Blogs - SMT Discuss

Mozart’s Mass in C minor, K. 427: Venues, Editions

ckemme — Sat, 08 Jun 2019 04:11:28 +0000

Dear friends and colleagues,

Breitkopf & Härtel have just issued a new blog of mine on Mozart’s great C-minor Mass, K. 427, in which I discuss two aspects I think deserve more attention: venues and editions. Here is the link:

https://blog.breitkopf.com/mozarts-great-c-minor-mass-we-can-do-better/

Curious to hear what you think!

Please pass it on to any Mozart lover you know, conductors especially!

All best,

Clemens Kemme, Amsterdam

"Recent" posts

chenettet — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 06:16:24 +0000

Dear colleagues, I feel guiltily self serving in announcing my own work, but here goes. I have a blog, musictheorybridges.wordpress.com, devoted to applying "traditional" theoretical perspectives to (broadly-construed) "popular" music and putting "classical" and "popular" music side by side. (I've shared posts from it here before.) I intend it as a form of public musicology for a musically-educated audience, and I also sometimes use readings from it for class assignments. For example, though I wrote this too late to use it this year, I will probably use the post on the suspension in the Miley Cyrus song "Wrecking Ball" in future semesters. I share these posts in case you might also find them useful in your teaching, in case you might enjoy them over your spring break, or at the very least to keep improving my visitors count until I get tenure! In case it's helpful, I try to use lots of tags so that it's easy to find posts based on genre (pop, rock, etc.), famous artists (e.g., The Beatles), topics (lament bass), and even types of theory classes (chromatic harmony, form, etc.).

If anyone has any questions about running a blog for a broader audience, or what kind of impact I feel like I have, I'd be happy to chat sometime.

Is Scale Degree 6 Dangerous?

I Came In Like a Suspension

Bruno Mars Causes the Feels (Expectation in “When I Was Your Man”)

Variations on "With a Little Help From My Friends"

Aesthetics of the Singer-Songwriter Progression

Mozart's Horn Concerto, K. 412, "Ob-la-di"

Chord Loops vs. Progressive Harmony

Sonata Form and Pop Music

Music Theory Bridges blog posts

chenettet — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 20:41:49 +0000

I'd like to share a few recent posts from my blog dedicated to putting pop/rock/jazz and "traditional" repertoires/concepts side by side. (Traditional, that is, from the perspective of conservatory training.) I'm not sure how successful I am in this, but I intend for the blog to be accessible and interesting to both music theorists and a broader music-educated public, so I do try to keep posts short and readable even if it means sacrificing some scholarly rigor. I sometimes direct my students to these posts to encourage them to see a broader view on some of the concepts we're studying, and I try to tag posts with the kind of class I feel they're relevant to (e.g., "chromatic harmony," "diatonic harmony," "form," etc.). I hope some of you find these interesting, and please feel free to leave comments.

One last thing--I would love to feature guest posts (Scott Murphy wrote a nice one in January 2015). If anyone is interested, feel free to run your idea by me. Thanks!

Sonata form transition vs. verse-chorus pre-chorus

The dominant's fall from dominance

Parts Upon a Ground

Singers, written music, and syncopation

A Tale of Two Tunes

S_Soderberg — Fri, 06 May 2016 12:08:45 +0000

Recently in Essays & Endnotes: Continuing my analysis of Messiaen's Île de feu 1 & 2 under the blog post thread 'Broken Symmetries':

.....A Tale of Two Tunes.....

Île de feu 1 and Île de feu 2 were both composed in 1950 when Messiaen was at Tanglewood. Scholars have commented that the themes of the two pieces are related music-theoretically beyond sharing Papuan origins/flavors as suggested by Messiaen himself. But while much has been written about these two works, a great deal of it on the famous 'interversions' in Île de feu 2, I have found relatively little analysis that seals the claim about specific connections between the themes. There are, in fact, three structural relationships between the themes. I'm discussing them in three separate blog entries:

– Broken Symmetries 3.1: Rhythmic structure

– Broken Symmetries 3.2: Pitch content

– Broken Symmetries 3.3: Tonality, a.k.a. Strange attractors. [UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

Three recent posts

chenettet — Sat, 19 Dec 2015 05:49:45 +0000

These are on my blog, musictheorybridges.wordpress.com, dedicated to putting pop/rock/jazz music next to "classical" theory concepts or music and seeing what happens. It's meant to be accessible to anyone going through or who has completed a post-secondary education in music (or the equivalent). I'm a rather "traditionally-educated" theorist, so all thoughts on other repertoires are very much from the perspective of a nonspecialist.

