I’ll deliver a keynote lecture in a conference on Musical Performance, at Kaunas Technological University, on Thursday 4/11/2010.

Title and abstract:

Performance and Popular Music: analytical consequences of a solid connection

A rather widespread tendency in musicology, when speaking about performance, is that of equalling straightaway the concept to the (very) general notion of “music-making”. In the attempt of circumscribing the field a bit, the existence of a plan, or at least a draft (as in improvisation) behind the music-making, has been suggested. This aspect, althought not able to “demist” the vagueness of the concept, does at least its best to reduce its size.
The goal of this article is to work on and around an operative concept of musical performance, i.e., in relation to its components and articulation, to the way it functions within popular music, and to its role and action as a social fact. The following questions shall be discussed:
What are the necessary and sufficient conditions that make a musical performance possible?
What is the role of the performance within the context of popular music, and what its impact at the social level?
Is it possible to typify musical performance by means of semiotic categories?