John Brackett
// Author, Conference Speaker & Music ResearcherJOHN BRACKETT is an author, conference speaker, music researcher, music theorist, and Assistant Professor of the Music Department at The University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. His book “John Zorn: Tradition and Transgression” (2008) is available from Indiana University Press. John Brackett has contributed to music-centered journals, presented papers at several regional and national conferences, and hosted many presentations on the music of John Zorn. Topics include “Magick and Mysticism in John Zorn’s Recent Music” (2006), “Appropriation and Transformation: Compositional Strategies in John Zorn’s Recent Concert Music” (2008), and “From the Fantastic to the Dangerously Real: Reading John Zorn’s Artwork” (2008). Professor Brackett is also a member of the Society For Music Theory, Society For American Music, and the American Musicological Society.
Website: www.utah.edu
Photo: John Brackett
Interview:
Music is the organization of sound and, as such, has no spiritual significance. While artists and composers may wish to express aspects of spirituality in their music, this does not mean that music somehow “carries” any intended spiritual content or message. Furthermore, music requires listeners who approach any piece or song with their own views which will probably be different from those of the original creator. Despite the necessity of sound for music, music is mute on issues relating to meaning, spiritual or otherwise.
“Music requires listeners who approach any piece or song with their own views which will probably be different from those of the original creator.”
– John Brackett, author of “John Zorn: Tradition and Transgression”
