=== === ============= ==== === === == == == == == ==== == == = == ==== === == == == == == == == = == == == == == == == == == ==== M U S I C T H E O R Y O N L I N E A Publication of the Society for Music Theory Copyright (c) 2000 Society for Music Theory +-------------------------------------------------------------+ | Volume 6, Number 2 May, 2000 ISSN: 1067-3040 | +-------------------------------------------------------------+ General Editor Eric Isaacson Editorial Board Jane Piper Clendinning Henry Klumpenhouwer Patrick McCreless Catherine Nolan Lawrence Zbikowski Reviews Editor Robert Gjerdingen Manager Ichiro Fujinaga mto-talk Manager Jay Rahn MTO Correspondents Wai-ling Cheong, Hong Kong Marco Renoldi, Italy Tore Ericksson, Sweden Tamara Roemjantsew, Netherlands Gerold W. Gruber, Austria Uwe Seifert, Germany Tess James, England Panos Vlagopoulos, Greece Henry Klumpenhouwer, Canada Arvid Vollsnes, Norway Nicolas Meeus, Belgium, France Editorial Assistants William Findlay Art Samplaski Michael Toler Brent Yorgason All queries to: mto-editor@smt.ucsb.edu or to mto-manager@smt.ucsb.edu MTO accepts at any time submissions of essays and commentaries on topics of interest to music theorists (see "Overview" below, section 2). ================================================================= 1. Article AUTHOR: Tenzer, Michael S. TITLE: Theory and Analysis of Melody in Balinese *Gamelan* KEYWORDS: Balinese *gamelan*, melodic stratification, cyclic meters, symmetries ACCOMPANYING FILES: tenzer1.gif, tenzer2.gif, tenzer3.gif, tenzer4.gif tenzer1-1.ram, tenzer1-2.ram, tenzer2.ram Michael S. Tenzer University of British Columbia School of Music 6361 Memorial Road Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2 Canada mtenzer@interchange.ubc.ca ABSTRACT: Like many other musics with a primarily cyclic approach to melodic and rhythmic organization, Balinese *gamelan* music of the court or court-derived traditions relies upon on symmetries of one kind or another for structural coherence. *Gamelan* genres originating in other Balinese historical or cultural contexts have different, often more asymmetrical, kinds of organizing principles. In this article a set of Balinese concepts of melodic motion are used to develop a theory useful for analyzing the variety of symmetrical and asymmetrical structures evident across the repertoire. Recordings and analytical reductions (in Western notation) demonstrate how the concepts may be applied to a broad range of Balinese *gamelan* music. The aim is to view structural and compositional processes in standard practice, and also to show how structure correlates with historical trends and technological developments. 1. Introduction: Objectives, Repertoires and General Structural Characteristics [1.1] The purpose of this article is to introduce some techniques for analyzing Balinese gamelan compositions, especially those of the gong-chime ensembles of the pre-20th century courts, and their popular village-based contemporary successor, the *gamelan gong kebyar*. In so doing I hope to establish a framework for perceiving the multidimensional structural coherence of the music in ways reflective of my lengthy experience performing, composing and listening to it. Therefore this is not, strictly speaking, an ethnographic venture. Although it takes concepts and terminology Balinese themselves use as a point of departure, it also adds to them, in order to explore perspectives that Balinese terminologies and classification schema do not attempt to account for. [1.2] A variety of aesthetically compelling musical tensions exist in Balinese melodies and drum patterns. Expressed simply, these tensions derive from the competing influences of various technical, cultural, and historical factors at play in the music. Figure 1 lists these factors as a set of six parallel pairs of conceptual distinctions. The terms on the left side describe important features of the repertories of the large bronze gamelan developed since approximately 1600 A.D., under the strong influence of technology and culture imported from Java. Those on the right describe the older repertoires and ensembles associated with the centuries prior to that era. I shall briefly explain them in turn. Figure 1. Descriptive term-pairs Post-16th century music Pre-16th century Music 1. Cyclic Linear 2. Quadripartite Additive (or free) 3. Instrumental Vocal 4. Court tradition Village tradition 5. Bronze technology (earlier) Local technology 6. Symmetrical structure Asymmetrical structure [1.3] Cyclic, naturally, refers to *gamelan*'s signature use of gongs and drum patterns to divide repeating melodies into equal, hierarchic units; linear refers to the absence of gongs and drums or, as sometimes happens, to their decorative or coloristic use marking more freely structured melodies. The number of beats in cyclic melodies is normally quadripartite, that is, divisible by four, while additive refers to non- quadripartite melodies concatenated from units or phrases of differing lengths, or sometimes in unpulsed rhythm. Cyclic quadripartite melodies tend to be associated with instrumental music in the comparatively recent Javanese-influenced *gamelan*, while the less strictly structured melodies from earlier eras have been shown to have a vocal basis. The instrumental repertoires are associated with bronze casting technology for forging gamelan associated with the affluent Java-influenced courts, while vocal melodies and small ensemble repertoires that they spawned are associated with pre-Javanese village culture and local technology. Finally, and most significant from a music theoretic point of view, cyclic melodies, by virtue of their quadripartite structure, are inherently symmetrical, in that they can be thought of as rotating around the twin axes of their end/beginning points (marked by the large gong) and their midpoints.(1) Linear, vocally derived melodies are inherently asymmetrical in contrast. =============== 1. Quadripartite, axial structures are a common enough phenomenon beyond Bali/Indonesia, though not a universal feature of cyclically-organized music. Japanese Togaku melodies are composed in s similar sort of orderly progression, and supported, like Balinese ones, by a clearly phrased drum-and-gong substrate. See Robert Garfias, *Music of a Thousand Autumns: The Togaku Style of Japanese Court Music* (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975). Many cyclic rhythmic phrases in Central Africa exhibit a characteristic +1/-1 organization, in which the whole is axially segmented into a pair of rhythms, one of which is one pulse more than half the total length, and the other one pulse less. See Simha Arom, *African Polyphony and Polyrhythm* (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), p. 246. For fuller discussion of Figure 1's concepts and their historical and social relevance, see Michael Tenzer, *Gamelan Gong Kebyar: The Art of Twentieth Century Balinese Music* (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000). =============== [1.4] For the purposes of this study the meanings of the foregoing terms have been essentialized, and I am careful to state that dichotomies such as these need to be applied flexibly. Nor do I suggest that each of the terms is exclusively associated with one or the other group of repertoires, but rather that they constitute core identifying features of each. The tension that I depict between them is a result of historical and musical processes that enable each to permeate and affect the other. Court repertoires were strongly influenced by village developments, linear elements appear in cyclic music, vice versa, and so on. The commingling is most pronounced and assimilated in the repertoire of *kebyar*, a genre that first appeared ca. 1915. *Kebyar* picks and chooses its constituent structural elements from across the panorama of Balinese music history, interspersing them with the innovations of contemporary composers. Most importantly, it is the blending of symmetrical and asymmetrical qualities in *gamelan* melodies, perceptible at various levels of structure within any given melody, that is emphasized in the analytical report below. [1.5] These processes of assimilation and combination have long been woven into Balinese melodic structure, but twentieth-century music has seen to their explicit surface prominence and juxtaposition. This is in large part due to composers' growing contact with the range of Balinese historical and regional musical genres (via recordings and direct access to once-remote villages and styles), and their intensified awareness of themselves as creatively autonomous. A strong political/social emphasis on modernization and cultural preservation in post-Sukarno Indonesia has been further impetus to explore and combine indigenous musical resources. As a result *kebyar* composition has traced a dramatic trajectory from the rough pastiche-like juxtapositions that gave it raw energy in the 1930s to the extended, complex, and practically through-composed 1990s works of composers such as Nyoman Windha and Gede Yudana. 