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Music Theory Indiana University Bloomington

Christopher White to Speak on AI and Music at IU

Posted on by John Matthew Cowan

On March 26, the Jacobs School of Music will host Dr. Christopher White (University of Massachusetts Amherst) for “Music’s AI Problem, AI’s Music Problem,” part of the Five Friends Master Class Series honoring Robert Samels.

Abstract: Will Generative AI put musicians out of business? Or will music be immune to AI’s technological advances? This talk outlines the numerous technical, social, and expressive challenges that make music a uniquely complex domain for AI research. These challenges include the lack of substantial commercial motivation, the intricacies involved in converting scores and audio signals into data that computers can process, the complex structures underpinning musical composition, and music’s deep-rooted connection to human emotion and experience. Overall, I argue that certain aspects of music are particularly vulnerable to AI interventions, while other aspects remain uniquely shielded from this burgeoning technology.

From March 25–30, White will engage with IU’s community through guest visits to two classes, a talk for the Cognitive Science program, and participation in the AlgoRhythms conference on computational approaches to music. As part of AlgoRhythms, White will contribute to the panel discussion “Music & AI in a New Creative World” on March 29 at Sweeney Hall, where he will join scholars and industry experts in exploring the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence and musical creativity.

Learn more about the Five Friends Master Class Series and AlgoRhythms: The World of Music and AI.

2025 (31st Annual) Indiana University Symposium of Research in Music

Posted on by John Matthew Cowan

On Friday and Saturday, February 21–22, 2025, the Graduate Theory Association (GTA) and Graduate Musicology Association (GMA) will host the Thirty-First Annual Symposium of Research in Music. The symposium will feature student presentations with panels on diverse topics.

Prof. L. Poundie Burstein from the CUNY Graduate Center will be our keynote speaker, and we will also feature talks and workshops from several newly appointed faculty members at Indiana University: Profs. Lina Tabak and Amy Tai (Music Theory), and Profs. Jacquelyn Sholes and Jennifer Saltzstein (Musicology).

All events are FREE.

All students and professors from the departments of music theory and musicology—and all presenters—will be automatically registered.
Registration is not necessary for non-departmental attendees.

Workshops are available to music theory/musicology students and presenters; sign-up occurred in advance.

Click here for a downloadable program with abstracts and bios!

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

 

Friday, February 21st, 2025

 

Registration (11:00AM–12:30PM)
Ford-Crawford Hall Lobby 

 

Opening Remarks (12:30PM–12:45PM)
Ford-Crawford Hall
IU Departments of Music Theory and Musicology

 

IU Faculty Presentation (12:45PM–1:45PM)
Ford-Crawford Hall
John M. Cowan, chair

Prof. Jacquelyn Sholes (musicology), “Atonality and Meaning in Selected Songs of Leonard Bernstein”

 

Session 1: Americana, Identity, and Race (2:00PM–3:30PM)
Ford-Crawford Hall
Jacqueline Fortier, chair

Jess Forgione (Michigan State University), “Race, Bias, and Musical Identity in Burleigh’s ‘Ethiopia Saluting the Colors’”

Kellin Tasber (Michigan State University), “Our Delusion in the Face of Institutional Racism: How Timbre and Texture Create Conflict in Coldplay’s ‘Trouble in Town’”

Matt Anderson (University of Kansas), “Howard Hanson and the Pitfalls of American National Identity”

 

Keynote Workshop (3:45PM–5:15PM)
Simon Music Center (SM) Room 350

Prof. L. Poundie Burstein (CUNY), “Bottom-up, Historically Informed Analysis of Classical Sonata-form Layouts”

 

Session 2: Pop-pourri (5:30PM–7:00PM)
Ford-Crawford Hall
Tori Vilches, chair

Lucy Rissmeyer (Indiana University–Bloomington), “‘Do the Russians Want War?’: Pacifism and Solidarity in Rolando Alarcón Sings to Soviet Poets”

Jack Etchegary (University of Western Ontario), “Exploring Music Categorization, Consumption & Creation Through Genre in the Age of AI”

Camilo Lozano (Case Western Reserve University), “‘It’s she who holds her tongue who gets a man’: Performativity, music, gender, and sexuality in a selection of animated Disney films”

 

Student Dinner and Trivia (7:00PM–9:00PM)
Simon Music Center (SM) Room 242

 

Saturday, February 22nd, 2025

 

Breakfast (8:00AM–9:30AM)
Ford-Crawford Hall Lobby

 

Session 3: Canonical Kaleidoscope (9:30AM–11:00AM)
Ford-Crawford Hall
Travis Whaley, chair

Marcelo Rebuffi (Case Western Reserve University), “Singular Episodes: Hearing Hidden Voices in Bach’s Solo Violin Fugues”

Peyson Weekley (Indiana University–Bloomington), “Nikolaus the Listener: A Discussion of Patronage and Haydn’s ‘Esterházy’ Sonatas”

Jonathon Crompton (Columbia University), “Hearing Hybridity: Jason Moran’s version of Brahms’s intermezzo Op. 118, no. 2”

 

IU Faculty Workshops (11:30AM–1:00PM)
Prof. Saltzstein: Simon Music Center (SM) Room 242
Prof. Tabak: Simon Music Center (SM) Room 340

Prof. Jennifer Saltzstein (musicology), “Musicology and Animal Studies”

Prof. Lina Tabak (music theory), “Why is that the Beat? Metric Perception and (Un)familiar Repertoires”

 

IU Faculty Presentation (1:15PM–2:15PM)
Ford-Crawford Hall
Drake Eshleman, chair

Prof. Amy Tai (music theory), “An Embodied Understanding of Bach’s Musical Forms Through Choreography”

 

Session 4: Narrative, Transformation, and Form in Popular Music (2:30PM–4:00PM)
Ford-Crawford Hall
Alex Shannon, chair

Ryan Krell (University of Cincinnati), “Transformation, Narrative, and Cyclical Form in the Arcadian Wild’s Principium“

Lilly Korkontzelos (Michigan State University), “Who Does The Night Belong To?: Timbre, Texture, Recording Techniques, and Narrative in Two Songs by Sleep Token”

Aaron D’Zurilla (Florida State University), “Guess Who’s Back: Narrative Subversions in The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce)“

 

Keynote Lecture (4:30PM–5:30PM)
Ford-Crawford Hall
Lev Roshal, chair

Prof. L. Poundie Burstein (CUNY), “Music Analysis, Sharing, and Long-Distance Relationships.”

 

Closing Remarks (5:30PM)
Ford-Crawford Hall
GTA and GMA Leadership

 

The symposium was started in 1994 by the Graduate Theory Association. Since 2021, the GTA has partnered with their colleagues in the Graduate Musicology Association to increase the symposium’s diversity and impact. The symposium invites graduate students from all over the US and Canada to present research, participate in workshops and engage in lively debates about music scholarship. The event is co-sponsored by the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, the Departments of Music Theory and Musicology, and the Indiana University Funding board.

2024–2025 GTA Officers
Lev Roshal, President
Joey Grunkemeyer, Vice-President
Jack Bussert, Secretary
Wade Voris, Treasurer
Allyson Starr, Publicity Chair
Thomas Collison and Tori Vilches, Events Coordinators
Jacob Wilkinson, GPSG Representative

2024–2025 GMA OFFICERS
John Matthew Cowan and Yishai Rubin, Presidents
Elizabeth Hile and Kristin Shaffer, Vice Presidents
Lucy Rissmeyer, IU Graduate and Professional Student Organization Representative
Peyson Weekley, JSoM Student Representative Committee

LODGING
IMU Biddle Hotel
(812) 856-6381

Hyatt Place Bloomington
(812) 339-5950

Grant Street Inn
(800) 328-4350

More hotels

PARKING
The East Parking Garage near the Jacobs School (150 N. Eagleson, formerly Jordan Garage/Jordan Ave) offers Park Mobile or kiosk payment in the garage. Rates are $3/hour during the day and $1/hour after 5pm. Maximum daily rate is $30.

