Metal, Rock, and Jazz: Perception and the Phenomenology of Musical Experience

by Harris M. Berger

Publisher:

Wesleyan University Press

, 2022

A lively comparison of musical meaning in Ohio's Jazz, metal, and hard rock scene.

This vivid ethnography of the musical lives of heavy metal, rock, and jazz musicians in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio shows how musicians engage with the world of sound to forge meaningful experiences of music. Unlike most popular music studies, which only provide a scholar's view, this book is based on intensive fieldwork and hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews. Rich descriptions of the musical life of metal bars and jazz clubs get readers close to the people who make and listen to the music.

Of special interest are Harris M. Berger's interviews with Timmy "The Ripper" Owens, now famous as lead singer for the pioneering heavy metal band, Judas Priest. Owens and other performers share their own experiences of the music, thereby challenging traditional notions of harmony and musical structure. Using ideas from practice theory and phenomenology, Berger shows that musical perception is a kind of practice, both creatively achieved by the listener and profoundly informed by social context.

Praise for Metal, Rock, and Jazz

"This fascinating and evocative book is far superior to conventional rock criticism. Berger's upbeat writing offers both a vivid sense of being there that is richly satisfying, as well as a solid ethnography of the Cleveland musical scene." —Veit Erlmann, University of Texas

"Berger's comprehensive fieldwork reaches fruition in fascinating and insightful descriptions of a wide variety of musicians, fans and venues. He is sensitive to the perspectives of each of the actors in a musical scene and definitely shows their nuances interrelationships." —Deena Weinstein, DePaul University

Product Details

• Title: Metal, Rock, and Jazz: Perception and the Phenomenology of Musical Experience
• Author: Harris M. Berger
• Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
• Print Publication Date: 2022
• Logos Release Date: 2023
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBNs: 9780819571823, 9780819563767, 0819563765, 0819571822
• Resource ID: LLS:9780819571823
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-03T19:53:34Z

About the Author

HARRIS M. BERGER is Assistant Professor of Music at Texas A & M University. A guitarist since the age of ten, he currently plays and sings with The Bee Dreams.