2. Definition of Terms [2.1] Balinese melodies of the court tradition are composed in one of the five-tone subsets of the seven-tone collection commonly known as *pelog*. Tones are referred to with the Balinese solfege names *ding*, *dong*, *deng*, *dung*, and *dang*. Melodies are strictly composed and entail, for our purposes, virtually no improvisation. All are orchestrated in a stratified fashion, in which several realizations of the same melodic idea are presented simultaneously at different rhythmic densities. Balinese musical instruments and their ranges, tunings, acoustic properties, and idioms, are all inextricably linked with these melodic variation procedures, which together constitute a special approach to the globally widespread practice of heterophony. [2.2] The rhythmic densities of these layers are most often related by simple duple ratios. Each layer is assigned to one of four main instrument groups (see Figure 2). The densest one, usually at four notes per beat, is played by the highest-pitched metallophones and gongs. A common technique employed by these instruments is that of interlocking parts, or *kotekan*, which allows for rapid filigree to be played by pairs of musicians faster than any individual performer could. Though divided into rhythmically interesting separate parts, however, the composite *kotekan* proceeds in an unbroken rhythmic continuity and should be heard as a melodic component integral to the composition. Below this in the texture, at one or two tones per beat, is an embellished melody played on the leading instrument *trompong* or *ugal*. This melody has central importance: it is the most singable because of its register and comfortable rhythmic pacing, and serves as a point of orientation and leadership for others in the ensemble to follow. Reduced to a simple one-tone-per-beat skeletal form, I shall refer to this layer by the Balinese term *neliti*, which means "correct" or "precise." Below the *neliti*, customarily playing once every two beats, is the *pokok*, or trunk tones, of the melody, played by the metallophone *calung*. The *jegogan* play the deepest and sparsest part. In an eight-beat melody they may sound twice, every four beats, or in longer melodies they may sound less frequently still, at every eight, sixteen or even thirty-two beats.(2) =============== 2. Detailed descriptions of instruments and playing techniques can be found in Tenzer, *Gamelan Gong Kebyar,* and Colin McPhee, *Music in Bali: A Study in Form and Instrumental Organization* (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1966). =============== [2.3] In this strictly hierarchic and rhythmically predetermined structure, each stratum has its own points of metric stress, which also connote special structural relevance. In each stratum, such points of stress are measured backwards in groups of four tones from the final tone of the melody, which receives the strongest stress of all according to the way Balinese conceptualize it. This is where all parts converge and are supported by the stroke of the large gong. [2.4] When two or more parts coincide vertically at a point of metric stress they are normatively restricted to playing the same tone of the scale. But the differing densities of the parts ensure that horizontally each part can be singled out for its own character, advantageously discussed in terms of its melodic contour. [2.5] Contour analysis underplays the uniqueness of intervals and interval sizes, which may at first seem especially problematic where Balinese *gamelan* is concerned. Indeed such variability is a crucial factor that needs to be reckoned with, for *pelog* scale-steps are diverse not only within *gamelan* but among them. Though terms exist for interval classes, actual interval sizes vary widely. For example, a *kempyung* (the interval of three-steps-between or the so-called *pelog* fifth) can range from 627 to 966 cents within the same set of instruments. But the individual tuning of *gamelan*, their varying overall pitch-level, and numerous other significant timbral variables make an analysis based on the qualities of the intervals themselves a speculative challenge, best not undertaken prematurely. One would have to account for the affective and acoustic discrepancies admitted by *pelog*'s non-standardization, and analysis would require far greater attention to individual *gamelan* pitch-collections than to *gamelan* compositions. Yet despite variance in pitch and tuning, the integrity of musical works is strongly affirmed by the Balinese, and contour theory provides an ideal heuristic for glossing interval discrepancies in the interest of exploring compositional function. [2.6] Ultimately, then, it is contour more than interval size that determines the intrinsic compositional quality of a melody, as opposed to any extramusical or contextual attributes a melody may carry. By quality here I am referring primarily to the sense of motion and stasis (or progression and repetition), in other words, a melody's compositional flow or energy. Balinese use the terms *ngubeng* and *majalan* to describe this. The former, meaning literally to go around and around in the same place or to spin one's wheels, connotes something like stasis or immobility. *Majalan* is *ngubeng*'s complement: to go or progress in a certain direction. In most melodic situations the two qualities are in dialog, each rising periodically to predominance or striking a balance. They typically coexist on different levels of structure as well. [2.7] To formalize the discussion of contour the concept of contour class (adapted from Friedmann) is helpful, abbreviated as CC.(3) A CC is an ordered, four-member set of integers showing the contour and interval relationships among four consecutive tones in a given stratum. The last of the four must be a stressed tone. Again, the stressed tones in each stratum are those obtained by beginning at gong and counting backwards to every fourth tone. The number of CC groupings in a stratum is thus equal to the number of tones in the stratum divided by four. A special, simplest kind of contour class including only two tones I shall refer to as the axis--the distance between the final tone of a melody and its midpoint. The scale-tone interval of a melody's axis bears heavily on its overall *ngubeng* or *majalan* quality. Owing to the special qualities of *kotekan* structure, to be discussed later, *kotekan* CC have eight members lasting two beats, and are referred to with the designation kCC. =============== 3. Friedmann, Michael. "A Methodology for the Discussion of Contour: Its Application to Schoenberg's Music," *Journal of Music Theory* 29/2 (1985): 223-248. =============== Figure 2. Summary of *gamelan* terminology and analytical concepts 1. *kotekan*: interlocking parts; composite moves at 4 or (sometimes) 8 tones/beat 2. *neliti*: skeletal reduction of leading melody; 1 tone per beat 3. *pokok*: trunk tones; ordinarily 1 tone every 2 beats 4. *jegogan*: sparsest melodic layer; one tone every 4, 8, 16 or 32 beats, depending on the length of the melody 5. *ngubeng*: static; low rate of scale-tone change 6. *majalan*: kinetic; high rate of scale-tone change 7. axis: distance in scale tones between the midpoint and final tones of a melody 8. contour class (CC): ordered, 4-member set of integers showing contour and interval relationships among four consecutive tones in a given stratum; the last of the four must be in a metrically stressed position, and is set to 0 to provide a point of orientation 9. *kotekan* contour class (kCC): like CC, but restricted to a series of 8 consecutive tones (lasting a total of two beats) in the kotekan stratum [2.8] In each CC the last member is set to 0, making the stressed tone a point of orientation. The first three members are integers measuring the scale-tone distance between each of the first three tones in the CC-group and the final one. Setting each final tone to 0 makes it possible to compare CCs in terms of their contour relationships, regardless of their stratum of origin or specific scale-tone content. Thus, a pair of identical CCs have CC-groups transpositionally equivalent, and CCs whose corresponding elements all sum to the same number are inversions. The length of a CC depends on the host stratum's distance in the cyclical hierarchy of densities from the *neliti*. *Neliti* CC last four beats. The *neliti* of an eight-beat melody has two CCs, but in the *calung* stratum, where there are only four tones, each lasting two beats, there is only one CC. Its members are two beats apart. Please refer to Figure 3. Figure 3. Stratified metric stress, Contour Classes (CC) and *kotekan* contour classes (kCC) in an eight-beat melody. An upper-case X indicates the end of each CC, a point of metric and melodic stress in the stratum. kotekan:xxxxxxxXxxxxxxxXxxxxxxxXxxxxxxxX = total of 4 kCCs neliti: x x x X x x x X = total of 2 CC(8)s pokok: x x x X = total of 1 CC(4) jegogan: x X = 1 Axis relation Gong 3. First Analysis: *Pelayon* and *Wilet Mayura* [3.1] To introduce the kinds of relationships that this cluster of concepts and terms is designed to explore, consider the eight beat *neliti* on the middle staff in Example 1. This well-known tune derives from an old court composition but is also commonly quoted by contemporary composers. As is appropriate for cyclic gamelan melodies, in all of the transcriptions rhythmic orientation is toward the end of the phrase, so that the strongest beat coincides with gong. I give Balinese scale-tone solfege names under each *neliti* tone, abbreviated to their constituent vowels, using capital letters for the lower octave and lower case for the upper one. In the analyses I retain the Balinese names, providing occasional reminders of their Western approximations. The five tones of the scale are indicated on the Western staff as follows: C# for *ding/dIng* D for *dong/dOng* E for *deng/dEng* G# for *dung/dUng* A for *dang/dAng* It is important to remember that going from E to G# or A to C# is step-wise motion in terms of the Balinese scale, even though it does not appear that way on the staff. [3.2] In Example 1 the *neliti* tone coinciding with gong is *dIng* [C#], the lower of two *ding*s available on the instrument. The midpoint of the melody (*dAng* [A], 4th beat) receives the second-strongest stress and is reinforced by the *jegogan*, as is the final *dIng*. The axis of the melody is thus -1, as the midpoint tone is one scale step below the gong tone. The *neliti* contains two CC. The first, [3,2,1,0], ends at the midpoint, and the second, [0,-2,-1,0], continues to gong. The *pokok* stratum falls only on the even-numbered beats, adding moderate stress to the second and sixth tones of the *neliti* in addition to the final and mid-point ones. It has only one CC, [1,-1,-2,0]. The following five points can now be made: [3.3] First, the *neliti* uses five pitches only, one of each scale tone. These are arranged symmetrically around the gong tone, two above and two below. Three of the scale tones are used once and only once (*dong*, *deng*, *dUng*) [D, E, G#] while the midpoint scale tone (*dAng*) appears twice and the gong tone (*dIng*) appears three times. [3.4] Second, the tones in the *jegogan* stratum define a simple level of structural melodic movement: statement (*dIng*), downward displacement by one scale-tone (*dAng*), and return (*dIng*). [3.5] Third, the two pairs of tones in the *calung* stratum are inversionally symmetrical with respect to one another, the first descending by two scale tones to the midpoint (*dong-dAng*; 1, -1) and the second ascending by two to the gong tone (*dUng-dIng*; -2,0). The stepwise moves linking the second note of each pair with the first of the next pair are similarly inverted. [3.6] Fourth, the CC of the *neliti* are imperfect inversions of one another; that is, one would have to alter exactly one note in either half to make the symmetry exact. In this case the "maverick" note is the first in each group. One could, for example, change the first note of the first group (*deng*) to *dAng*, thereby changing the CC to [0,2,1,0] and perfecting the inversion. But doing so would undermine the symmetry mentioned in point 1 above and reduce the number of different scale tones used in the passage from five to four. One could also change the first note of the second group (*dAng*) to low *dEng*, but this would break the symmetry described in point 5 below. [3.7] Last, parsing the eight tones according to recurrences of the scale tone *dIng* reveals a different kind of symmetrical organization. This segments the melody into three units, the first of three notes (*deng-dong-dIng*) [E, D, C#], the second of two notes (*dang-dIng*) [A, C#] and the last of three (*dUng-dAng-dIng*) [G#, A, C#]. Here the outer units are inversions of one another symmetrically arranged in time around the middle unit, and in pitch-space around their common tone, *dIng*. The 3+2+3 grouping is in conflict with the prevailing meter but its perception is strongly supported by the repetition of *dIng* at the end of each segment. Such stepwise motion in small irregular-length units around a repeating focal pitch produces a rhythmic phenomenon of syncopation or cross-rhythm that can be heard in contrast to the imperfect inversional symmetry described in point 4. [3.8] Turning to the *kotekan*, I first need to point out that unlike the slower moving parts, which are more or less strictly determined by the *neliti*, *kotekan* may be composed in any of a number of styles (each of which has its own syntactic constraints). The style of the *kotekan* is an important aspect of the character of the composition as a whole. For the melody under discussion I offer two possible realizations, shown on the staves above the *neliti*. [3.9] The upper one is taken from the conclusion of *Pelayon*, a metrically broad and lengthy court composition performed here in typically virtuoso style by musicians from Sanur village. This segment is heard at the climactic conclusion of the composition, at the peak of dynamics and tempo, after some twenty-five minutes of music. This closing, eight-beat melody is repeated many times, with a stroke of the large gong at every rebeginning and a pattern of other gongs aligned with the melody through each repetition. The overall mood, as most any Balinese will attest, is one