ABSTRACT
The ecological approach that I developed in Chapter 8 can be taken one step further. When we listen ecologically, we inevitably note the inevitability of the relationship between musicians and the sounds they make (whether voices, instruments, or electronic boxes). When we listen to a recording, of course, there is no visual element. The development of music video may be seen as a corrective to this ‘deficiency’, but there is an imperative to question the relationship between the sound and from whom it issues, an imperative that will again bring into play the relationship between the persona and the performer. Two questions come to the fore, and will partially drive this chapter. First, to what extent does the sound that the musician makes belong to that musician? And second, with a nod back to my opening quotation from Ricoeur, can this be determined from within the text itself?
