Tia DeNora – författare

During the COVID-19 pandemic, creative communities were faced with unprecedented challenges and forced to embark upon a re-evaluation of traditional approaches to artistic collaboration. In the wake of these discussions and experiments, New Directions in Musical Collaborative Creativity asks how new technology can be used to enhance creativity and how this creativity increases our knowledge in relation to musical interactions in group contexts. Focusing on a case study of a leading musical improvisation group--the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, and their online music sessions established during the COVID-19 lockdowns of March 2020--the book's five authors probe the transformative impact of online and hybrid improvisation and explore the crucial role of interactive (visual and sound) technology in the emergence of new identities and hybrid working practices.Virtual improvising, though a relatively new type of creative activity, has significant implications for how researchers can better understand improvisation generally as well as musical interactions in non-virtual environments. The book's topics range from an overview of digital music frameworks to an investigation of how improvisations begin and end, the unique context of the online sessions, the integration of audio and visual stimuli to produce audio-visual compositions, and new types of creative activities. The authors explore how improvisation--and online improvising in particular--can engender a fresh sense of community while presenting innovative opportunities for experimentation, communication, community involvement, educational enrichment, the cultivation of new virtuosities, and the promotion of health and well-being. Furthermore, they delve into the ramifications of these insights for education and health, emphasising the importance of new technologies and their potential to produce significant creative breakthroughs.Ultimately, the book points us toward novel manifestations of technologically-mediated and community-centred creative engagement, delineating avenues for future advancement and scholarly investigation. Bringing together a multidisciplinary and cross-generational author team with a wealth of complementary academic and artistic experience, this book responds to the significant growth in interest in improvisation as a musical and artistic practice and situates this research within the study of collaborative creativity in the contemporary "hybrid" context. A companion website features a series of films that document sessions of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, showing the innovative collaborative artistic practices as they emerged.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, creative communities were faced with unprecedented challenges and forced to embark upon a re-evaluation of traditional approaches to artistic collaboration. In the wake of these discussions and experiments, New Directions in Musical Collaborative Creativity asks how new technology can be used to enhance creativity and how this creativity increases our knowledge in relation to musical interactions in group contexts. Focusing on a case study of a leading musical improvisation group--the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, and their online music sessions established during the COVID-19 lockdowns of March 2020--the book's five authors probe the transformative impact of online and hybrid improvisation and explore the crucial role of interactive (visual and sound) technology in the emergence of new identities and hybrid working practices.Virtual improvising, though a relatively new type of creative activity, has significant implications for how researchers can better understand improvisation generally as well as musical interactions in non-virtual environments. The book's topics range from an overview of digital music frameworks to an investigation of how improvisations begin and end, the unique context of the online sessions, the integration of audio and visual stimuli to produce audio-visual compositions, and new types of creative activities. The authors explore how improvisation--and online improvising in particular--can engender a fresh sense of community while presenting innovative opportunities for experimentation, communication, community involvement, educational enrichment, the cultivation of new virtuosities, and the promotion of health and well-being. Furthermore, they delve into the ramifications of these insights for education and health, emphasising the importance of new technologies and their potential to produce significant creative breakthroughs.Ultimately, the book points us toward novel manifestations of technologically-mediated and community-centred creative engagement, delineating avenues for future advancement and scholarly investigation. Bringing together a multidisciplinary and cross-generational author team with a wealth of complementary academic and artistic experience, this book responds to the significant growth in interest in improvisation as a musical and artistic practice and situates this research within the study of collaborative creativity in the contemporary "hybrid" context. A companion website features a series of films that document sessions of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, showing the innovative collaborative artistic practices as they emerged.

