This book explores the ways in which music can engender religious experience, by virtue of its ability to evoke the ineffable and affect how the world is open to us. Arguing against approaches that limit the religious significance of music to an illustrative function, The Extravagance of Music sets out a more expansive and optimistic vision, which suggests that there is an ‘excess’ or ‘extravagance’ in both music and the divine that can open up revelatory and transformative possibilities. In Part I, David Brown argues that even in the absence of words, classical instrumental music can disclose something of the divine nature that allows us to speak of an experience analogous to contemplative prayer. In Part II, Gavin Hopps contends that, far from being a wasteland of mind-closing triviality, popular music frequently aspires to elicit the imaginative engagement of the listener and is capable of evoking intimations of transcendence. Filled with fresh and accessible discussions of diverse examples and forms of music, this ground-breaking book affirms the disclosive and affective capacities of music, and shows how it can help to awaken, vivify, and sustain a sense of the divine in everyday life.

Live Looping in Musical Performance offers a diverse range of interdisciplinary perspectives on the application of live looping technology by lusophone performers and composers. This book explores various aspects, including the aesthetic component, instrumentation, and setup, highlighting the versatility of this technology in music-making. Written by musicians and researchers from Portuguese-speaking countries, this book comprises eleven chapters that delve into various musical contexts, genres, and practices. The novelty of including collaborative texts written alongside non-professional researchers offers the possibility of drawing from real experience to consider how live looping has been changing and "cyborguising" the concept of music, the ritual of the performance, the identity of the musicians, and the public's expectations. Live Looping in Musical Performance provides cutting-edge reading for composers and performers, as well as ethnomusicologists, students, and researchers working in the areas of music production, technology, and performance. This book addresses a broader audience, both academic and non-academic, who are interested in new processes of musical creativity in a post-human world.