Trans-actions: The Double Bass As Conduit and Conspirator

Abstract

This paper sets out to transform theorization on transgender materiality into a creative, generative method of artistic practice and actualization with specific focus given to historical formulations of transgender bodies, the double bass, and the author’s own intra-action with the instrument. By first examining the history and shortcomings of linguistic constructions of bodies and identities, the paper moves on to introduce feminist materialist practices as a path out from the morass of linguitechnics toward a posthumanist performativity, a practice of “contravenessence,” that holds promise for the ontological integrity of identities still yet to form. This paper focuses upon the author’s own efforts to realize this process by examining these performative steps through reflection on a previous performance in a work, Sticks and Stones, by Johanne Bryce-Hodgson, and through the composition and performance of a new work, 3 Views to 2 Bodies by the author, Charlie Ruth Welty.