In this provocative account Tia DeNora reconceptualizes the notion of genius by placing the life and career of Ludwig van Beethoven in its social context. She explores the changing musical world of late eighteenth-century Vienna and follows the activities of the small circle of aristocratic patrons who paved the way for the composer's success. DeNora reconstructs the development of Beethoven's reputation as she recreates Vienna's robust musical scene through contemporary accounts, letters, magazines, and myths--a colorful picture of changing times. She explores the ways Beethoven was seen by his contemporaries and the image crafted by his supporters. Comparing Beethoven to contemporary rivals now largely forgotten, DeNora reveals a figure musically innovative and complex, as well as a keen self-promoter who adroitly managed his own celebrity. DeNora contends that the recognition Beethoven received was as much a social achievement as it was the result of his personal gifts.In contemplating the political and social implications of culture, DeNora casts many aspects of Beethoven's biography in a new and different light, enriching our understanding of his success as a performer and composer.

Theodor W. Adorno placed music at the centre of his critique of modernity and broached some of the most important questions about the role of music in contemporary society. One of his central arguments was that music, through the manner of its composition, affected consciousness and was a means of social management and control. His work was primarily theoretical however, and because these issues were never explored empirically his work has become sidelined in current music sociology. This book argues that music sociology can be greatly enriched by a return to Adorno's concerns, in particular his focus on music as a dynamic medium of social life. Intended as a guide to 'how to do music sociology' this book deals with critical topics too often sidelined such as aesthetic ordering, cognition, the emotions and music as a management device and reworks Adorno's focus through a series of grounded examples.

The power of music to influence mood, create scenes, routines and occasions is widely recognised and this is reflected in a strand of social theory from Plato to Adorno that portrays music as an influence on character, social structure and action. There have, however, been few attempts to specify this power empirically and to provide theoretically grounded accounts of music's structuring properties in everyday experience. Music in Everyday Life uses a series of ethnographic studies - an aerobics class, karaoke evenings, music therapy sessions and the use of background music in the retail sector - as well as in-depth interviews to show how music is a constitutive feature of human agency. Drawing together concepts from psychology, sociology and socio-linguistics it develops a theory of music's active role in the construction of personal and social life and highlights the aesthetic dimension of social order and organisation in late modern societies.

The power of music to influence mood, create scenes, routines and occasions is widely recognised and this is reflected in a strand of social theory from Plato to Adorno that portrays music as an influence on character, social structure and action. There have, however, been few attempts to specify this power empirically and to provide theoretically grounded accounts of music's structuring properties in everyday experience. Music in Everyday Life uses a series of ethnographic studies - an aerobics class, karaoke evenings, music therapy sessions and the use of background music in the retail sector - as well as in-depth interviews to show how music is a constitutive feature of human agency. Drawing together concepts from psychology, sociology and socio-linguistics it develops a theory of music's active role in the construction of personal and social life and highlights the aesthetic dimension of social order and organisation in late modern societies.

Theodor W. Adorno placed music at the centre of his critique of modernity and broached some of the most important questions about the role of music in contemporary society. One of his central arguments was that music, through the manner of its composition, affected consciousness and was a means of social management and control. His work was primarily theoretical however, and because these issues were never explored empirically his work has become sidelined in current music sociology. This book argues that music sociology can be greatly enriched by a return to Adorno's concerns, in particular his focus on music as a dynamic medium of social life. Intended as a guide to 'how to do music sociology' this book deals with critical topics too often sidelined such as aesthetic ordering, cognition, the emotions and music as a management device and reworks Adorno's focus through a series of grounded examples.

This volume brings together DeNora’s work published between 1986 and 2007. It includes thirteen essays, some of which have had a major impact on the field. The chapters trace the development of her work from its early concern with musical meaning, historical ethnography and the ’everyday’ perspective, to its current focus on music in action. Topics covered include Adorno on Schoenberg and Stravinsky, a theory of music as a space and place for interpretive work, research methods for historical musicology, and the first key statement of her theory of music as an active ingredient in social life. These building blocks are then employed to investigate music and embodied experience, sexuality and gender differentiation, and music’s role as a technology of health. The essays are set in a multi-disciplinary context with an autobiographical introduction.