  • Upper Deck: EM-S zoned and paid visitor parking
  • Lower Deck: EMP zoned parking and follows enforcement hours of all zoned lots
  • Payment Options: Cash, coin, credit card, CrimsonCard, or ParkMobile

For City of Bloomington Parking Information

AIR TRAVEL
Fly into Indianapolis International Airport (IND).

GROUND TRAVEL
In addition to car rental, Uber, etc., GO Express Travel provides shuttle service between IND and Bloomington.

GOOD EATS
Check our Restaurant Guide for a list of some of our favorite Bloomington and at IU eateries.

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Tori Vilches named 2024 SMT Student Presentation Winner

Posted on by John Matthew Cowan

Congratulations to Tori M. Vilches, recipient of the 2024 SMT Annual Meeting Student Presentation Award!

Award-Winning Paper:

“’Sex Sells’: A Decolonial Analysis of Purplewashing and Sexual Narrative in the Women of Reggaetón”

In her paper, Tori examines the intersection of gender, sexuality, and socio-cultural power dynamics in reggaetón. While artists like Karol G and Young Miko seemingly empower narratives of sexual freedom, Tori’s research reveals how these performances can perpetuate misogynistic stereotypes and hyper-sexualization under the guise of feminist commentary. Using a decolonial lens, she explores how colonial values of capitalism and patriarchal power influence the genre, dissecting the dichotomy between sex-positive self-empowerment and purplewashing for financial gain.

This study contributes critical insights to the discourse surrounding reggaetón, popular culture, and the commodification of women’s bodies, positioning Tori’s work at the forefront of contemporary music theory scholarship.

About Tori M. Vilches

Originally from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, Tori is a Ph.D. student in music theory at Indiana University. She earned her B.M. in Vocal Performance from Tarleton State University (2020) and an M.M. in Music Theory from Texas Christian University (2022). Her research interests lie at the intersection of music theory, race, gender, and culture, with a particular focus on pop music analysis and diversifying gender representation in music theory pedagogy. Tori’s scholarship has been recognized at both graduate and professional conferences, demonstrating her commitment to interdisciplinary inquiry and advocacy for inclusivity in music theory.

Musical Chairs: Noriko Manabe and Roman Ivanovitch to Succeed Kyle Adams

Posted on by John Matthew Cowan

After eight years of exemplary service, Professor Kyle Adams stepped down as chair. Under his guidance, the department navigated numerous challenges, most notably the complex shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The department will not soon forget Adams’s commitment to student success and academic innovation.

Taking up the mantle, Professor Noriko Manabe has been appointed as the new chair, with Associate Professor Roman Ivanovitch stepping in as associate chair. To assist Manabe and Ivanovitch in their new roles, the department created a new dedicated Music Theory Chair email, mtchair@iu.edu, to streamline communications. However, both chairs remain accessible through their individual email addresses for inquiries related to research and teaching.

The department extends its deepest gratitude to Professor Adams for his years of leadership, dedication, and resilience, especially during unprecedented times. And the new leadership team looks forward to continuing the department’s tradition of excellence.

 

Andrew Mead Receives 2024 Trustees Teaching Award

Posted on by John Matthew Cowan

The Department of Theory is proud to share that Professor Andrew Mead was recently honored with the 2024 Trustees Teaching Award, recognizing his exceptional contributions to student learning and academic excellence. This prestigious award celebrates faculty who have had a significant impact on undergraduate education.

Mead has been a faculty member at IU since 2013, after a three-decade career at the University of Michigan, where he also served as chair of the Music Theory Department. His scholarly work focuses on 20th-century composers such as Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, and Arnold Schoenberg. He has published in prominent journals like Music Theory Spectrum and Perspectives of New Music, contributing research on abstract 12-tone theory and rhythmic structures. His book, An Introduction to the Music of Milton Babbitt, is widely regarded in the field.

In addition to his academic achievements, Mead is also an accomplished composer. He has created notable works for saxophone quartets and song cycles, collaborating with ensembles like PRISM and the Larry Teal Saxophone Quartet. His compositions have earned him prestigious accolades, including the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

The Trustees Teaching Award celebrates Mead’s dedication to fostering a dynamic and enriching learning environment for his students.

Congratulations Prof. Mead!

Celebrating the Generosity of Marianne Kielian-Gilbert

Posted on by John Matthew Cowan

We are thrilled to celebrate an extraordinary act of generosity from Professor Emerita Marianne Kielian-Gilbert, whose recent gift to the Music Theory Fund will have a lasting impact on our department. Her contribution supports the professional development of our students and faculty, enabling activities such as conference presentations, research dissemination, and much more.

This year, several of our students will present their work at the annual Society for Music Theory (SMT) conference, and Marianne’s timely donation ensures they have the support they need to represent Indiana University and share their innovative research on a national stage.

As a scholar and educator, Marianne has left an indelible mark on the IU Jacobs School of Music and the broader music theory community. She is also recognized for her leadership within organizations such as the Society for Music Theory and her editorial work for esteemed journals like Perspectives of New Music.

Marianne’s enduring commitment to advancing music theory is matched by her generosity and engagement with our IU community. Through her thoughtful donation, she continues to foster opportunities for our students and faculty to grow, explore, and contribute to the field.

On behalf of the department, we extend our deepest gratitude to Marianne Kielian-Gilbert for her remarkable gift and her unwavering support. Her legacy as both a scholar and benefactor inspires us all.

Thank you, Marianne, for your generosity and dedication to the next generation of scholars!

Eileen Karmy Bolton Visits IU to Speak on Music and Labor Movements

Posted on by Sarah J. Slover

The Jacobs School of Music Department of Music Theory and Latin American Music Center are excited to host Eileen Karmy Bolton, a socio-musicologist from Universidad de Playa Ancha, Chile. She is visiting Bloomington through November 23 as a fellow through the Institute for Advanced Study. Best known for her research on music in political and labor movements and on Latin America, her work includes studies on Chilean musicians’ unions.

During her two-week visit, Dr. Karmy will deliver a public lecture on music and labor movements, a pre-concert introduction at the LAMC performance of Santa María de Iquique, and there will be a film screening of her documentary, Himno (2023), which traces the global impact of the canonic protest song, “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido” (The people united will never be defeated). She will also visit seminars for both musicology (Popular Music as a History Book, Sergio Ospina Romero) and music theory (Music in political movements, Noriko Manabe). Details for the public events are below.

Tuesday, Nov. 19
5:00-6:30 PM | Ford-Crawford Hall (2nd floor, Simon Music Center)
Public Lecture: Eileen Karmy Bolton (Universidad de Playa Ancha, Chile)
“Reconsidering Workers’ Songs: Militant, Protest, Political”

Click for abstract

The discourse on protest music has tended to romanticize specific genres and periods of protest music, particularly that of the 1960s (Tausig 2018). Similarly, research on Latin American political songs has tended to focus on the nueva canción movement of the late 1960s, understanding it to be the pinnacle of political activity in music.  In contrast, the study of previous periods and genres of political songs is relatively neglected. In this talk, I discuss the political meaning of workers’ songs of the early twentieth century in Chile. I focus on the musical ensembles formed in union guilds, their repertoire, and especially, workers’ musical practices in both public demonstrations and everyday collective leisure activities. Drawing from songbooks, press accounts, and union minutes, I analyze musical examples from the frameworks of intertextuality and social relevance. In what ways did workers’ songs function as political, militant, or protest songs? How did the use and reappropriation of national anthems, Verdi’s arias, and songs change their potential as political objects? How were their performers perceived? Turino’s (2008) distinction between participatory and presentational musical practices is vital for considering the political aspects of this repertoire, allowing scholars to reflect on a more nuanced consideration of political song.

 

Tuesday, Nov. 19
8:00-9:30 PM | Auer Hall (2nd floor, Simon Music Center) and IUMusicLive!
LAMC Salón Latino: Luis Advis (1935-2004): Cantata: Santa María de Iquique – with pre-concert remarks by Eileen Karmy Bolton (presented as part of the Remembering Alfonso Montecino Concert Series)

Click for concert details

Written by Chilean composer Luis Advis (1935-2004) in 1969, Santa María de Iquique commemorates the tragic events of a miner’s strike that took place in 1907. Much like the Tulsa massacre in the United States, the events of 1907 remained hidden in plain sight for decades, only gaining public attention at a time when Chile was beginning a process of social and political reform, one that promised better worker protections, health care, the equal treatment of women, and the more equitable treatment of indigenous communities. Advis, as part of a vibrant community of artists, musicians, poets and intellectuals who supported these goals, wanted this work to be a call to solidarity, a way to learn from the sins from the past and to better strive for social justice and human rights. Tragically, only three years later many of those artists and musicians ended up persecuted, jailed and in some cases killed by a military coup that disagreed with these ideals. Nevertheless, Santa María de Iquique continued to be performed, first by Chilean musicians living in exile, and later by many others who have found this work’s powerful message of perseverance in the face of adversity relevant to their daily lives. It is in this spirit that we bring this performance to you, in these times of global pandemics, political uncertainty, and enduring social inequality.

The LAMC Chamber Ensemble is a collective of volunteer performers affiliated with the Latin American Music Center at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Founded in 1961 by noted Chilean composer Juan Orrego-Salas, the LAMC is one of the largest archives in the world devoted to the study, research, and performance of Latin American Music. The LAMC Chamber Ensemble’s members include undergraduate and graduate students at the Jacobs School of Music as well as members from the Bloomington, Indiana community and invited guests. The concert will begin with an introduction by Dr. Eileen Karmy Bolton (Universidad de Playa Ancha, Chile). This event is free and open to the public.

LAMC Chamber Ensemble: Eric Meincke (conductor), Gabriela Martinez (solo soprano), Black Beckemeyer (solo tenor), Kate Westhoven (soprano), Rachel Dunbar (alto), Ryan Rogers (tenor), Jackson Faulkner (bass), Daniel Cueto (quena), Noam Niv (quena), Nelson Rodriguez Garza (charango), Ivan Maceda (guitar), Juan Mendez Fonseca (guitar), Elijah Casillas (percussion), Philip Williamson (cello), Grant Evan Thomas (double bass).

 

Wednesday, Nov. 20
5:30 PM | Wells Library Screening RM 048 (bottom floor, Herman B. Wells Library)
Film showing: Himno: La vuelta al mundo de El pueblo unido jamás será vencidoz
Followed by Q&A with Producer Eileen Karmy Bolton

Click for details

Composed in 1973 in Chile, “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido” has become an anthem in protests around the world. This documentary tells the story of the song, from its composition in Chile to its international distribution, with vignettes from Germany, France, and Japan.

 

 

Dr. Eileen Karmy Bolton is a socio-musicologist at the Faculty of Arts in Universidad de Playa Ancha (Valparaíso, Chile) who received her PhD at the University of Glasgow. Her research focuses on music, politics, and labor, with particular interest in music and social movements. She has published on Chilean nueva canción and produced the documentary film Himno (2023), about the ways in which the song “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido” has resonated worldwide, with case studies in Germany, France, and Japan. Her monograph, Música y Trabajo: organizaciones gremiales de músicas en Chile, 1893-1940 (2021), analyzes the hidden but key role of Chilean musicians’ unions in the promotion of musical work from the late 1800s to 1940. She is a principal researcher in ANIMUPA, an interdisciplinary study on classical music, and associate researcher in the Millennium Nucleus in Musical and Sound Cultures, both projects funded by Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarollo (ANID). She is finishing a three-year research project on workers’ musical practices in early 20th-century Valparaiso, Chile, with a grant from the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FONDECYT).

IU Music Theory at SMT 2024

Posted on by Sarah J. Slover

November 7–10, 2024
2024 Annual Meeting | Jacksonville, Florida
Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront

 

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Networking Reception
9:00–11:00 PM | City Terrace 5

(Prospective students, click here.)

