Sounding Together

Sounding Together: Collaborative Perspectives on U.S. Music in the Twenty-21st Century is a multi-authored, collaboratively conceived book of essays that tackles key challenges facing scholars studying music of the United States in the early twenty-first century. This book encourages scholars in music circles and beyond to explore the intersections between social responsibility, community engagement, and academic practices through the simple act of working together. The book’s essays—written by a diverse and cross-generational group of scholars, performers, and practitioners—demonstrate how collaboration can harness complementary skills and nourish comparative boundary-crossing through interdisciplinary research. The chapters of the volume address issues of race, nationalism, mobility, cultural domination, and identity; as well as the crisis of the Trump era and the political power of music. Each contribution to the volume is written collaboratively by two scholars, bringing together contributors who represent a mix of career stages and positions. Through the practice of and reflection on collaboration, Sounding Together breaks out of long-established paradigms of solitude in humanities scholarship and works toward social justice in the study of music.

Carol J. Oja is William Powell Mason Professor of Music and Professor of American Studies at Harvard University.

Charles Hiroshi Garrett is Professor of Musicology at University of Michigan.

Praise / Awards

• “I know of no other musicological collection featuring self-consciously co-authored chapters; this collaborative stance constitutes a scholarly and an ethical intervention. All the essays offer food for thought in terms of their content, or as models for co-authorship—and frequently they do both, mirroring in their writing the revelatory moments of encounter and transformation that they discuss.”
  —Beth E. Levy, UC Davis
   
• “The notion of ‘sounding together’ resonates on many levels of collaboration: the editors’ and the authors’ contributions and also the collaborations and synergies described within the chapters. The book advances new knowledge and insights where they would not otherwise have emerged. As a model for future collaborations, and for its critical efforts to decolonize U.S. music studies and to openly engage with present-day concerns, I believe this book will make a strong, singular impact on music studies and beyond.”
  —Jeffrey Magee, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign