Cusick and Her Lesbian Relationship with Music Essay

In the essay On a homosexual Relationship with medication A respectable Effort Not to Think neat by Suzanne G. Cusick, she brings up an interesting melodic theme to the heightsest degree the inter-group communication amongst her beingness a lesbian and her being a medicamentian, a practice of medicineologist, if thither exists all.Im especially interested in the creator system and the link surrounded by medicineality and lesbianism she mentions in this clause. Here, Ill try to abstract them in detail and relate them with early(a) issues in medicine and sexual activity, exploring them in a to a greater extent general picture. Cusick redefines the concept of sexuality in her essay, as the office of expressing and/or enacting consanguinitys of occasion through physical cheer sh bed, accepted, or given. According to her, this process of expressing and enacting rouse alike be found in our medical specialtyal activities, whither the circulation of physical div ersion low life sentence be experienced as well. Thus, she says that our symphonyalities and our sexualities atomic number 18 psychically next-door neighbors. (70) I ingest to title of respect that this fancy of her amazes me. From my previous medicineal experience, Im pretty sure that melody is a subject highly refer for me.For instance, I usually flip hesitance when Im asked to sing or perform a song pen by myself, even if I regain it is a brilliant integrity. And this wont happen if the song is some unmatchable elses. In my opinion, medical specialty, especially my feature euphony which Im singleally attached to, is an manifestation of my true self, and that individualism and soulal characteristics contained in it makes it so special that I wont be willing to region it with some early(a)s, unless(prenominal) its someone really compressed to me. A nonher fact that I venture will support Cusicks thinking is that different race always have different opi nions towards the same piece of euphony. No matter how the composer perceives it, the listener usually has the purpose to relate it to his/her own personal experiences, which differ from person to person. It is earthable to think that music is a sign of someones personalities and characteristics, because of the contact the music constrains.Therefore, I accept that there exists a connection amid the musicality and the sexuality of a original person, since cardinal of them be revelations of his/her true identity, and we merchantman examine our own behaviors on twain of them. In other words, these two factors argon connected because of the person who they be tenacious to, and they ar contained in the system of his/her berths. Cusick to a fault explains in her nontextual mattericle what does it mean to be a lesbian and how to define sexuality, which are ingrained questions if we want to relate it to music. From her point of view, the union of ones sexuality and the constituent of all races is the force-out system. An example that give the sack explain this is what musicologists say somewhat the maleness in van van van Beethoven. In Susan McClarys opinion, there exist musical constructions of gender and sexuality.She regards the house of music and musicology as male-dominated, since the masculine average and the distinction amongst genders are deep rooted in music, such as masculine and feminine cadences, rhythms, gendered major and electric razor trinitys, etc. (7) She likewise analyzes Beethovens music, which to her contains pounding, thrusting gestures that face masculinity. (75) On the contrary, in Sanna Pedersons article Beethoven and Masculinity, she redefines the concept of masculinity and the link amid it with Beethoven. She states that we cornerstone find an alternative approach, competition that we regard Beethoven as symbol of masculinity because of the overwhelming vagary that reckon woman as as unchanging, perma nent essence, as the opposite of the alive(p)ally air and achieving man. (326) Matthew Head also approaches this from some other perspective by examining the heroic in Beethovens works, finding m all cross-dressed heroines. (132) Its nonable that although there is importance mold on young-bearing(prenominal) characters, women usually need to conceal their sexuality and transgress the gendered norms in order to serve as the epitomes in the aesthetic sphere.This shows that, no matter what cast of connection there exists in the midst of Beethoven and masculinity, there does exist a effect system that emphasis on the diversity between men and women, where women as less worth less, designer less man, in two our society and in music. Whichever transmission line we believe, we should admit the extensive presence of the strength system in our society, and in practice, it goat be found both in music and in many relationships between people, especially heterosexual person on es. The most fundamental point of view of her in this essay, I think, is that she believes being a lesbian is an contend from this function system As a woman, as a non-dominating and non-power woman who effs another woman in her relationship, the flow of power stack exist in both directions, as opposed to a heterosexual relationship where a man typically plays the dominating and powerful part.And Cusick believes that this is the beauty of a lesbian relationship its about organizing the force field of power, merriment, and intimacy that refuses the unproblematic binary opposition male and female person. The lack of opposition creates a cosmea that scrambles the usual components of man and woman, and a public free of fixed categories. (73) This reminds me of the documentary Paris is Burning, which stunned me with its idea of celebrations of a powerful expression of personalities, without any restriction of boundaries. There, what matters is the personal prides, which are amp ly showed in the drag nights in current York. Cusick further explains the elements in a lesbian relationship as the power/pleasure/intimacy triad. (71) From my understanding, this is indeed an appropriate way to observe a relationship.As I mentioned before, power is an important factor that circulates inside the relationship. Whats more, pleasure and intimacy are objectives that we usually want to achieve when we are involved someone we go to bed, and thus they are essential bolsters of a relationship. As Cusick says, this triad foundation be experienced more freely in lesbian relationships, because without the power flowing only in one direction, the equality and balance between the two make lovers sens give them more intimacy and pleasure, both physically and psychically, from their relationship. Hence, in Cusicks article, being a lesbian is not merely a sexual orientation pipeline it is also the way one prefers to behave, to channelize the relationship to the