 

IU Music Theory SMT 2024 Event Schedule

View the Searchable Online Program
All times are EST

 

Thursday, November 7

2.15–3.25 pm | City Terrace 9 | Session: Hypermeter and Phrase Rhythm

Samantha Harris Waddell (PhD student), From Old-Time to “Hard Times”: Phrase Rhythm and Prosody in the Music of Tyler Childers

2.15–3.25 pm | City Terrace 12 | Session: Understanding Music Theory Through Labor, Law, and Technologies

Calvin Peck (PhD 2022), “AI, Copyright Law, and Musical Modernism’s Authorial Collapse”

3.30–5.30 pm | River Terrace 3 | Session: Just Two Cents on Tuning

Nathan Lam (PhD 2019), “Solfège Set Theory”

4.00–5.30 pm | City Terrace 9 | Session: Formal Frictions in Tonal Music

Diego Cubero (PhD 2014), “The Romanticization of the Rounded Binary in Robert Schumann’s Music”

 

Friday, November 8

8.00–9.30 am | St. Johns | Poster Session

Stanley Ralph Fink (MM 2011), “A Comparison of the Accuracy of Two Algorithms for Predicting the Behavior of ‘Soul Dominants’ in the McGill Billboard Corpus”

Joseph Grunkemeyer (PhD student), “Analyzing Patrick Stump’s ‘Soul Voice’: Vocal Timbre as a Signifier of Style and Genre”

Brent Yorgason (PhD 2009), “Exploring Form in Popular Music with Timeline Share”

9.00–10.30 am | River Terrace 3 | Session: Proximate Spaces: Reading Through Text, Intertext, and Recomposition

Jonathan Guez (MM 2008), “What Schubert Learned from Goethe”

2.15–3.45 pm | City Terrace 7 | Session: Don’t Bore Us – Take it to the … Prechorus?

Caleb Mutch (post-doctoral scholar 2017–2019), “Enter the Prechorus: Producing Intensification in Two Recent Taylor Swift Songs”

2.15–3.45 pm | City Terrace 9 | Session: Harmonic Perceptions: Analytical Styles in Chromatic Harmony

Wade Alan Voris (PhD student), “Sonic Experience: A Kurth Inspired Analysis”

4.00–5.30 pm | City Terrace 12 | Session: Punk, Reggaeton, Rap

Prof. Kyle Adams, Chair

Tori M Vilches (PhD student), “‘Sex Sells’: A Decolonial Analysis of Purplewashing and Sexual Narrative in the Women of Reggaeton”

4.00–6.00 pm | 3rd Floor Skybridge | Public Music Theory Poster Exhibit

Sara Bakker (PhD 2013) & Andrew Gades, “Does Music Theory Matter?”

Joseph Grunkemeyer (PhD student), “Analyzing Patrick Stump’s ‘Soul Voice’: Vocal Timbre as a Signifier of Style and Genre”

Brent Yorgason (PhD 2009), “Exploring Form in Popular Music with Timeline Share”

5.30–6.30 pm | Conference Center B | Prospective Graduate Student Fair

 

Saturday, November 9

9.00–10.30 am | City Terrace 9 | Session: Theoretical Crossings: New Applications

Simon Prosser (MM 2012), “Shostakovich, Lowered Modes, and SLIDE”

10.45 am – 12.15 pm | City Terrace 12 | Session: Haydn’s Middles

Prof. Roman Ivanovitch, Chair

10.45 am – 12.15 pm | River Terrace 3 | Session: Prosody and Text Setting in Popular Music

Alexander Michael Shannon (PhD student), “‘All the Lonely Starbucks Lovers”: Prosodic Dissonance in Taylor Swift’s Discography

Prof. Noriko Manabe, “The Development and Artistry of Text-Setting in Japanese Rock: Happy End and the Great Japanese Rock Debate (1970)”

9.00–11.00 pm | City Terrace 5 | IU Jacobs School of Music Networking Reception

 

Sunday, November 10

9.00–10.30 am | City Terrace 7 | Session: Analyzing Style & Blues

Clifton Boyd (MM 2012), Chair

9.00–10.30 am | River Terrace 3 | Session: Dance and/as Music Analysis

Prof. Amy Ming Wai Tai, Rethinking Musical Metaphors Through Dance

9.00–11.00 am | City Terrace 9 | Session: Tragedy, Liturgy, and Myth Across Cultures and Genres

Mitchell Ohriner (PhD 2011), “Listening to Acculturation in Chazzan David Kusevitsky’s Cantorial Recitative ‘L’eil Boruch’”

