As a music historian, my focus is not so much on the musical works themselves — whether they belong to the canon of “Western art music” or to the genre of popular music—from 19th-century cabaret, to feminist rock, and film music—than on their audiences, and especially their expectations. My research and teaching interests are twofold: 1) the uses and functions of music, sound, and voice, in relation to other artistic discourses, notably the moving image: 2) the cultures, and social histories of listening attitudes since the 18th century, and how these intersect with the widely-held understanding of music as language.