Walter Hughes argues that disco music structures the dance floor in a contradictory way: it disciplines the dancers’ bodies “in the empire of the beat” while also offering a forum for free expression that, especially during the height of the genre’s popularity in the 70s, allowed people to freely express queerness.

Can you think of any other dance music that can compare with what Hughes argues in his essay? How so? What are the similarities and differences? Are there any current styles of music that operate in similar ways? Or, do you have experience with a style of dance music that aims to create more conservative forms of intermingling?

Matt Alt and Damon Krukowski discuss the ways technology has shaped our experiences with music, particularly in our engagements with the public and public spaces. Think about your own experiences with musical devices–the walkman, the boombox, the iPod, or some other gadget you use to make, manipulate, and listen to music–and compare these experiences to ideas discussed by Alt and Krukowski.

In reading Ralph Ellison’s “Living with Music” and Oliver Sacks’s “A Bolt from the Blue,” you have encountered several extreme examples of people defining themselves through music. Analyze one or two of these examples and try to come up with general ideas about the relationship between music and how one defines themselves. Here are some questions to consider (These are just meant to get your thoughts moving. You don’t need to answer all or any.): How do race and music help Ellison define himself as an artist in his essay? How does Ellison describe how music affects his attitudes toward spaces–such as his apartment, his building, and New York City. According to Oliver Sacks’s examples, to what degree are musical identity formations related to brain science? What do these examples illustrate about the relationship between psychology and music? (around 250 words)