9.00–11.00 am | City Terrace 12 | Session: Applying Sets and Cycles

Justin Lavacek (PhD 2011), “Plotting Medieval Polyphony: An Enchiriadis Tonnetz”

10.45 am–12.15 pm | City Terrace 7 | Session: Popular, Internet, and Video Culture

Isaac William Smith, Ph.D. minor, The Mashups of Mouth Moods: Parody and Intertextuality in Neil Cicierega’s Third Album

11.15 am – 12.15 pm | City Terrace 9 | Session: Two Perspectives on Lili Boulanger

Matthew Bilik (MM 2015), “Flat Scale Degree Seven and Lost Love in Lili Boulanger’s Clairières dans le ciel”

11.15 am – 12.15 pm | River Terrace 2 | Session: Musical Processes and Empirical Methodologies

Prof. Andrew Goldman, “The Contingency of Music Cognition”

Musicologist and Cultural Historian Nadine Hubbs to Deliver Five Friends Lectures at IU

Posted on by John Matthew Cowan

The IU Department of Music Theory welcomes Nadine Hubbs to deliver two talks as part of the Five Friends Master Class Series in Music Theory. Hubbs is a musicologist, historian, theorist of music and society, and professor of women’s and gender studies and music at University of Michigan.

Hubbs has published on topics ranging from Bernstein to queer disco to Taylor Swift; two award-winning books, The Queer Composition of America’s Sound and Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music; and the award-winning collection Uncharted Country: New Voices and Perspectives in Country Music Studies. Her public-facing work features in outlets including the New York Times, The Guardian, NPR, BBC, and the Dolly Parton’s America podcast. Hubbs’s current book project is Border Country: Mexico, America, and Country Music.

Tuesday, October 15
5:00 pm, Ford-Crawford Hall
Music Theory Five Friends Guest Lecture
Nadine Hubbs (University of Michigan), “Country-Loving Mexican Americans: Borderlands Country Music Lovers’ Duel Patriotism and Inevitable Fandom”

Wednesday. October 16
4:00 pm, SM267 (Library)
Music Theory Colloquium Series Guest Lecture
Nadine Hubbs (University of Michigan), “Queer Influences in Country Music: The First Hundred Years”

Five Friends Master Class Series – Honoring Robert Samels

The Five Friends Master Class Series honoring the lives of five talented Jacobs School of Music students—Chris Carducci, Garth Eppley, Georgina Joshi, Zachary Novak, and Robert Samels—was established in 2012 with a gift of $1 million from the Georgina Joshi Foundation, Inc. This annual series of lectures, master classes, and residencies by a number of the world’s leading musicians and teachers focuses on areas of interest most relevant to the lives of the five friends—voice performance, choral conducting, early music, music theory, composition, and opera. The Georgina Joshi Foundation was established in 2007 as the vision of Georgina Joshi’s mother, Louise Addicott-Joshi, to provide educational and career development opportunities for young musicians and to encourage and support public performance of music. The gift to the school establishes a permanent way for the world to learn about each of the five friends, their musical talents and passions, and to encourage the development of similar talents and passions in current and future music students. The establishment of this endowment by the families is administered by the IU Foundation.

Bass-baritone and composer Robert Samels was born on June 2, 1981, and died in a plane crash on April 20, 2006. He was a doctoral student in choral conducting at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and had studied voice with Giorgio Tozzi and Costanza Cuccaro. He began his vocal studies with Alfred Anderson at the University of Akron and Andreas Poulimenos at Bowling Green State University. Samels had recently appeared as Mr. Gibbs in the world premiere of Our Town by Ned Rorem, as Marco in the collegiate premiere of William Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge, and as Joseph and Herod in the collegiate premiere of El Nino by John Adams. In September 2005, he conducted the premiere of his own opera, Pilatvs. As a member of the Wolf Trap Opera Company for 2006, he would have added three roles that summer, including Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro, Friar Laurence in Roméo et Juliette, and Pluto in Telemann’s Orpheus. Other opera credits included the title roles of Don Pasquale and Il Turco in Italia, as well as Leporello in Don Giovanni, Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the summer of 2004, he performed Creon in the New York premiere of John Eaton’s Antigone. Samels also frequently performed in the oratorio repertoire. In the spring of 2005, he was selected as a semi-finalist in the annual competition of the Oratorio Society of New York. He was an announcer with public radio station WFIU, as well as the host and producer of its Cantabile program. A soloist with Aguavá New Music Studio, he had recently performed a concert at the Library of Congress. Samels was an associate instructor in the Jacobs School’s Music Theory Department, where was loved and admired by his students.

