Towards a disablist Music Theory
Introducing a New Approach
Keywords:
music analysis, ableism, neurodiversity, autism, disability studiesAbstract
This article explores how ideas of neurodiversity can offer critical strategies when analyzing instrumental music - that is, music without direct or nominal representation of neurodiversity. To this end, I introduce the strand of disablist music theory, a relatively new movement in American music theory that critiques normality discourses and the ableist metaphors embedded in the technical, often clinical language of music analysis. I exemplify this critique with reference to two influential music-analytical traditions, Schenkerian analysis and Riemannian function theory. I then outline the alternatives offered by disablist music theory, situating it within the broader field of disability studies and identifying three main strands: studies of modernist music as a disability aesthetics; studies of musical narratives of disability; and Joseph Straus’ recent proposal of a radical, “disablist” analytical practice (“Music Theory’s”). Finally, through an analysis of Hél-Sfærernes Musik by the Danish neurodivergent composer Rued Langgaard, I explore the potentials of disablist listening and analysis in a Danish context.
Ultimately, this article argues for neurodiversity’s relevance in music analysis and seeks to introduce and discuss disablist music theory as an emerging concept in American music theory.
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