Background:

Postmodernism is a philosophical movement that focuses on how meanings get constructed, and how power is commandeered and exercised through language, representation and discourse.

Compared with Critical Theorists, postmodernists aim for a more embracing "radical pluralism."

In general, postmodern musicology has tended to focus on the analysis of what is said about music, rather than applying postmodern views to the analysis of music itself.

Analytic Approach:

Like critical theorists, a postmodernist would eschew any notion that there is any one way to analyse music. Any idea that there is a "proper procedure" for understanding music would be inherently antithetical to the spirit of postmodernism. Nevertheless, in thinking about a musical work, postmodern musicologists would tend to consider the following themes or issues:

1. Does the music convey some sense of its own limitations? Or does the music aspire to some grand status that places it (and other works of its ilk) above other musical works? (MASTER NARRATIVE)
   
   
2. Does the music do violence to others? (VIOLENCE)
   
   
3. Does the music attempt to represent the views of others? (If so, that's bad.) (REPRESENTATION)
   
   
4. Does the music acknowledge the existence of that which is OTHER to it? (If so, that's good.) (OTHER)

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