Eric Drott to Give Five Friends Lecture

Posted on by John Matthew Cowan

Later this month, the IU Department of Music Theory welcomes Eric Drott to deliver two talks as part of the Five Friends Master Class Series in Music Theory. Drott is Professor of Theory at the University of Texas-Austin Butler School of Music.

Drott’s research focuses on contemporary music cultures, streaming platforms, music and protest, genre theory, and the political economy of music. He is the author of Music and the Elusive Revolution (University of California Press, 2011) and is completing a second book on music streaming, Streaming Music, Streaming Capital. He is co-editing the Oxford Handbook of Protest Music with IU Jacobs Professor of Theory Noriko Manabe. He has received a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship and the Dent Medal from the Royal Musical Association.

Tuesday, September 24
5:00 pm, Ford-Crawford Hall
Music Theory Five Friends Guest Lecture
Eric Drott (University of Texas-Austin), “Music Streaming, Music Data, and the Work of Social Reproduction”

Wednesday. September 25
4:00 pm, SM267 (Library)
Music Theory Colloquium Series Guest Lecture
Eric Drott (University of Texas-Austin), “Music and Asset Aesthetics”

Five Friends Master Class Series – Honoring Robert Samels

The Five Friends Master Class Series honoring the lives of five talented Jacobs School of Music students—Chris Carducci, Garth Eppley, Georgina Joshi, Zachary Novak, and Robert Samels—was established in 2012 with a gift of $1 million from the Georgina Joshi Foundation, Inc. This annual series of lectures, master classes, and residencies by a number of the world’s leading musicians and teachers focuses on areas of interest most relevant to the lives of the five friends—voice performance, choral conducting, early music, music theory, composition, and opera. The Georgina Joshi Foundation was established in 2007 as the vision of Georgina Joshi’s mother, Louise Addicott-Joshi, to provide educational and career development opportunities for young musicians and to encourage and support public performance of music. The gift to the school establishes a permanent way for the world to learn about each of the five friends, their musical talents and passions, and to encourage the development of similar talents and passions in current and future music students. The establishment of this endowment by the families is administered by the IU Foundation.

Bass-baritone and composer Robert Samels was born on June 2, 1981, and died in a plane crash on April 20, 2006. He was a doctoral student in choral conducting at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and had studied voice with Giorgio Tozzi and Costanza Cuccaro. He began his vocal studies with Alfred Anderson at the University of Akron and Andreas Poulimenos at Bowling Green State University. Samels had recently appeared as Mr. Gibbs in the world premiere of Our Town by Ned Rorem, as Marco in the collegiate premiere of William Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge, and as Joseph and Herod in the collegiate premiere of El Nino by John Adams. In September 2005, he conducted the premiere of his own opera, Pilatvs. As a member of the Wolf Trap Opera Company for 2006, he would have added three roles that summer, including Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro, Friar Laurence in Roméo et Juliette, and Pluto in Telemann’s Orpheus. Other opera credits included the title roles of Don Pasquale and Il Turco in Italia, as well as Leporello in Don Giovanni, Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the summer of 2004, he performed Creon in the New York premiere of John Eaton’s Antigone. Samels also frequently performed in the oratorio repertoire. In the spring of 2005, he was selected as a semi-finalist in the annual competition of the Oratorio Society of New York. He was an announcer with public radio station WFIU, as well as the host and producer of its Cantabile program. A soloist with Aguavá New Music Studio, he had recently performed a concert at the Library of Congress. Samels was an associate instructor in the Jacobs School’s Music Theory Department, where was loved and admired by his students.