin, 293-300.
London: Routledge, 1990.
Feldman, Martha. “Denaturing the Castrato,” Opera Quarterly 24 (2008): 178–
99.
Goldmark, Daniel. “Stuttering in American Popular Song, 1890-1930.” In
Sounding Off: Theorizing Disability in Music edited by Neil Lerner and
Joseph N. Straus, 91-105. New York and London: Routledge, 2006.
Gordon, Bonnie. “The Castrato Meets the Cyborg,” Opera Quarterly 27 (2011):
94–122.
Seletsky, Robert E. "The Performance Practice of Maria Callas: Interpretation and
Instinct." The Opera Quarterly 4 (2004): 587-602.
* Complementary chapters in Colin Cameron:
none this week!
Presentation options
 In her book Queer Voices: Technologies, Vocalities, and the Musical Flaw
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), Freya Jarman-Ivens does not invoke
disability theory, although she does address the unnatural, the monstrous,
and the cyborg. Using her analyses as a guide and illustrating your thoughts
with musical examples, discuss one of the artists on which she focuses, and
consider how disability theory (staring, prosthesis, performativity) might
confirm, further, or enhance what she says:
o Karen Carpenter
o Maria Callas
o Diamanda Galas
 Consider two performances by any one of the artists discussed by George
McKay in his chapter “Vox crippus,” and expand on his analyses. Provide the
class with musical examples:
o Curtis Mayfield
o Hank Williams
o Ian Dury
o Steve Harley
12
Week 7/8 – Disability and identity in musical culture: Neurodiversity
Lecture, Thursday 12 March; Seminars, Monday 16 March
Topics for discussion
 What is neurodiversity?
 Is Autism a medical diagnosis, a cultural product, or an identity?
 How does the cultural construction of Autism feed into the reception of autistic
artists like Glenn Gould? Does this have a knock-on effect for other
neurodiverse artists (David Helfgott) or artists that eschew “normate”
interaction with audiences?
Reading (*asterisked reading is required)
* Jensen-Moulton, Stephanie. “Finding Autism in the Compositions of a 19thCentury Prodigy: Reconsidering ‘Blind Tom’ Wiggins.” In Sounding Off:
Theorizing Disability in Music edited by Neil Lerner and Joseph N. Straus,
199–216. New York and London: Routledge, 2006.
* Maloney, S. Timothy. “Glenn Gould, Autistic Savant.” In Sounding Off:
Theorizing Disability in Music edited by Neil Lerner and Joseph N. Straus,
120-135. New York and London: Routledge, 2006.
* Straus, Joseph N. “Autism as Culture.” In The Disability Studies Reader, 4th
ed., edited by Lennard Davis, 460-484. New York: Routledge and London,
2013.
Bakan, Michael. “Making Change: Music, Meaning, and Autism,”
TEDTalk/TEDxFSU, Augustus B. Turnball III State Conference Center,
Florida State University (12 April 2012)
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiQ--‐‑ NWHGuKY>
Headlam, Dave. “Learning to Hear Autistically.” In Sounding Off: Theorizing
Disability in Music edited by Neil Lerner and Joseph N. Straus, 109-120.
New York and London: Routledge, 2006.
* Complementary chapters in Colin Cameron:
 “Need” (pp. 104-106)
Presentation options
 Find out what you can about the Australian band Silverchair, and their song
“Emotion Sickness.” How do the music and lyrics correspond to the personal
history of their composer? What is suggested by the participation of David
Helfgott in the recording? Back up your argument with visual and musical
examples.
 In Extraordinary Measures (p.158), Joseph Straus says, “Music therapy is a
normalizing enterprise, bound up with the medicalization and attempted
remediation of disability.” Make cases both for and against this statement,
using examples from the literature on music therapy in the library, and from
the Special Issue of Voices 14/3 (2014):
https://voices.no/index.php/voices/issue/view/82
13
Week 8: Scheduled tutorials 19/20 March
You will find a timetable on Blackboard. You may swap times with another
student, but you MUST inform me beforehand.
Week 9, Monday, 20 Apr (Seminar) – Analytical methods: Understanding
“close reading”
Topics for discussion
 What is close reading, and why would you?
 Models for close reading:
o image schemata;
o prosthesis;
o Garland-Thomson’s “rhetorics”;
o Auslander’s performance analysis model;
o Lori Burns’s feminist analysis of popular song, adapted to disability
theory
Reading (*asterisked reading is required; review if you took the Flappers to
Rappers module last year!)
* Auslander, Philip. “Performance Analysis and Popular Music: A Manifesto.”
Contemporary Theatre Review, Vol. 14/1 (2004): 1–13.
* Burns, Lori. “‘Close Readings’ of Popular Song: Intersections among
Sociocultural, Musical, and Lyrical Meanings.” In Disruptive Divas, edited
by Lori Burns and Mélisse Lafrance, 31-61. New York and London:
Routledge, 2002.
* Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. “The Politics of Staring: Visual Rhetorics of
Disability in Popular Photography.” In Disability Studies: Enabling the
Humanities, edited by Sharon L. Snyder, Brenda Jo Brueggemann, and
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, 56-75. New York: The Modern Language
Association of America, 2002.
14
Week 9/10 – Musical representations of disability: "objective" madness, freakery
Lecture, Thursday 23 April; Seminars, Monday 27 April
Topics for discussion
 How are madness and freakery determined historically?