of turbulence and grandeur. The interlocking parts shown here, in a style closely associated with *gamelan* of the former courts, combine to create regular alternation between pairs of adjacent scale tones, which shift position to anticipate the arrival of every-other *neliti* tone. They follow the contour of the *pokok* exactly and are not articulated as an independent stratum, blending instead into the overall texture of the gamelan. Notice that the kCC (the eight constituents of each is bracketed above the staff) are all similarly shaped, differing only in transposition and the interval between the fourth and fifth tones of the pattern. [3.10] The second *kotekan* is taken from *Wilet Mayura*, a 1982 composition for *kebyar* gamelan by Wayan Sinti and Nyoman Rembang, performed by the gamelan of Angantaka village. This segment uses an interlocking pattern in the style of the village bamboo *gamelan gandrung*, played here by eight metallophones. *Gandrung* music, now rarely heard on its original instruments, is occasionally adapted and transformed for the *kebyar*. Formerly the ensemble was used to accompany a recreational dance form, but musicians now think of it mostly as a source for unusually challenging drum patterns and interlocking parts. Nonetheless, such patterns retain the associative character of the *gandrung* dance, which was flirtatious and youthfully exuberant. The pattern shown here is more intricate than that of *Pelayon*, and not quite so firmly tied to the contour of the *neliti*, standing apart from it in a distinctive way. The combination of discontinuity, complexity and rhythmic independence shifts the locus of interest in the music so that it is shared between the lower parts and the interlocking parts (in a manner somewhat analogous to counterpoint). Each of its kCC is unique, a property which imparts a sense of variety and progression to the music even at the level of small subdivisions of the beat. [Refer to Example 1 and Sound Files 1.1 (recorded March 1983 in Denpasar by Wayne Vitale. Used with permission.) and 1.2 (recorded April 1989 in Angantaka by the author). In Sound File 1.1 the transcribed *kotekan* is heard beginning at 0:24 and again at 0:52. In Sound File 1.2 it begins after six beats of a unison-textured melody.] [3.11] Turning to the *qualities* of the various strata in Example 1, the *neliti* can be described as *ngubeng* at a high level in the *Pelayon* context because of its intense cyclicity. Reiterated, spiraling back to the tone *dIng* within the *neliti* makes it *ngubeng*, but in another way it is *majalan* because there is melodic change on all eight beats. The levels of *pokok* and *jegogan* are more *majalan* in character because they contain no pitch repetition at all. [3.12] In *Pelayon* the music is fast, repeated many times, and each cycle is brief. The resonance of the gong is heard nearly continuously due to the temporal proximity of successive strokes, and this adds to the music's sense of throbbing immobility.(4) The repetitive character of the *kotekan* adds to this as well. In the *Wilet Mayura* context this is not the case, because the passage does not repeat. It can be thought of as linear and asymmetrical, a quality enhanced by the continually changing contour of the *kotekan*. =============== 4. For an interesting discussion of how such structures constitute a uniquely Southeast Asian approach to musical time, see Jose Maceda, "A Concept of Time in Southeast Asian Music," *Ethnomusicology* 30/1 (1986): 11-53. =============== [3.13] Because of the stratified orchestral technique, the perceiver is encouraged to hear these structural characteristics simultaneously. Instead of thinking of the *pokok* and *jegogan* solely as providers of support for the *neliti* melody, they emerge to reveal dimensions of their own. Heard both in coordination and in opposition to them, the *neliti* demonstrates its own special features. In each case, the *kotekan* is correlated with the source gamelan style on which it is based, adding to the associative richness of the music. 