"Semio": A Reappropriation of Mathias Spahlinger's "128 Erfüllte Augenblicke" for Voice, Clarinet and Cello. Bil Smith Composer.

"Semio"  Bil Smith Composer

"Semio": A Reappropriation of Mathias Spahlinger's "128 Erfüllte Augenblicke" for Voice, Clarinet and Cello. Bil Smith Composer.  Various pages of the score.

"Semio"  Bil Smith Composer

To reappropriate a musical composition, a deliberate intervention is made into its common or hegemonic (for the cultural studies majors amongst us) usage. This common usage as a music of oppression, hurt or victimization is challenged and reevaluated. 

The composition may attain a neutral or acceptable connotation and become absorbed into broader cultural use. It may even attain a positive connotation within informed and aware groups.

Mathias Spahlinger

"Semio"  Bil Smith Composer

Music and language (text) reappropriation usually takes place within the oppressed community affected by the music's original meaning.  Often, performance of the composition outside that community retains its derogatory meaning.  

Thomas Demand, Photographer

Musical meaning is decoded within a context – how it’s conveyed, by whom, when, where and why all have effects on the intent and receipt of a composition.