Caring for Music describes musical life in ‘Hill House’, a residential care home and the site of the AHRC Care for Music research project (https://careformusic.org/) which ran from 2018-2023.The book’s primary aim is to let the people and situations involved show readers, from the ‘inside’ of musical engagement, what can happen when music is present in scenes of care in late life - when people care for music. Watching what happens when music happens can illuminate how people in situations of residential care, whether they are residents, care staff, friends, loved ones, or researchers, can enjoy ‘good’ moments together - meaningful, creative, festive, beautiful, mutually supportive.At the same time, the book cautions against the tendency of painting a too-rosy picture of music’s powers to ‘fix’ things. It offers an alternate model of music as a medium of connection. The book suggests that much can be gained by rethinking the dominant model within the literature on music and late life, dementia, health. It proposes a perspective in which music is not ‘for’ ‘people with disabilities’ but instead a medium - of pleasure, meaning, beauty and relationship - that is enacted jointly.

Caring for Music describes musical life in ‘Hill House’, a residential care home and the site of the AHRC Care for Music research project (https://careformusic.org/) which ran from 2018-2023.The book’s primary aim is to let the people and situations involved show readers, from the ‘inside’ of musical engagement, what can happen when music is present in scenes of care in late life - when people care for music. Watching what happens when music happens can illuminate how people in situations of residential care, whether they are residents, care staff, friends, loved ones, or researchers, can enjoy ‘good’ moments together - meaningful, creative, festive, beautiful, mutually supportive.At the same time, the book cautions against the tendency of painting a too-rosy picture of music’s powers to ‘fix’ things. It offers an alternate model of music as a medium of connection. The book suggests that much can be gained by rethinking the dominant model within the literature on music and late life, dementia, health. It proposes a perspective in which music is not ‘for’ ‘people with disabilities’ but instead a medium - of pleasure, meaning, beauty and relationship - that is enacted jointly.

"Music triggered a healing process from within me. I started singing for the joy of singing myself and it helped me carry my recovery beyond the state I was in before I fell ill nine years ago to a level of well-being that I haven't had perhaps for thirty years." This book explores the experiences of people who took part in a vibrant musical community for people experiencing mental health difficulties, SMART (St Mary Abbotts Rehabilitation and Training). Ansdell (a music therapist/researcher) and DeNora (a music sociologist) describe their long-term ethnographic work with this group, charting the creation and development of a unique music project that won the 2008 Royal Society for Public Health Arts and Health Award. Ansdell and DeNora track the 'musical pathways' of a series of key people within SMART, focusing on changes in health and social status over time in relation to their musical activity. The book includes the voices and perspectives of project members and develops with them a new understanding of how music promotes their health and wellbeing. A contemporary ecological understanding of 'music and change' is outlined, drawing on and further developing theory from music sociology and Community Music Therapy. This innovative book will be of interest to anyone working in the mental health field, but also music therapists, sociologists, musicologists, music educators and ethnomusicologists. This volume completes a three part 'triptych', alongside the other volumes, Music Asylums: Wellbeing Through Music in Everyday Life, and How Music Helps: In Music Therapy and Everyday Life.

This volume brings together DeNora’s work published between 1986 and 2007. It includes thirteen essays, some of which have had a major impact on the field. The chapters trace the development of her work from its early concern with musical meaning, historical ethnography and the ’everyday’ perspective, to its current focus on music in action. Topics covered include Adorno on Schoenberg and Stravinsky, a theory of music as a space and place for interpretive work, research methods for historical musicology, and the first key statement of her theory of music as an active ingredient in social life. These building blocks are then employed to investigate music and embodied experience, sexuality and gender differentiation, and music’s role as a technology of health. The essays are set in a multi-disciplinary context with an autobiographical introduction.

"Music triggered a healing process from within me. I started singing for the joy of singing myself and it helped me carry my recovery beyond the state I was in before I fell ill nine years ago to a level of well-being that I haven't had perhaps for thirty years." This book explores the experiences of people who took part in a vibrant musical community for people experiencing mental health difficulties, SMART (St Mary Abbotts Rehabilitation and Training). Ansdell (a music therapist/researcher) and DeNora (a music sociologist) describe their long-term ethnographic work with this group, charting the creation and development of a unique music project that won the 2008 Royal Society for Public Health Arts and Health Award. Ansdell and DeNora track the 'musical pathways' of a series of key people within SMART, focusing on changes in health and social status over time in relation to their musical activity. The book includes the voices and perspectives of project members and develops with them a new understanding of how music promotes their health and wellbeing. A contemporary ecological understanding of 'music and change' is outlined, drawing on and further developing theory from music sociology and Community Music Therapy. This innovative book will be of interest to anyone working in the mental health field, but also music therapists, sociologists, musicologists, music educators and ethnomusicologists. This volume completes a three part 'triptych', alongside the other volumes, Music Asylums: Wellbeing Through Music in Everyday Life, and How Music Helps: In Music Therapy and Everyday Life.

Taking a cue from Erving Goffman’s classic work, Asylums, Tia DeNora develops a novel interdisciplinary framework for music, health and wellbeing. Considering health and illness both in medical contexts and in the often-overlooked realm of everyday life, DeNora argues that these identities are by no means mutually exclusive. Moreover, she suggests that the promotion of health and more specifically, mental health, involves a great deal more than a concern with medication, genetic predispositions, clinical and neuro-scientific procedures. Adopting a holistic, interactionist focus, Music Asylums reconnects states of wellness and wellbeing to encounters with others and - critically - to opportunities for aesthetic experience. Building on DeNora's earlier work on music as a technology of self in everyday life, the book presents music as an active ingredient of action, identity, capacity and consciousness. From there, it suggests that access to, and evaluation of, music is an important ethical matter. Intended for scholars and practitioners in psychiatry and psychology, palliative care, socio-music studies, music psychology and the allied health professions, Music Asylums showcases music's role in the existential project of being and staying well, mentally and physically, from moment-to-moment and across all realms of social life.

What is reality and how do we make sense of it in everyday life? Why do some realities seem more real than others, and what of seemingly contradictory and multiple realities? This book considers reality as we represent, perceive and experience it. It suggests that the realities we take as ‘real’ are the result of real-time, situated practices that draw on and draw together many things - technologies and objects, people, gestures, meanings and media. Examining these practices illuminates reality (or rather our sense of it) as always ‘virtually real’, that is simplified and artfully produced. This examination also shows us how the sense of reality that we make is nonetheless real in its consequences.Making Sense of Reality offers students and educators a guide to analysing social life. It develops a performance-based perspective (‘doing things with’) that highlights the ever-revised dimension of realities and links this perspective to a focus on object-relations and an ecological model of culture-in-action.

What is reality and how do we make sense of it in everyday life? Why do some realities seem more real than others, and what of seemingly contradictory and multiple realities? This book considers reality as we represent, perceive and experience it. It suggests that the realities we take as ‘real’ are the result of real-time, situated practices that draw on and draw together many things - technologies and objects, people, gestures, meanings and media. Examining these practices illuminates reality (or rather our sense of it) as always ‘virtually real’, that is simplified and artfully produced. This examination also shows us how the sense of reality that we make is nonetheless real in its consequences.Making Sense of Reality offers students and educators a guide to analysing social life. It develops a performance-based perspective (‘doing things with’) that highlights the ever-revised dimension of realities and links this perspective to a focus on object-relations and an ecological model of culture-in-action.

Taking a cue from Erving Goffman’s classic work, Asylums, Tia DeNora develops a novel interdisciplinary framework for music, health and wellbeing. Considering health and illness both in medical contexts and in the often-overlooked realm of everyday life, DeNora argues that these identities are by no means mutually exclusive. Moreover, she suggests that the promotion of health and more specifically, mental health, involves a great deal more than a concern with medication, genetic predispositions, clinical and neuro-scientific procedures. Adopting a holistic, interactionist focus, Music Asylums reconnects states of wellness and wellbeing to encounters with others and - critically - to opportunities for aesthetic experience. Building on DeNora's earlier work on music as a technology of self in everyday life, the book presents music as an active ingredient of action, identity, capacity and consciousness. From there, it suggests that access to, and evaluation of, music is an important ethical matter. Intended for scholars and practitioners in psychiatry and psychology, palliative care, socio-music studies, music psychology and the allied health professions, Music Asylums showcases music's role in the existential project of being and staying well, mentally and physically, from moment-to-moment and across all realms of social life.