Music Theory Midwest

Twentieth Annual Conference

Minneapolis, MN

May 15–16, 2009

 

Friday, May 15

 

8:00                Registration

 

9:00–9:15      Introduction and Welcome

 

 

9:15–10:45   Syntax, Affect, and Cognition                                        

 

What is Musical Syntax? An Evolutionary Perspective

            David Bashwiner, University of Chicago

Theorizing Musical Affect: Arvo Pärt’s Passio (1982)

            Arnie Cox, Oberlin Conservatory

Temporal Segmentation and Prototypical Phrase Models

            Mitch Ohriner, Indiana University

 

 

9:15–10:45   Motive and Process                                                                                   

 

Middleground Motives in Beethoven’s Last Quartet (Opus 135)

            Jason Britton, Luther College

The Myth of Modulation: Motivic Unity Across Surface-Level Keys in Ein Heldenleben

            Soo Hyun Jeong, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

Voice Leading and Emerging Consciousness in a Schoenberg Passage

            Christopher M. Barry, University of Wisconsin – Madison

 

 

11:00–12:30 Brahms and Beach                                                                        

 

Brahms oder Dietrich? An Analytic Perspective on the Piano Trio in A Major

            Ryan McClelland, University of Toronto

“Shall I Find Aught New?” The Expressive Potential of Modified Strophic Form in the Songs of Amy Beach

            Victoria Malawey, Kenyon College

“You Kiss Me as We Part”: Unifying Techniques in Two Brahms Song Pairings

            Daniel B. Stevens, University of Delaware

11:00–12:30 Elusive Aspects of Pitch: Timbre and Sprechstimme             

 

Oppositions and Metamorphosis: Timbre in Saariaho’s Château de l'âme

            Crystal Peebles, Florida State University

Functional and Descriptive Accounts of Timbre

            William O’Hara, University of Wisconsin – Madison

Rap and Sprechstimme: Analyzing the Pitch Content of Hip-Hop

            Christopher Segall, City University of New York

 

 

Lunch (MTMW Executive Board Meeting)

12:30–2:00

 

 

2:00–5:15      Poster Session: Pedagogy                                                                                  

 

Incorporating Keyboard-Based Mastery Learning into the Music Theory Curriculum: Two Studies

            Leigh VanHandel, Michigan State University

Barbershop Quartets in the Sight Singing Class

            Bruce Taggart, Michigan State University

           

 

2:00–4:00      Jazz Plus                                                                  

 

Ellington the Improviser: Group Interaction in the Money Jungle Recordings

            Garrett Michaelsen, Indiana University

Metrical Dissonance in Bill Evans’ “All the Things You Are”

            Stefan Love, Eastman School of Music

Ordered Step Motives in Jazz Composition

            Keith Salley, Shenandoah Conservatory

A "New" Lydian Theory for Frank Zappa's Diatonic Music

Brett Clement, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

 

 

3:00–4:00      Modes and Transformations in British Music   

 

The Modal Organization of Vaughan Williams’ Works

            Ian Bates, Yale University

Form and Transformation in the "Nocturne" from Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings

            Michael Baker, University of Kentucky

4:15–5:15      Balkan Meters                                                                     

 

Problems with Unequal Beats: A Discussion of Non-Isochronous Meter in

Balkan Brass Band Music

            Daniel Goldberg, University of British Columbia

Four-beat Aksak Meter Beyond the Balkans

            Aleksandra Vojcic, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor

 

 

4:15–5:15      Perspectives on Copland’s Quiet City                                       

 

The Structure and Genesis of Copland’s Quiet City

            Stanley V. Kleppinger, University of Nebraska – Lincoln

A Tonal Revolution in Fifths and Semitones: Aaron Copland’s Quiet City

            David Heetderks, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor

 

 

Graduate student pizza dinner

5:30

 

 

 

Saturday, May 16

 

8:00                Registration

 

9:00–10:30   In Search of Meter                                                                          

 

Projective Meter in Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories

            Timothy Chenette, Indiana University

Parsing Time with Harmony

            Sara J. Bakker, Indiana University

Durational Idealism and Messiaen’s Livre d'orgue

            Anton Vishio, Steinhardt School, New York University

 

 

10:45–12:15 Analysis and Performance                                                           

 

The Act of Interpreting J. S. Bach's Allemande for Solo Flute

Samantha Inman, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

On The Relationship Between Analysis and Performance in Atonal Music

            Timothy C. Best, Indiana University

Conveying Proportion and Other Performance Issues in John Adams’s China Gates

            Kyle Fyr, Indiana University

Lunch

12:30–2:00

 

2:00–4:00      Histories and Discourses of Theory                              

 

Heinrich Christoph Koch’s Description of the Andante in Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 42 as a Response to Recent Sonata Theories

            Gregory Hellenbrand, St. Paul, MN

Reflective Equilibrium and David Lewin's Analytical Methodologies

            Peter Shultz, University of Chicago

The Universalism of Marin Mersenne's Harmonie universelle

            John Reef, Indiana University

Sympathetic Resonance: György Ligeti’s “Cordes à vide” and the Discourses of Theory

            August Sheehy, University of Wisconsin – Madison

 

 

 

Business Meeting

4:00–4:45

 

 

5:00–6:00      Keynote Address                                                                                        

 

David Huron (The Ohio State University)

The Art of Listening: Music Scholarship in an Age of Fragmentation

 

 

 

Banquet

6:30–8:30