Jerry Pergolesi
University of Toronto

Title:
Nothing to Say and Saying It: Queer Silence in New Music Scenes

Abstract:
In contrast to arts practices such as theatre, dance and literature, queer presence is conspicuously absent in new music (20th/21st Century concert music). Socio-political tensions that mobilize overt gay political action seem to be missing in new music scenes, adding to an absence of personal voice that implies non-existence. While musicologists sought to re-examine music through feminist and queer lenses little has been written with regard to current practices of queer musicians in new music, perhaps with the exception of John Cage whose influence continues to this day. However, the reluctance of Cage to come out publicly reified the hetero/homo dualism of ‘high art’ and ‘low art’, perpetuating the narrative that new music is apolitical and ahistorical. My research investigates current practices of queer musicians with regard to the expression of queer presence in new music scenes, and potential implications in music education, within a history of denial that includes queer covering, identity subversion and misogyny, and underscores the dualistic work of inside music/outside music; which is to say, music that is or is not institutionally sanctioned and reified. Functioning in relationship to an aesthetics of failure in the context of queer failure, music is always already hegemonically masculine and heterosexual, reinforcing conventions that both erase queer identities and “other” those who do not conform.