Storytelling in Jazz and Musicality in Theatre

Art forms tend to mirror themselves in each other. In order to understand literature and fine arts better, we often turn to music, speaking of the 'tone' in a book and of the 'rhythm' in a painting. In attempts to understand music better, we turn instead to the narrative arts, speaking of the 'story' of a musical piece. This book focuses on two examples of such conceptual mirror reflexivity: narrativity in jazz music and musicality in spoken theatre. These intermedial metaphors are shown to be significant to the practice and reflection of performing artists through their ability to mediate holistic views of what is considered to be of crucial importance in artistic practice, analysis, and education. This exploration opens up possibilities for new theoretical and practical insights with regard to how the borderland between temporal art forms can be conceptualized. The book will be of interest not only to scholars of music and theatre, but also to those who work in the fields of aesthetics, intermedial studies, cognitive linguistics, arts theory, communication theory, and cultural studies.

Sven Bjerstedt is a jazz pianist, PhD and Reader (Docent) in Music Education Research, Editor of the Swedish Journal of Music Research, and Senior Lecturer in Music at Malmö Theatre Academy, Lund University.

Part I. Intermedial Metaphor in the Arts Chapter 1. Metaphoricity in Arts Discourse Part II. Musical Storytelling Chapter 2. Storytelling in Jazz: A Conceptual Challenge Chapter 3. A History of Jazz Writings Chapter 4. Interviews with Jazz Improvisers Chapter 5. Storytelling in Jazz Improvisation: Conclusions Part III. Theatrical Musicality Chapter 6. Musicality in Spoken Theatre: A Conceptual Challenge Chapter 7. A History of Theatre Writings Chapter 8. Interviews with Actors Chapter 9. Musicality in Spoken Theatre: Conclusions Part IV. Through the Mirror Chapter 10. Intermedial Conceptual Loans