world in a p ower/pleasure/intimacy triad. Its a way of refusing, breaking, and creating, and to cope with the world in a way that she prefers. And these behaviors endure also be detected in a persons musicality, which is also built in his/her identity.More interestingly, Cusick dialogue about the lesbian relationship she has with music. She treats music as a woman, and a woman that can be a lover, and also the beloved as in a lesbian relationship where the power circulates both ways and cross without boundaries. (78) In the article Musicality, Essentialism, and the Closet written by Philip Brett, he also discusses music be perceived as feminine. Brett says that in history, music has practically been considered a dangerous substance, an agent of clean-living ambiguity always in dander of bestowing deviant status upon its practitioners. (11) By describing music as a woman that jinx our sense or our soul, people from the medieval and early modern times allow us advert how close music and sexuality can be. This also makes Cusicks treating music as a female lover more sensible.Another idea of her that interests me is that she thinks her choice of music can reflects her sexuality. She says that her love for hidden relationships and the tension between the apparent(a) structure, which represents the tension between a affable norm and a very high degree of eccentricity, suggests her escape from the power system. Also, she dis-prefers music hat upset this power equilibrium. (77) She explains this by saying that her lesbian self let her prefer certain kinds of music and close out some other kinds. This makes me think about in general, how peoples choices of music reflect their sexuality and identity, and to what degree. I chord that the choices of music can reflect that persons temper to some extent, however I also believe that the music he/she listens can shape that person into the qualities and personalities that the music wants him/her to have. The same as Cusicks relationship with her music, there is a counter-influence here as well.Rentfrow and Gosling found in their search that peoples music preferences are related to a wide aline of personality dimensions and self-views. If the links between music preferences and personality do exist, we can tardily infer that our choices of music reflect our identity, which also links to our sexuality. Besides, we can always see the influences of music on people. It has been shown by Frederick H. Martens that music exerts its collective influence in the course of history. He also says that as an individual influence, music is one of the factors in the life of kings and rulers, which also has exerted a more or less direct influence on the destinies of countries and peoples. We can see clearly from his article that music can significantly assume ones views and thoughts on this world, hence it is an important element in guiding peoples personality and characteristics.Hence, the relationship between a person and the music he/she listens is a mutual one. good deals preference of music decides the music they choose, and what they choose can reversely variegate them as well, directing them into the qualities that can be defined through that music. This can also illustrate Cusicks point that her relationship with music is about the power dynamic that circulates both ways between music and her, and this relationship highly resembles the one between lesbian lovers. Thus, the link between music and sexuality is obvious. Furthermore, Im wonder about how the connection between identity and sexuality works in other subjects and palm of study. Cusick says in her article that she does not address the texts of music because she thinks that they tend to maneuver us into staying in a power-over look-alike that is mighty close to the regime of positive heterosexuality.Personally, I dont only when agree with her on this. In my opinion, other subjects such as literature and art can also ill ustrate ones identity, thus they can represent peoples qualities through the power/pleasure/intimacy triad as well, and so does texts in music . The reason why Cusick thinks that focusing on texts can deviates us is that her love and professional interests in music leave her only feeling at music as an adumbrate lover. But for people from other fields and domains, their subjects can be treated as lovers and beloved as well. For example, it is reasonable to approximate a poet feels extreme intimacy in his relationship with poems. Cusick mentioned by herself in the notes that she can also find tremendous pleasure from cooking, and she loves to peel fruits and vegetables without a knife, because she believes it will create in all pleasurable experiences. (83)I would not say Cusick is also in love with vegetables, only if what she says can suggest that pleasure and intimacy do not solely exist between people and music. As Pygmalion can fall in love with the statue he carved, why c ant a songwriter build a romantic tie with the texts of music he wrote? In other words, as long as we have passion, the relationship between people and his/her subject of study can be developed in any area, within which we can find its connection with sexuality.This essay of Cusick is not very long, but the notions it contains, I believe, are really priceless sources of thoughts if we want to explore the relationship between music and sexuality, especially when we want to let on it from a perspective about our own identity and personal characteristics. Cusick has nicely shown that the frontier between music and sex can be a blurred one, where both are means of negotiating power and intimacy through the circulation of pleasure. Here, the most important is the people that involves both with music and with sex, intimately experiencing them and wholly mingling with them. As Cusick says, what really matters is neither music nor sex, but the transcendent exuberate of being alive, not dead, and aware of the existence. (69) plant life CitedBrett, Philip, Elizabeth Wood, and Gary Thomas. Queering the Pitch the New Gay and homosexual Musicology. 2nd ed. New York Routledge, 2006.McClary, Susan. Reading Music Selected Essays. Aldershot, England Ashgate, 2007.McClary, Susan. Feminine Endings Music, Gender, and Sexuality. Minneapolis University of Minnesota Press, 1991.Rentfrow, Peter J, and Samuel D Gosling. The do re mis of everyday life the structure and personality correlates of music preferences. Journal of Personality and tender Psychology 84.6 (2003) 1236-1256.Frederick H. Martens. The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Apr., 1925), pp. 196-218Burnham, Scott G, and Michael P Steinberg. Beethoven and His World. Princeton N.J. Princeton University Press, 2000.Head, Matthew. Beethoven Heroine A Female Allegory of Music and writing in Egmont. 19th-Century Music 30 (2006-07), 97-132.