A New Book Series

New Material Histories of Music

New Material Histories of Music sets out to embrace the many accounts of materiality that are invigorating music studies today. It seeks to connect sound, that notoriously elusive object of study, with the more robust conditions of ecological and social life: the institutions and political forms that permit music to be owned and exchanged, the bodies and technologies that mediate sound, the natural and built environments in which music is practiced, and the organic and inorganic substances through which sound resonates. In every case, what counts as the “material” aspect of any sonic practice changes, along with disciplinary emphasis, geographic focus, and ethical framework. We anticipate that books in this series will expose unforeseen relations between vernacular and elite musical practices, and traverse transnational and global domains.

The editors invite dynamic work by both emerging and established scholars and are keen to speak with authors at different stages of writing. The series is open to ambitious research monographs (with single or joint authorship) and expertly-crafted studies aimed at a broad audience of readers.