William Cheng - Just Vibrations: The Purpose of Sounding Good

At the top of the cover page runs the title, Just Vibrations: The Purpose of Sounding Good; at the bottom, William Cheng, foreword by Susan McClary. Against the white background is an image of an eggshells interior. Cradled within the egg is a nude man, knees tucked and arms wrapped close to his body, as if in a womb. His eyes are closed. A red tattoo shines from his left shoulder. The egg is fragmented, with jagged edges and holes, Small shards of the shell are scattered all around.

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William Cheng

University of Michigan Press
Ann Arbor

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Copyright 2016 by William Cheng
Some rights reserved

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

Published in the United States of America by the
University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America

A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names:Cheng, William, 1985 author.
Title:Just vibrations : the purpose of sounding good / William Cheng.
Description:Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers:LCCN 2016017738| ISBN 9780472073252 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780472053254 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780472122356 (e-book)
Subjects:LCSH: MusicologyMoral and ethical aspects. | MusicologistsUnited States. | Cheng, William, 1985 | Chronic painPatients. | Gay musicologistsUnited States. | MusicMoral and ethical aspects.
Classification:LCC ML3797 .C54 2016 | DDC 780.72dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016017738

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/ump.14078046.0001.001
ISBN 9780-472073252 (hardcover)
ISBN 9780-472053254 (pbk.)
ISBN 9780-472122356 (e-book)
ISBN 9780-472900565 (open access e-book)

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for Chris

heresignificantly, smiling

Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA

2 June 2014

Photograph of Chris in a hospital setting looking at the camera with a surgical mask on.

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Then with both hands [Milo] made a great circular sweep in the air and watched with delight as all the musicians began to play at once. The cellos made the hills glow red, and the leaves and grass were tipped with a soft pale green as the violins began their song.... As Milo frantically conducted, the sky changed slowly from blue to tan and then to a rich magenta red. Flurries of light-green snow began to fall, and the leaves on the trees and bushes turned a vivid orange. All the flowers suddenly appeared black.... Seven times the sun rose and almost as quickly disappeared as the colors kept changing. In just a few minutes a whole week had gone by. At last the exhausted Milo, afraid to call for help and on the verge of tears, dropped his hands to his sides. The orchestra stopped.

Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth (1961)

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Jess Landau is a fine artist and photographer whose work involves themes of culture, community, personality development, and human desires for interpersonal connection. In 2014, she received her BFA in photography and art therapy from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

The cover art shows a portrait printed on the inner surface of an eggshell (using liquid emulsion, a chemical applied in alternative darkroom printing). It comes from a series called Growth, which Landau created in an effort to heal after suddenly losing a childhood friend to suicide. Handling the eggshell during the photographic printing process exemplified the time needed to appreciate present moments, along with the importance of reflecting on lifes fragility. Her website is www.jesslandau.com.

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Just Vibrations has been published in both print and Open Access. The goal of digital OA is to reach as many readers as possible, especially those who might otherwise be unable to afford or access this text. By harmonizing the books medium and message (of care, outreach, accessibility), OA offers an electronic file that accommodates convenient text searches, text-to-voice dictation, and transportability via e-readers. For readers with additional visual needs, Alt-Text is available in the digital version for all illustrations in this book. Alt-Text verbally describes images so that readers can access their content.

OA for Just Vibrations has been made possible through the generosity of Harvard Universitys William F. Milton Fund, the Dartmouth Open-Access Publishing Equity Fund, and the University of Michigan Press.

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1. Foreword
   Humanizing the Humanities

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For all the care devoted to this manuscript, the acknowledgments remains a section where things wont sound good enough. Appreciative words cant do justice to my enduring gratitude for the people without whom the book wouldnt exist.

Susan Brison, Richard Leppert, and Alexander Rehding imparted the vital spirit I needed to trace this project from beginning to end. At the University of Michigan Press, editor Mary Francis trusted in the book early on and presciently knew what it could become long before its fulfillment. For insightful copyediting and smooth production at the Press, I thank Richard Isomaki, Marcia LaBrenz, and Christopher Dreyer. Two anonymous reviewers went to remarkable lengths to recommend diverse improvements.

Revisions benefited from a workshop at the Leslie Humanities Center of Dartmouth College, with participants Aimee Bahng, Andrew DellAntonio, Brianne Gallagher, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Christian Haines, Graziella Parati, and Steve Swayne. Steve and other Dartmouth music facultyMichael Casey, Kui Dong, Ashley Fure, Ted Levin, Melinda ONeal, Sally Pinkas, and Spencer Topelmade me feel unfalteringly welcome and empowered me to do the work I most believed in. Having the freedom to write a book like this was an immense privilege that I wont take for granted. A years leave via the Harvard Society of Fellows afforded me much-needed headspace during the final stretch. Jess Page xvi Landau lent her gorgeous art for the cover. Susan McClary generously took the time to pen a profound and vibrant foreword.

Im grateful for all friends who read the manuscript, gave care, or otherwise patiently handed me building blocks of prose. Alas, the appearance of names below in list form belies the uniqueness of peoples individual, crucial contributions: Chloe Angyal, Michael Bakan, Karol Berger, Michaela Bronstein, Avery Brown, Scott Burnham, Suzanne Cusick, Ryan Dohoney, Rowan Dorin, Noah Feldman, Marta Figlerowicz, Charles Hiroshi Garrett, Roger Mathew Grant, Thomas Grey, Heather Hadlock, Lydia Hamessley, Kyle Kaplan, Mark Katz, Eva Kim, Christine Larson, Frank Lehman, Neil Lerner, Hannah Lewis, Fred Maus, Felicia Miyakawa, Roger Moseley, Anthony Newcomb, Emily Richmond Pollock, Elaine Scarry, Kay Kaufman Shelemay, Anthony Sheppard, Cassie Stoddard, Joseph Straus, Elizabeth Teisberg, Scott Wallace, Emily Wilbourne, Eunice Wong, and Rosalind Wong. Im also fortunate to have shared portions of this work during colloquiums and classroom discussions at Dartmouth College, Northwestern University, Harvard University, Cornell University, Clark University, New York University, University of Oregon, and Eastman School of Music, where students and faculty provided encouragement and critiques. For late-stage conversations, eagle eyes, and helping hands, I thank Naomi Andr, Mike Backman, Gregory Barz, Samantha Bassler, Anna Maria Busse Berger, Lauren Berlant, Monique Bourdage, Samantha Candon, Dale Chapman, Paula Durbin-Westby, Yesim Erdmann, Roger Freitas, Samuel Golter, Stephanie Jensen-Moulton, Jeannette Jones, Loren Kajikawa, Kelly Katz, Catherine LaTouche, Peter McMurray, Katherine Meizel, Diana Morse, Stephan Pennington, Marcus Pyle, Maureen Ragan, Matthew Leslie Santana, Amartya Sen, Anne Shreffler, and Jonathan Sterne.

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