SUBJECTIVITY IN MUSICAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

Subject in the Lacanian conception are described as ‘lack subject’ and castrated by language (symbolic law). Language, on the one hand, is an element that the subject needs to be able to do practice of signification in order to form a stable identity, but on the other hand, castrate the subject because becomes a barrier for the subject to experience the union with the [m]other in the imaginary phase. The impossibility of the subject experiencing a final identity through symbolization of language ultimately gave birth to the never-ending identification practice which became the forerunner of the dynamic of social life. In music, this identification is understood as a ‘preliminary identification’ of musical discourse agencies (which is inaudible) that define music as text. For music to work, the listener must link himself to musical discourse. The subject can only try to experience reality through symbolization. In the musical context, which is believed as a non-verbal sign system, this effort of symbolization is mostly discussed by tracing pre-symbolic (pre-linguistic) aspects through ideas such: abjection, melancholy, uncanny, acoustic mirror, sonorous envelope, and fantasy thing/fantasy space.