4. Second Analysis: *Pengecet Lasem* [4.1] Example 2 shows *Pengecet Lasem*, a 64-beat elaborated melody from the nineteenth century repertoire of courtly *legong* dances, along with a characteristic realization of its *kotekan*. *Pengecet Lasem* is particularly admired and canonical; most Balinese know it. It accompanies an abstract dance of young girls that is part of a larger, storied choreography said to have been revealed originally to a priest in meditation by divine angels. Its affect is a combination of numinous and refined with sensual and suggestively erotic. Example 2 shows a *neliti* part derived from this melody, along with the 32-tone *pokok* part, eight-tone *jegogan* part, and the axis. Sixteen-tone and four-tone levels of reduction, implied but not explicitly sounded in the texture, are also included. [4.2] Unlike the short melody just discussed, the tight intertwining of *ngubeng* and *majalan* qualities loosens in extended cycles such as this. Like shifting planes, areas of stasis and motion come into focus more independently and show affinity for particular regions of the cycle. Gong punctuations and *jegogan* stresses exert "pull" or "gravity" on melodic motion, causing the music that leads up to them to be more *majalan* in character. The more important the arrival in relation to the overall meter, the more powerful the force exerted. Just after such arrivals the pull is weakest. The melody may then transform and become static, as if unable to budge from a single tone. As the next significant arrival approaches, motion gradually accelerates. [Refer to Examples 2, 3 and 4 and Sound File 2 (performed by Gamelan Tirtha Sari and recorded September, 1982 in Peliatan by the author). In Sound File 2 the full melody is played twice; the first time without the *kotekan*.] [4.3] In *Pengecet Lasem* we can identify strong *ngubeng* quality in the regions immediately following the gong (i.e., at the beginning) and the midpoint. In CC64s (1) and (2), the shape {1,2,1,0} is repeated note for note. This is mirrored after the midpoint at CC64s (9) through (11) with the inverted shape {-1,-2,-1,0}. Because the melody is Axis 1, this inversional symmetry is enhanced by its transposition up one scale step. CC64s (3,4) and (5,6) are paired, sustaining the sense of *ngubeng* while they repeat even as they double the length of the four-beat units in CC64s (1) and (2). CC64s (3,4) and (5,6) also provide a sense of increasing *majalan* quality by expanding the range of the tune, in the process touching on the low point *dEng* [E] and the apex *dang* [A], without, however, according metric stress to either. CC64s 7 and 8, reaching the midpoint, are through-composed and still more *majalan* than what led up to them. After the midpoint a sense of stasis returns, and the process of intensifying motion is replicated at CC64s 15 and 16 at the approach to gong. The last several *neliti* CCs explore the upper register with local focus on the tone *dung* [G#] at CC(64)13 and surrounding; this mirrors the low-register tessitura of CC64 (4) and (6) in a way characteristic of many similar melodies in the repertoire.(5) =============== 5. For further information, see Tenzer, *Gamelan Gong Kebyar*, Chapters 5-6, and McPhee, *Music in Bali*, Chapters 9-12 and Appendix 4. =============== [4.4] But that is only the surface; by listening at other levels new dimensions are exposed. Overall, the range of the *neliti*'s tones reaches more than an octave, from *dEng* to *dang*. A glance at the CC32 (*pokok*) level reveals that for all of the activity in the *neliti*, prior to the midpoint only three of the five tones in the scale are used, none of which is the midpoint tone itself. It is thus fresh when it arrives. The remaining two tones of the scale are filled in during the second half, but the initial three are retained, making the second half of the tune, at this level of structure, more *majalan* overall than the first. [4.5] Though the *pokok* ends up using all five scale tones, the CC16 level omits *dang* altogether, and the CC8 and CC4 levels further omit *deng*. Each subsequent stratum, then, filters out more of the *neliti*'s pitch-saturated character. Each stratum also reveals different kinds of *ngubeng* and *majalan*. At the CC8 level *dIng* [C#] is prolonged without interruption all the way to the midpoint. In this context the move to *dung* [G#] in CC8(2) seems like a radical departure and the only appearance of any tone besides the gong tone *dIng* and midpoint tone *dong* [D]. In the CC4, strong contrast between the halves of the cycle is laid bare: the gong tone *dIng* is unchallenged until the midpoint, after which the pace of tonal change doubles en route to gong. At the axis level, the structural background of the tune is revealed to rest on simple motion between *dIng*, the tone coinciding with gong, and *dong*, its scalar upper neighbor. [4.6] The *kotekan* shown in the transcription is a relatively uncomplicated realization, one of many possibilities to be sure, but a commonly used one considered by Balinese to have a stateliness appropriate to the refined character of the melody and the dance it accompanies. Three preliminary points about its structure must be explained before the analysis: [4.7] First, the basic unit of the *kotekan* is two