 Can madness and freakery be depicted musically?
 What purposes do madness and freakery serve in musical drama?
Reading (*asterisked reading is required)
* Gerber, David A. “The ‘Careers’ of People Exhibited in Freak Shows: The
Problem of Volition and Valorization.” In Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of
the Extraordinary Body, edited by Rosemarie Garland‐‑ Thomson, 38–54.
New York and London: New York University Press, 1996.
* Rosand, Ellen. “Operatic Madness: A Challenge to Convention.” In Music and
Text: Critical Inquiries, edited by Steven Paul Scher, 241–87. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1992.
* Spelman, Nicola. “Introduction” and “‘All the Madmen’: Denouncing the
Psychiatric Establishment and Supposedly ‘Sane’.” In Popular Music and
the Myth of Madness, 1-38. Farnham: Ashgate, 2012.
* Stras, Laurie. “Sing a Song of Difference: Connie Boswell and a Discourse of
Disability in Jazz.” Popular Music 28/3 (2009): 297-322.
McClary, Susan. “Excess and Frame: The Musical Representation of Madwomen.”
In Feminine Endings: Music Gender, and Sexuality, 80-111. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 1991.
* Complementary chapters in Colin Cameron:
none this week!
Seminar preparation
Our seminar will consider the album Freak Show (1991) by the Residents (it
exists in various forms: graphic novel, CD, CD-ROM; live show; DVD). You each
will be assigned a single track from the album, together with related material
from the graphic novel. Listen to the track, familiarize yourself with the character
it depicts: all the lyrics are on the Residents website,
http://www.residents.com/historical4/freakshow/index.html. Think about the
track in the light of the analytic models from the previous seminar, and be
prepared to do a collective, live “close reading” of the album.
15
Week 10/11 – Musical representations of disability: "subjective" ageing; music about illness
Lecture, Thursday 30 April; NO SEMINAR, 4 MAY
Topics for discussion
 How do composers and songwriters narrate the experience of disability? Can
their stories be ambiguous?
 How does the notion of a “late style” in music correspond to a notion of a
“disability style”?
 Can we use music and/or performance as evidence for diagnosis?
Reading (*asterisked reading is required)
* Brittan, Francesca. “Berlioz and the Pathological Fantastic: Melancholy,
Monomania, and Romantic Autobiography.” 19th-Century Music 29
(2006): 211–39.
* McKay, George. “Cripping the Light Fandango: An Industry the Kills and
Maddens, and Campaigns.” In Shakin’ All Over: Popular Music and
Disability, 150-194. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2013. [and
review other chapters, as they are all relevant…]
* Straus, Joseph N. “Musical Narratives of the Fractured Body: Schoenberg,
Stravinsky, Bartók, and Copland.” In Extraordinary Measures: Disability in
Music, 82-102. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Couser, G. Thomas. “Signifying Bodies: Life Writing and Disability Studies.” In
Disability Studies: Enabling the Humanities, edited by Sharon L. Snyder,
Brenda Jo Brueggemann, and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, 109-117.
New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2002.
* Complementary chapters in Colin Cameron:
 “Humour” (pp. 68-72)
Note: I will do my best to address your questions during the lecture, as there are
no seminars this week due to the Bank Holiday
16
Week 11/12 – Intersectionality: disability/gender/race/ sexuality
Lecture, Thursday 7 May; Seminars, Monday 11 May
Topics for discussion
 What is intersectionality?
 How do the “unstable” categories of disability, gender, race, and sexuality
work together in cultural production?
Reading (*asterisked reading is required)
* Attinello, Paul. “Fever/Fragile/Fatigue: Music, AIDS, Present, and...” In
Sounding Off: Theorizing Disability in Music edited by Neil Lerner and
Joseph N. Straus, 13-22. New York and London: Routledge, 2006.
* Davis, Lennard. “The End of Identity Politics: On Disability as an Unstable
Category.” In The Disability Studies Reader, 4th ed., edited by Lennard
Davis, 263-77. New York: Routledge and London, 2013.
* Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. “Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist
Theory.” In The Disability Studies Reader, 4th ed., edited by Lennard Davis,
333–53. New York: Routledge and London, 2013.
* Moore, Leroy. “Droolilicious.” In Criptiques, edited by Caitlin Wood, 25-28. San
Bernardino: May Day Publishing, 2014. [listen to the track at
http://poormagazine.org/node/4678]
Henry, Elsa S. “Criplesque.” In Criptiques, edited by Caitlin Wood, 5-10. San
Bernardino: May Day Publishing, 2014.
Grace, Elizabeth J. “Your Mama Wears Drover Boots.” In Criptiques, edited by
Caitlin Wood, 11-24. San Bernardino: May Day Publishing, 2014.
Gross, Kelly. “Female Subjectivity, Disability, and Musical Authorship in Krzysztof
Kieslowski’s Blue.” In Sounding Off: Theorizing Disability in Music edited by
Neil Lerner and Joseph N. Straus, 41-55. New York and London: Routledge,
2006.
* Complementary chapters in Colin Cameron:
 “Feminist Disability Studies” (pp. 59-62)
 “Intersectionality” (pp. 88-91)
 “Sexuality” (pp. 134-136)