Tomas Laukvik Nannestad: Normativity, performance practice and self-perception of classical guitarists.

Field of study: Practice-oriented Musicology

The starting point for the study is the following research question:

How is musical normativity constituted at the intersection of elements of performance practice and self-perceptions within a given musical field, and how can one observe, describe and understand this intersection of practice and self-understanding?

The project's goal is to develop knowledge about normativity through the investigation of living performance practices, with a focus on the classical guitar. Methodologically, this involves a double investigation focusing on how aesthetic, institutional, bodily and material phenomena, and performers' experiences of their practice interact. This twofold empirical material will be obtained from written sources (printed sources, archival material, and additionally, audio recordings) and interviews with performers who are representative of the practice being investigated.

The project will be based on theoretical frameworks by Bourdieu, Laclau/Mouffe, Butler, Foucault and Barad. Based on these theories, a concept of normativity is developed that is operative with the project's research question. The project's main contribution will be the production of transferable knowledge and methodology for understanding living performance practice.

***

Tomas Laukvik Nannestad is enrolled in the PhD Programme in Music Research from 1 Steptember 2025