Write an essay on the values of “musical freedom.” Since the 1800s and
Romantic-Modern liberalism, an ideology of “freedom” has arguably been the
primary driver for Euro-American music-makers as much as for the very idea of
western music history. Freedom has been associated with such ideals as the
sovereignty of the individual and creative genius. It has been used to bolster
ideas about musical autonomy – that music is a thing that is just about itself. It
has been associated with Euro-US patriotism, free market capitalism, and
projects of privatization. But what do we mean by freedom? Freedom from form?
Freedom from tradition? Freedom from violence? Freedom from function?
Freedom from appropriation? Freedom from labor (are musicians not workers?)
Even freedom from “music”? In view of your ONE musical composition (or
chosen instantiation of it), how has “freedom” been talked about, how (if at
all) has it been marketed/expressed, and how (if at all) realized?