Männlichkeitssymbole in der Musik
– eine Spurenlese
The looking for symbols of virility in music is closely connected with the history of virility-stereotypes and the male – female polarity. It will be easy to distinguish those stereotypes in written words or pictures, but not in music, due to its non-discursivity. Even the search for musical elements of manhood or womanliness causes difficulties – despite the fact, that the connotation of male and female with attributes like stout, hard, aggressive on the one and delicate, soft, sensitive on the other side are also valid nowadays. In the face of its open meaning music fits very well as a medium of projection, open for different ways of understanding. As shown in connection with songs as weapon and constructions of gender in rock and pop, the concrete meaning is mostly given by the musical context, that means: by the way of sound-production by the musicians, the different possibilities of live or medial presentation, the situation of hearing, the verbal information (in vocal music, on the handout, by statements of composers or experts). The qualities of musical expression are so rich that they are able to enrich the symbols of virility given by words or pictures. They are as much more open as the structure of music is deeply elaborated, varied and artificial.