Performing the (Sound)World

This paper explores the possibility of learning through listening; it is about the way space is made through sound as well as sight. I begin by suggesting that music—precariously positioned between the myth of silence and the threat of noise—offers one means of accessing the soundworld. Then, in order to develop an approach to music that prioritises its sonic qualities, I turn to ideas about performance. This also draws attention away from musical texts and towards the physicality involved in making and listening to music. With reference to some exploratory case studies, I try to appreciate how music—through its embodiment in performance—works as a powerful way of knowing and being. Most of the paper is therefore devoted to a discussion of the intersecting political, economic, and emotional spaces which are made through musical performance (and listening) practices. Like the performances they draw from, the conclusions are incomplete. But they do confirm the importance of imagining—of creating, of engaging with—a world in the doing, shaped by senses other than sight.