Review of Musicology Twitter

Abstract

Lily Hirsch (LH): As Reviews Editor of the Journal of Musicological Research, I am excited to be trying something brand new for this journal, and possibly for the field as a whole: a “Review of Musicology Twitter” that takes place through an informal conversation among experts. The inspiration for this idea comes from “The Conversation” between columnists Gail Collins and Bret Stephens published weekly in the New York Times. For this inaugural musicological “conversation,” I wanted to focus on Twitter because of the platform’s deep connections to activism, a topic explored brilliantly in the book #Hashtag Activism by Sarah J. Jackson, Moya Bailey, and Brooke Foucault Welles. Despite the social media site’s well-earned negative reputation, Twitter has struck me as a potentially egalitarian space, offering musicologist of all ranks (and no rank at all) a chance to connect, to share research, and to discover research-related questions. As an independent scholar, this potential has long been attractive to me, even more so during the Covid lockdown, when travel prevented even those with means from attending conferences. It is clear, however, that these positives only exist if a person engages with Twitter in certain ways. After all, the pitfalls are many: Twitter trolls are everywhere and it is surprisingly easy to become mired in public confrontations and controversies. With this in mind, I reached out to three Twitter veterans, music scholars who have a visible and influential presence on Twitter, hoping they might shed some light on Twitter best practices, both for those like me, in music and newly on Twitter, and for those thinking about joining this network. I am confident their conversation will be useful for more seasoned Twitter users as well. Here, then, are my kickoff questions, addressed to Matthew D. Morrison (@DrMaDMo), Robin James (@doctaj), and Imani Mosley (@imanimosley):