What's that noise? : musical boundaries and the construction of listening and meaning

Taking as its starting point Jacques Derrida's argument that the picture frame is
both intrinsic and extrinsic, this thesis is concerned with issues of framing
within music and the impact of framing on the meaning and perception of
musical works. Derrida's writings on the frame are therefore reconsidered
within a musical context and used as the basis for the analysis of a number of
musical works. It is argued that the theory of allegory supports a position which
sees apparently autonomous works as the products of metonymy and thus as
the products of the conflation of the intrinsic and extrinsic. This conflation is
discussed in relationship to issues of noise and how listeners make decisions
about what is and what isn't to be listened to. It is argued that noise is so
deemed because of a listener's inability to effectively negotiate and participate
in the cultural system within which that sound appears, rather than because of qualities of the sound itself. This is supported by the analyses of several musical
works. It is shown that a constituent of this cultural noise is the extra-musical
material which appears alongside the work, with individual works being created
and perceived against a background of other disparate texts. Theoretical
approaches to apprehending the forms and functions of these trans-texts are
discussed. In particular, titles and the author figure are shown to be essential
parts of an artwork which structure both how it is produced and how it is
perceived. These theoretical frameworks inform the analyses of several musical
works in which it is demonstrated that such trans-texts are not mere
attachments but also constitutive. In conclusion, it is argued that boundaries of
musical works are the sites of structural and cultural tensions which have fareaching
effects on how and what music means.