Winner of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) Book Award (1997) Recent innovations in musical instrument design are not simply a response to the needs of musicians, writes Paul Theberge; they also have become "a driving force with which musicians must contend." He argues that digital synthesizers, samplers, and sequencers in studio production and in the home have caused musicians to rely increasingly on manufacturers for both the instruments themselves as well as the very sounds and musical patterns that they use to make music. Musical practices have thus become allied with a new type of consumer practice that is altogether different from earlier relationships between musicians and their instruments as a means of production. Theberge places these developments within a broad social and historical perspective that examines the development of the musical instrument industry, particularly the piano industry, the economic and cultural role of musicians' magazines and computer networks, and the fundamental relationships between musical concepts, styles, and technology.
Winner of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) Book Award (1997) Recent innovations in musical instrument design are not simply a response to the needs of musicians, writes Paul Theberge; they also have become "a driving force with which musicians must contend." He argues that digital synthesizers, samplers, and sequencers in studio production and in the home have caused musicians to rely increasingly on manufacturers for both the instruments themselves as well as the very sounds and musical patterns that they use to make music. Musical practices have thus become allied with a new type of consumer practice that is altogether different from earlier relationships between musicians and their instruments as a means of production. Theberge places these developments within a broad social and historical perspective that examines the development of the musical instrument industry, particularly the piano industry, the economic and cultural role of musicians' magazines and computer networks, and the fundamental relationships between musical concepts, styles, and technology.
PAUL THÉBERGE is Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Concordia University in Montreal as well as a composer. He has published widely on music, technology, and culture and has created sound works for various media, including radio and film.
"A fine and timely study. There is no other text offering a
sustained analysis of the social conditions of technological
innovation in the design of music technologies. Astute and
remarkably pleasurable to read."--Andrew Goodwin
"What starts out as an investigation of a surprisingly neglected
aspect of popular music studies--the technology of music
making--ends up as a far reaching meditation on Western music
history and culture. Any Sound You Can Imagine is obviously a major
contribution to cultural sociology: on almost every page it raises
fascinating and important questions about what musicians do, what
music means, and what listeners want."--Simon Frith
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