Bridging the Gap: Interrogating the Applied Performative Approach of Amanda Palmer to Performance in Western Art Music Contexts

By interrogating the performative construction of musical performances, musicologists can gain a more comprehensive understanding about how performances work to engage their audiences. This project analyses performance practice techniques used by alternative rock musician, Amanda Palmer, in two recorded performances and investigates how these can be integrated into the performance of Western classical flute music, to better understand their impact on audience engagement. This research shows that Western classical musicians can impact the way by which their audiences engage with their performances through the conscious introduction of such new, performatively considered techniques when approaching the performance of Western classical repertoire.