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Western art music and Disability: A Contrapuntal Approach
Stefan Honisch, CCFI PhD student
My doctoral research project brings together musicians with disabilities from both the disability-arts and Western art music communities in order to explore how the emerging body of work on Music and Disability by Western art music scholars and musicians (Lubet, 2004; Straus 2006, 2008; Honisch, 2009) might complicate the binary distinction between disability-art and mainstream art advocated by Disability Studies scholars and disability artists (Barnes and Mercer, 2003; Sutherland, 2006).
I will invite participants to submit both music-based, and verbal/written responses, I challenge the notion that “music, even at its most representative, only speaks to itself” (Symes, 2006, 309). My approach is contrapuntal, binding together multiple voices (Symes, 2006) without striving for “the overcoming of tension through forced reconciliation” (Said, 2001, 100). I will create a multi-media contrapuntal performance piece based on participant responses, and this “narrative collage” (Denzin, 2003, 87) will be recorded on DVD.
+ More information
Recently, I was interviewed on CBC Radio’s “The Early Edition” with Rick Cluff. The interview focused on my participation in the 2nd International Piano Festival by People with Disabilities, as well as on my doctoral research interests. Click here to hear the interview.
Background and training:
I am a second-year doctoral student at the Center for Cross Faculty Inquiry in Education, University of British Columbia. I completed my Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at the University of Victoria (Eva Solar Kinderman) and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance and Composition at the University of British Columbia where my teachers included Jane Coop, and Rena Sharon (piano), and Stephen Chatman (composition). In January, I will present a lecture-recital at the City University of New York on metaphorical language about music in relation to disability.
Publications, and artistic work:
Journal articles
“R” Honisch, S.S. (2009). Re-narrating disability through musical performance. Music
Theory Online: A Journal of Criticism, Commentary, Research and Scholarship 15 (3&4). Retrieved on September 26, 2009.
“R” Honisch, S.S. (in press). The road to marginalization is paved with good intentions: in pursuit of the re-humanization of physically impaired musicians. International Journal of Inclusive Education
Literary and artistic works (refereed)
“R” Honisch, S.S. (forth-coming). C.U.N.Y Symposium on Music and Disability. Lecture-recital: "Towards a dialectic of embodiment and interpretation: Personal reflections by a pianist with a disability.”
Literary and artistic works (non-refereed)
Honisch, S.S. (2009). The Early Edition. Interview with Rick Cluff.
Honisch, S.S. (2008). Island Art Exhibit. Society for Disability Arts and Culture. Musical Performance.
Honisch, S.S. (2008). Featured musician in Unruly Salon (documentary film: 2008). T. Buchan (dir.) L. Roman and G. McMurchy (eds.)
Community Profiles
Restor(y)ing relational identities through(per)formative reflections on nursing education by Joanna Szabo, CCFI PhD candidate
Global Citizenships: A participatory digital project using photograph and story by Yasmeen Ahmad, MEd graduate
"Playing Indians" at Green College: Listening as Transdisciplinarity by Andrea Dancer, PhD student
Health, Literacy, HIV/AIDS and Gender: Through the lens of Ugandan youth by Harriet Mutonyi, PhD candidate
CCFI Peer Advisors and Graduate Academic Assistants
Peer Advisors
Lian Beveridge
Lian did her BA at Melbourne University and her MA at SFU, both in English Literature, and is now in the first year of her PhD at CCFI. She is interested in queer theory and children's literature criticism, but is mostly obsessed with picturebooks. Her organising background is in women's and queer student activism.
Graham Giles
Graham Giles is a doctoral student in the CCFI. He completed a MA at the Centre in 2007, whose thesis is entitled "A Taste for Meaning: Hannah Arendt and Educational Thought". Previously he was a B.Ed. student in the Faculty of Education, and now is also a teacher in the North Vancouver School District. Graham’s research departs from a nexus of continental philosophy, political theory and educational thought. He is elaborating an argument for conceptual inquiry in educational research (particularly after finding it not recognizable as research in graduate research methods courses—for want of “data”). His work is also pursuing an inquiry into an Arendtian contribution to thinking of concepts of theory and practice in education, and the political stakes and implications thereof. A musician/songwriter and father of three, Graham has relished his time at the Centre, and among such a diversity of scholars in the UBC Faculty of Education.
Graduate Academic Assistants
Ariana Barer
Ariana Barer is a first year MA student in the CCFI. Her research interests include the application of arts and technology in community education for social justice, with a particular focus on urban and rural youth coalitions. Ariana is pleased to be a part of the GAA team this year and is looking forward to meeting and working with the other CCFI students through our events and peer advising. Ariana is a huge fan of feminist radio, modern dance, and ukuleles.
Cristina Delgado
Andreea Dancer
CCFI Advisory Committee
Dr. Mary Bryson, Director and Graduate Advisor
Dr. Marilyn Chapman , Professor and Graduate Advisor
Dr. Beth Haverkamp, Associate Dean
Dr. Donal O'Donoghue, Assistant Professor
Dr. Theresa Rogers, Professor
Dr. Handel Wright, Professor
Dr. Richard Young, Professor