Serialism or 12-tone music in jazz: brief thoughts on Brubeck's use of 12-tone melodies

The Pixies' Obsession: Ana: motivic/interpretive analysis of Ana

Voice leading connecting weird triads: connecting music by Orlandus Lassus, Franz Schubert, John Adams, and Hans Zimmer

Messiaen analysis

S_Soderberg — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 21:49:27 +0000

Posted: "Broken Symmetries 2" in Essays & Endnotes – an analysis of Olivier Messiaen's Isle de feu 2, mm.92-131, which I've dubbed 'Magma Dance'

AFAIK, these 40 bars have previously eluded analysis – at least I don't know of any in the extensive Messiaen literature. (And from what I've been told, they are the bane of many a pianist.) My analysis at this point remains partial - it ends in a puzzle that perhaps others might solve by either cracking the code or giving a convincing argument that there is no code to crack.

Cheers,

Steve

Performance and Analysis Interest Group (PAIG) Blog

eklorman — Sat, 30 May 2015 20:20:35 +0000

Dear all, I'd like to direct everyone's attention to the PAIG's blog, which is accessible at https://smtpaig.wordpress.com.

The latest contribution is a post by mezzo-soprano Kate Maroney about her experience learning and performing Webern's Op. 4 songs for Allen Forte's memorial a few weeks ago. We invite you to visit the blog and to jump in the conversations by posting your thoughts by way of reply.

If anyone is interested in contributing to the blog--in the form of a short piece (ca. 300 words), perhaps in connection with a forthcoming publication, or a longer narrative such as Kate's, we welcome your ideas for submissions. Please contact Edward Klorman (eklorman@qc.cuny.edu) to pitch your idea.

Six measures from Messiaen's Ile de feu 2 (Analysis)

S_Soderberg — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 18:28:50 +0000

Now available on Essays & Endnotes:

"Broken Symmetries 1"

This is a descriptive and "fictive" analysis of six measures from Messiaen's "Île de Feu 2" from Quatre études de rythme.

(Two more to go on this piece - but not those six measures)

Text-painting in pop/rock music

chenettet — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 20:49:59 +0000

https://musictheorybridges.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/text-painting-and-harmony-tears-in-heaven/

Announcement of blog, blog posts, discusion groups, publications, and similar items

Poundie — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 00:42:38 +0000

I’d like thank Stephen Soderberg for announcing his recent blog post on SMT Discuss. SMT Discuss is a forum for sharing various types of ideas that touch on music theory. This includes sharing links to blogs or blog posts—not only items that you have written, but also those written by others that you have noticed on the web and that you would like to bring to the attention of others.

To be sure, posting an announcement of a blog won’t necessarily start a discussion on SMT Discuss, especially since many blogs have their own "comment" section. Nonetheless, such announcements will help spread ideas in our field and thus are welcome on SMT Discuss. Please don’t be shy to announce your own blog here, nor should feel that you have to have a larger discussion point in order to alert people to blog posts—in many cases, a simple mention might suffice. If there is a blog post that would be of interest to SMT Discuss members, how else will we know about it unless someone tells us?

Likewise, if there is an event, new publication, new online discussion group, or similar item that you would like to share with others—but for whatever reason do not want to broadcast on SMT-Announce—feel free to announce it here. The blog folder on SMT Discuss (see tab left hand side of this page) provides a fitting spot to make announcements of blog posts, discussion lists,publications, and similar items. If you would like to make such an announcement, but are reluctant to start a new thread, please feel free to announce it on this thread.

Continuing search for a definition of "music theory"

S_Soderberg — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 01:43:50 +0000

Challenge: Can you define what it is that you teach?

Essays & Endnotes: Notes from the Pluriverse {7–13}.

(http://essaysandendnotes.blogspot.com/2015/03/notes-from-pluriverse-713.html)

I would be interested in the thoughts & arguments from those who teach music theory. (If you prefer, scroll to {13} for David Lewin's defiition.)

Philosophy Today & Music Theory Today: Fellow Travelers?

S_Soderberg — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 01:59:48 +0000

"What we can learn about Philosophy's diversity problems by comparing ourselves to Music Theory" -- posted on Robin James' blog, It's Her Factory. (James is an Associate Professor in Philosophy & Women's/Gender Studies at UNC-Charlotte & has a background in music as a DJ & member of the band citation:obsolete.

(Highly recommended to start a lively discussion. Some of what she says resonates with me vis a vis politics in & of music. Be sure to read the comments for additional thoughts & links. Maybe Fred Maus has something to stir the pot here?)

Phrase Rhythm in Seal's "Kissed By a Rose"

chenettet — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 17:25:54 +0000

https://musictheorybridges.wordpress.com/2015/03/09/phrase-rhythm-seal-kiss-from-a-rose/

Arts Administration Degrees

S_Soderberg — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 17:57:14 +0000

A recent post about the increasing influence of MBA programs on music & other arts programs:

"Desperately Seeking Relevance: Arts Administration Today"