Interpretive Labor: Experimental Music at Work

— —

Kirsten Carithers (Assistant Professor of Music History, Assistant Professor of Music History, University of Louisville)

Interpretive Labor

Experimental Music at Work

Kirsten Carithers (Assistant Professor of Music History, Assistant Professor of Music History, University of Louisville)

$45.95

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Oxford University Press Inc
09 June 2025

Music: styles & genres

Why did so many musicians in the postwar era engage with experimental practices, and why do artists continue to do so today? What happens when we acknowledge the work that goes into performing this repertoire? What kind of work is it to be a contemporary musician, anyway? To address these questions, Interpretive Labor: Experimental Music at Work presents the theory of Interpretive Labor, or the creative work of interpretation. This book introduces and develops Interpretive Labor as grounded in a vast network of participants in new music between c. 1960 and the present, establishes several models of musical work, and explores the myriad connections between music and labor in the neoliberal present. Experimentalism's practitioners may rely on different codes and norms than most classical or popular musicians, but the underlying work that individuals do to create, understand, prepare, and produce their music is quite ordinary. At the same time, because these musicians did not initially have access to a normative performance practice, the work involved is often especially pronounced, and sometimes takes unusual forms. The story of Interpretive Labor thus demonstrates the value of a marriage between labor studies and music studies and provides a novel conceptual framework for the economy of musical activities. Its various forms can be instructive to anyone whose work involves some degree of creativity, from computer programmers to social-media influencers, interior designers to event planners--and, of course, musicians.

By: Kirsten Carithers (Assistant Professor of Music History Assistant Professor of Music History University of Louisville)
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 17mm
Weight: 399g
ISBN: 9780197698785
ISBN 10: 0197698786
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 09 June 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

incoming, BITS title

Kirsten Speyer Carithers is Assistant Professor of Music History at the University of Louisville, where she specializes in music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Research and teaching interests include music and technology, experimentalism, ludomusicology, and the connections between indeterminacy, improvisation, and creative labor. Carithers has published in Contemporary Music Review, the Journal of Music History Pedagogy, and the Journal of the Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present.