Has the virtual invaded the realm of the real, or has the real expanded its definition to include what once was characterized as virtual? With the continual evolution of digital technology, this distinction grows increasingly hazy. But perhaps the distinction has become obsolete; perhaps it is time to pay attention to the intersections, mutations, and transmigrations of the virtual and the real. Certainly it is time to reinterpret the practice and study of music. The Oxford Handbook of Music and Virtuality, edited by Sheila Whiteley and Shara Rambarran, is the first book to offer a kaleidoscope of interdisciplinary perspectives from scholars around the globe on the way in which virtuality mediates the dissemination, acquisition, performance, creation, and reimagining of music. The Oxford Handbook of Music and Virtuality addresses eight themes that often overlap and interact with one another. Questions of the role of the audience, artistic agency, individual and communal identity, subjectivity, and spatiality repeatedly arise. Authors specifically explore phenomena including holographic musicians and virtual bands, and the benefits and detriments surrounding the free circulation of music on the internet. In addition, the book investigates the way in which fans and musicians negotiate gender identities as well as the dynamics of audience participation and community building in a virtual environment. The handbook rehistoricizes the virtual by tracing its progression from cartoons in the 1950s to current industry innovations and changes in practice. Well-grounded and wide-reaching, this is a book that students of any number of disciplines, from Music to Cultural Studies, have awaited.
The late Sheila Whiteley was Professor Emeritus (the University of Salford, UK) and a Research Fellow at the Bader International Study Centre, Queen's University, Ontario, Canada. She is author of Too Much Too Young: Popular Music, Age and Identity (2005). Shara Rambarran is an Assistant Professor of Music and Cultural Studies at the Bader International Study Centre, Queen's University, Canada. Shara gained her PhD in Music and Cultural Studies at the University of Salford.
List of Figures and Tables Companion Website and List of Musical Examples List of Contributors Acknowledgements Preface Andy Bennett Introduction Sheila Whiteley PART 1 The Pre-Digital Virtual Introduction 1 In Seventeenth Heaven: Virtual Listening and its Discontents Christian Lloyd2 Nothing is Real: The Beatles as Virtual Performers Philip Auslander and Ian Inglis3 Tom, Jerry and the Virtual Virtuoso Sheila Whiteley4 Bring that Beat Back: Sampling as Virtual Collaboration Rowan Oliver 5 An Analysis of Virtuality in the Creation and Reception of the Music of Frank ZappaPaul Carr PART 2 Vocaloids, Holograms and Virtual Pop Stars Introduction6 Vocaloids and Japanese Virtual Vocal Performance: The Cultural Heritage and Technological Futures of Vocal PuppetryLouise H. Jackson and Mike Dines7 Hatsune Miku and Japanese Virtual IdolsRafal Zaborowski8 Hatsune Miku, 2.0Pac and Beyond: Rewinding and Fast-Forwarding the Virtual Pop StarThomas Conner9 "Feel Good" with Gorillaz and "Reject False Icons": The Fantasy Worlds of the Virtual Group and their CreatorsShara Rambarran PART 3 Second LifeIntroduction10 Avatar Rockstars: Constructing Musical Personae in Virtual WorldsTrevor S. Harvey11 Performing Live in Second LifeJustin Gagen and Nicholas Cook12 Live Opera Performance in Second Life: Challenging Producers, Performers and the AudienceMarco Antonio Chávez-Aguayo PART 4 Authorship, Creativity and Musicianship Introduction13 We Are, The Colors: Collaborative Narration and the Experimental Construction of a Non-Existent BandAlon Ilsar and Charles Fairchild14 Music in Perpetual Beta: Composition, Remediation, and 'Closure' Paul Draper and Frank Millward15 Justin Bieber Featuring Slipknot: Consumption as Mode of Production Ragnhild Brøvig-Hanssen16 Human After All: Understanding Negotiations of Artistic Identity through the Music of Daft PunkCora S. Palfy17 Virtual Bands: Recording Music Under the Big Top David Tough PART 5 Communities and the World-Wide-Web Introduction18 "Uploading" to Carnegie Hall: The First YouTube Symphony OrchestraShzr Ee Tan19 The Listener as Remixer: Mix Stems in Online Fan Community and Competition ContextsSamantha Bennett20 Sample Sharing: Virtual Laptop Ensemble Communities Benjamin O'Brien21 Stone Tapes: Ghost Box, Nostalgia, and Post-War England David Pattie22 From Hypnagogia to Distroid: Postironic Musical Renderings of Personal MemoryAdam Trainer23 Bands in Virtual Spaces, Social Networking and Masculinity Danijela Bogdanovic PART 6 Sonic Environments and Musical Experience Introduction24 From Environmental Sound To Virtual Environment Enhancing: Consuming Ambiance as Listening PracticeThomas Brett25 App Music Jeremy Wade Morris26 Alternative Virtuality. Independent Micro Labels Facing the Ideological Challenge of Virtual Music Culture: The Case of Finnish Ektro RecordsJuho Kaitajärvi-Tiekso27 Everybody Knows There is Here: Surveying the Indexi-Local in CBC Radio 3Michael Audette-Longo28 Mind Usurps Program: Virtuality and the "New Machine Aesthetic" of Electronic Dance MusicBenjamin Halligan PART 7 Participatory Culture and Fundraising Introduction29 Virtual Music, Virtual Money: The Impact of Crowdfunding Models on Creativity, Authorship and IdentityMark Thorley30 With a Little Help From My Friends, Family and Fans. DIY, Participatory Culture and Social Capital in Music CrowdfundingFrancesco D'Amato31 Music and Crowdfunded Websites: Digital Patronage and Artist-Fan InteractivityJustin Williams and Ross Wilson PART 8 Authors' Blog: Final Thoughts on Music and VirtualityEd. Paul Carr PART 9 Glossary Ed. Shara RambarranIndex
[The Oxford Handbook of] Music and Virtuality is a strong contribution to the literature on popular music and on computers and technology more broadly. Recommended.
William P. Brown, Columbia Theological Seminary) Brown, William P. (William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament