Everybody In? Critical Perspectives on Participatory Online Classical Music Projects

This thesis identifies and critiques a recent trend wherein institutions, composers, performers, and other actors within Western classical music have turned to the internet to produce musical projects that encourage active participation. I define participatory online classical music projects as a cohesive object of study and develop theories through which to understand them, exploring their relationship to traditional understandings of classical music-making and assessing the widespread claims of accessibility, both implicit and explicit, which underlie them. While acknowledging the strengths and value of the projects, I argue for a more critical examination of their claims, in part because the problems they raise are not always immediately evident. I undertake my examination through the lenses of participation, embodied and disembodied practices of performance, and an examination of representation and benefit.Master of Art