NEWS: Co-Edited Collection Published

Boydell & Brewer 2022: Full details here.

Really excited to have my first book published with Boydell & Brewer. A long time in the making, it’s a co-edited collection around issues of Music and Time, put together with my friend and collaborator, music psychologist Dr Michelle Phillips (RNCM). Full details on the Boydell and Brewer website here (and 35%-off with promo code BB135!).

I’ve contributed some words on time and music as entwined in sociality - but there are also some stunning contributions from psychologists, philosophers and - perhaps of most interest to those here - practioners. Composers Bryn Harrison and Lauren Redhead have contributed wonderful words, alongside beautiful insight from pianist Philip Thomas and live-coder Alejandro Franco Briones.

Matthew

BLURB

How does music manifest through time and, simultaneously, how does time manifest through music?

For the experimental psychologist, the experience of time during music listening or performance is something that may be studied empirically. For philosophers, fundamental questions of time continue to be the subject of ongoing debate in philosophy: is time linear? What are past, present and future? What is duration and what makes a perceptual present, or moment? For the performer, musical time can exist as a subjective vehicle of expression. Although any of the three could be chosen as a starting point, the order presented in the text's structure offers a journey from empiricism to application, via contemplation.

This volume deals with the complex relationship between music and time. It presents a staunchly interdisciplinary perspective defined by the terms Psychology, Philosophy and Practice. The text is divided into sections concerning "experience", "enactment" and "meaning", as points of intersection between the three primary methodologies of the title. As such, this is a book for the scholar, the student of music, and the interested reader. For the scholar, it offers new interconnections and comparisons. For the student, its pluralistic approach presents the most comprehensive overview available to date regarding the topic. For the interested reader, the volume offers answers to questions which concern us as listeners and audiences at concerts, gigs, and festivals.