To”music” is to take part, in any capacity, in a musical performance.That means not only to perform but also to listen; to provide material for a performance –what we call composing; to prepare for a performance –what we call practicing or rehearsing or woodshedding; or to take part in any activity that can affect the nature of that style of human encounter which is a musical performance. We should certainly include dancing, if anyone is dancing-and in some cultures if no one is dancing then no musicking is happening – and we might even on occasion extend it to what the box-office clerk is doing when he sells tickets, and the person who tunes the piano, and the cleaners who clean up afterwards, since what they do certainly affects the nature of the event which is a musical performance. 

— Christopher Small, Why Doesn’t the Whole World Love Chamber Music?

So, yes, for Small, and for me, too, the dresses and the publicity shots [not to mention the album covers in which the violin covers the boobies and things like that, or the album covers that simply show a painting of scenery] are all part and parcel of the performance aspect of classical music. They all carry a message about the performance, whether it’s consciously acknowledged or not.

Auto tune, of course, is supposed to be a tool for correcting faulty intonation (and I eagerly await documentation that proves that this has never, ever been applied to a classical music recording, or only on ones of less “namey” artists), but ever since dear old Cher’s hit “Believe,” it has been used as a timbral ornament. Absolutely. Ornaments are special effects. People love special effects, from yodeling to Star Wars. 

Chang’s quote strikes me as lacking the kind of understanding of performance rituals in both classical and other kinds of music that Small illuminates so nicely in his article. It’s provincial: you’ve got to step out of the classical music ghetto and get a fresh view. At the same time, her quote represents what many clearly do look for in classical music — this illusion of purity, the illusion that classical music culture is above petty things like appearances, the illusion of perfection. But it’s still a set of illusions that have some things in common with the set of illusions that, say, pop music presents.