"Free As In Speech, But Not Free As In Beer": The Performativity of the U.S. National Standards

Authors

Cathy Benedict, University of Western Ontario, CanadaFollow

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

1-2012

Journal

Studies in Music from the University of Western Ontario

Volume

23

First Page

1

Last Page

20

Abstract

This article considers the U.S. National Standards for Music Education through the lenses of Austin, Searle, Butler and Foucault in order to examine the single point of control and sovereignty of governing organizations and to situate the U.S. National Standards as speech acts; that is, written performatives that essentially describe and enact particular sets of responses. I extend those ways performativity has normally been considered and suggest that the standards not only function as speech acts but as an icon whose continual referencing creates ongoing acts that constitute a process in which what they suggest and their enactment are united. In other words, I am considering how the standards at once function recursively and both signify and reproduce what music education is.