(English version see below)

Like most subcultures of popular music, heavy metal is characterized by conventionalized, music-related forms of movement that can be broadly described as dance practices: from “headbanging” and “moshing” to folkloric circle dances and much more. However, research has only begun to explore how music and dance specifically relate to one another as aesthetic-performative practices: There is a lack of systematic research regarding the diversity of these forms, the historical development of metal dance, and its relationship to the soundscape and other performative aspects (e.g., spatiality). Building on this, we aim to develop an analytical model grounded in musicology yet capable of interdisciplinary integration, one that enables us to understand physical forms of movement in their complexity and co-constitution with the soundscape and other performative elements. This model is based on qualitative-empirical data collection and aesthetic analyses of performative practices, with reference to the heterogeneous field of heavy metal as a whole. The goal is a reconceptualization of heavy metal dance that a) accounts for the diversity of its manifestations and b) takes into account the relationships between forms of movement within heavy metal and in interaction with other genres. This conception explicitly incorporates the historical dimension of the dance, which has been researched—for example—in the German-speaking world from the 1980s to the present. The historical dimension examines the dynamics of the establishment, dissemination, and transformation of movement forms in the heavy metal scene in interaction with the differentiation of metal subgenres, stylistic developments, and changes in media technologies and scene discourses. At the same time, the focus on the German-speaking world does not preclude consideration of transcultural exchange, particularly with the Anglo-American sphere.
In order to study heavy metal dance as described, our project draws on three different groups of sources: (1) (participant) observations, supplemented by audiovisual recordings, (2) dance representations in auditory, audiovisual, and discursive forms, and (3) research interviews (structured and oral history interviews).
Our methodology combines analyses of aesthetic-performative phenomena with a modified situational analysis (SI). We understand dance as a practice that emerges in specific situations and must therefore be examined within its specific context. A flexible application of SI, combined with approaches from the humanities and cultural studies in music and performance analysis, methods for analyzing rock and metal music, and approaches to interpreting music in combination with other media, is well-suited for this purpose.

Project Summary

Developing a Method of Analysis for the Situated Description of Aesthetic-Performative Practices Based on Qualitative-Empirical Investigations from Historical and Contemporary Perspectives.

Like most popular music cultures, heavy metal is characterized by conventionalized, music-related forms of bodily movement that can be described as dance practices: these include, for example, headbanging, moshing, folkloric dances, and much more. Yet, how music and dance relate to each other as aesthetic-performative practices has received only rudimentary attention in academia: There are no systematic investigations regarding the historicity and diversity of metal dance forms, nor concerning the dance’s relation to sound and other performative aspects (e.g., spatiality). To address this research gap, we aim to develop a musicologically grounded yet interdisciplinarily applicable method of analysis that enables an understanding of bodily movements in their complexity and co-constitution with sounds as well as other performative elements. The model is based on qualitative empirical data and aesthetic analyses of performative practices within the heterogeneous field of heavy metal as a whole. Thus, we aim to re-conceptualize dance in heavy metal in a way that a) accounts for its variety and b) is sensitive to connections between movements within heavy metal as well as between heavy metal’s movement repertoire and those of other musical genres. This conceptualization explicitly includes the history of dance, which we will examine, using examples, with regard to its development in German-speaking regions since the 1980s. Unfolding the historical dimensions of dance involves investigating the dynamics of the establishment, dissemination, and transformation of movement in relation to the differentiation of metal subgenres and stylistic developments, as well as to changes in media technologies and scene discourses. Within this line of inquiry, our focus on German-speaking regions does not preclude us from paying attention to processes of transcultural exchange, especially with Anglo-American regions.
To study heavy metal dance as described above, our project draws on three different sets of sources: (1) participant observation supplemented by audiovisual recordings, (2) representations of the dance in auditory, audiovisual, and discursive forms, and (3) research interviews (guideline-based and oral history interviews).
Our methodology combines analyses of aesthetic-performative phenomena with a modified situational analysis (SA). We conceive of dance as a practice performed in specific situations, which requires a correspondingly situated and situating analysis. An appropriate and promising means to this end is a flexible application of SA in combination with approaches to music and performance analysis from the humanities and cultural studies, methods for the analysis of rock and metal music, as well as approaches to the interpretation of music in combination with other media.

Team

Florian Heesch

Daniel Suer

Franziska Kaufmann 

Cooperation Partners

Stefanie Alisch

Maria de São José Côrte-Real

Gérôme Guibert

Yvonne Hardt 

Katharina Inhetveen

Michael Rappe

Katharina Rost

Karl Spracklen

Martin Stern 

This project, funded by secondary sources, involves preparatory work for the development of a grant proposal with funding from external sources, in collaboration with the departments of Protestant Theology, History, and Musicology, including the conduct of a pilot study. The project focuses on religious youth cultures in East and West Germany from the 1960s to the 1980s, which were linked by a specific, nonconformist profile of piety—one that defied the norms of their respective contexts—even across the German-German border. The significance of this knowledge transfer lay in its increasingly political implications, which were reflected in particular in a specific religious pop music scene.

Project Director

• Prof. Dr. Veronika Albrecht-Birkner, History of the Church and Theology
• Prof. Dr. Raphaela Averkor, Medieval and Modern History
• Prof. Dr. Florian Heesch, Popular Music and Gender Studies

Transfer Effects of Cultural Education Between Collective Youth Scenes, Individual Youth Biographies, and Institutional Arrangements in Schools, Music Schools, and Youth Work

(Learning popular music in youth scenes, institutions, and biographies:

Transfer effects of cultural education between collective youth scenes, individual youth biographies, and institutionalized processes in schools, music schools, and youth work)

The research question of this interdisciplinary project (combining musicology and educational science) focuses on the transfer effects of cultural education between different learning environments within young people’s lives: private settings and youth scenes, as well as schools, music schools, and youth work. The overarching goal is to explore the mental connections that young people experience and articulate between formal and informal learning processes. To this end, we intend to follow the young participants to their various learning settings, observe them there, and interview them: with regard to the characteristics and meanings of the learning settings and, above all, with regard to the connections they perceive and independently establish between these learning settings and processes. Our methodological approach, based on biographical research, allows for a comprehensive view of different learning processes. Finally, we will critically examine the extent to which individual learning experiences in non-formal contexts are instrumentalized by educational institutions to expand competencies and enhance performance, thereby tending to replace their genuine freedom of purpose with a compulsion toward self-optimization.

Project Director

• Prof. Dr. Florian Heesch, Popular Music and Gender Studies (Project Coordination)
• Prof. Dr. Thomas Coelen, Socialization, Youth Education, Life Course Research
• Prof. Dr. Gabriele Weiß, Educational Science, specializing in General Pedagogy, Vice Rector for Educational Pathways and Diversity

The project is part of the Interdisciplinary Working Group on General Studies (IAG-SU) “Networking General Studies—Opening Perspectives” at the University of Siegen.