Musicalization and Mediatization

Abstract

This chapter identifies and examines a phenomenon we propose to call musicalization. It discusses how processes of musicalization relate to and interact with processes of mediatization. Musicalization is defined as an ever-increasing presence of music in culture and everyday life. As such, it comprises both a discursive and a dramaturgical dimension. In the first part of the chapter, these dimensions or aspects of musicalization are considered in detail. The second part discusses how musicalization relates to mediatization. We argue that three possible variants of this relation can be discerned: musicalization may be regarded as (a) quantitatively conditioned by mediatization, (b) a qualitative part of mediatization, and (c) a relatively autonomous phenomenon in relation to mediatization. As such, musicalization involves both analogue and digital modes of communication.