ABSTRACT
This chapter articulates a response to a central aspect of the history of music performance studies, which has witnessed a gradual shift in focus from music appreciation to the musical experience to the musical act. It is part of a project to understand the folk psychology of performing: 'what it feels like' to perform. The chapter talks about the languages of music criticism and how they tackle performance, that most thorny of musical subjects, than about the dynamic object of such languages when performing is at issue. In the modern era, and especially in current period of accountability and transparency, the activity of performing music has frequently been conceived, in Taylorist fashion, as revolving around a 'contract'. A similarly problematic and equally representative example, this time from a philosopher rather a musicologist, is provided by Stan Godlovitch's essay 'The Integrity of Musical Performance'. The performer maintains a relation 'with' her signatures and 'with' performativity in her culturally sanctioned 'performance space'.
