Performing Musical Silence
Guy Livingston · 2025
This dissertation considers performed silences in composed music and suggests that musicians often use markers to communicate the dimensions of silence. These markers may shape, summon, or impose silence. Markers are signals or cues that may be visible, audible, or multimodal. This research consists of an archive of examples from the author's pianistic practice, as well as three case studies drawn from works of Beethoven, Cage, and Antheil. Full title: "Performing Musical Silence: Markers, Gestures, and Embodiments" keywords: silence, absence, audience, performer, embodiment, gesture, Spaces in between, ma, markers, musical silence, absence art, Silent discourse, Silence perception, silenced narratives, stillness, john cage, Beethoven, George Antheil