Nicholas Cook. Music, Encounter, Togetherness

When I started to read Music, Encounter, Togetherness, I immediately noticed how Nicholas Cook broke the rules! As any music researcher should, he positions himself fully aware of the state of the field, but, as most music researchers should not, he attempts to upend its very foundations. Here Cook presents a remarkable sociological perspective on music: with neoliberal individualism a core idea under scrutiny, and ideological difference its thickest layer, Cook’s book aims to demonstrate how music is deeply social and relational. Music is the ‘practice of creating relationships in and through sound. It is a relational practice’ (p. 4).