beats long (see the first two beats of Example 3 and Example 4A). This repeating contour of two beats' duration emerges from the combination of the two interlocking parts and continues unchanged until the music requires a transpositional shift. In order to move, the *kotekan* substitutes one two-beat unit of a different contour--that shown in Example 4B--and then returns to either the original contour or a closely related variant at the new pitch level. [4.8] Next, the *kotekan* is aligned with the CC16 stratum. The final (stressed) tone of each kCC is the same as the prevailing CC16 tone. Pattern 4B, applied two beats before any changes in CC16, is situated so that its final tone coincides with the change. Because pattern 4A is aligned with stasis I label it *ngubeng*; pattern 4B, because it precedes CC16 movement, is *majalan*. [4.9] Finally, the simultaneous dyads generated by the alignment of the interlocking parts at positions 1, 4, and 7 in the kCC create interesting syncopated cross-rhythms. Melodically, however, the upper tones are less structurally germane, for several reasons. In the *kempyung* interval (*pelog* fifth) thus formed, the lower tone has acoustic dominance. And although in exceptional cases the upper note of a dyad may be structural, when singing the composite patterns (for teaching, etc.) Balinese opt for the lower rather than the upper tone. The latter are thus are not accorded a role in the melodic analysis, which is why I have placed them in parentheses in Example 4. [4.10] To analyze the *kotekan* I proceed from the fact that each pattern is restricted to the narrow range of three tones. Special properties emerge if we imagine the three tones projected into three-dimensional space, as if lying 120 degrees apart around the surface of a cylinder. Facing the cylinder, "up" or "down" movement as on a scale is illusory. One step "higher" than the highest of the three tones "wraps around" to become the lowest tone again; and in the other direction, one step "lower" than the lowest tone is the highest tone. [4.11] This is a mod 3 field. To see the symmetrical relationships between the two halves of the kCC we add corresponding elements and take the results mod 3. For the *ngubeng* pattern in 4A summing corresponding digits gives the result [-1 2-1-1]; the sums taken mod 3 are [2 2 2 2]. Since the numbers are all the same, the two halves of the pattern are inversions in the wrap-around system of mod 3 pitch-space. Summing corresponding members of the halves of the *majalan* kCC in Example 4B gives a markedly contrasting result: no sum is the same as the one that preceded it, meaning that there is full asymmetry of motion. [4.12] The narrow three-tone range of the *kotekan* enhances our ability to perceive it as a phenomenon on the threshold between rhythm and melody. The restricted pitch choice emphasizes the percussive tone color of the notes rather than their function as members of the scale. The cross rhythms formed by the dyads further accentuate this. On the other hand, as the analysis shows, the contrasts between symmetry and asymmetry in *kotekan* compositional structure are consistent with similar processes in the lower strata. In fact, from a melodic standpoint the *kotekan* is more rigorously composed than they are. 5. Conclusion [5.1] The foregoing analyses stress the rewards of perceiving Balinese *gamelan* multidimensionally in accordance with its special structural properties. I have tried to emphasize that there is no single good way to hear a Balinese tune, but that one can seek out and experience different structural tensions flowing together in the various layers of melody. This fertile intermingling of structural qualities can be heard both for structure alone and also with an ear towards the extra-musical connections it suggests. For as I proposed at the outset, the interplay between symmetry and asymmetry is symbolic of a historical process of blending old and new technologies, court and village traditions, cyclic and linear approaches to time, and so on. Rather than being an end in itself, this sort of analysis can provide insight into the society and culture that collectively developed and implemented that structure. Both ways of listening, the aesthetic and the contextual, are well worth cultivating. ================================================================= 2. Commentary AUTHOR: Monelle, Raymond TITLE: Martinez's Concept of "Intrinsic Semiosis" KEYWORDS: Indian music, semiosis, Peirce, Nattiez, neutral level, sinsign, legisign, Lidov, interpretant REFERENCE: mto.00.6.1.martinez.art Raymond Monelle University of Edinburgh Faculty of Music Alison House 12 Nicolson Square Edinburgh EH8 9DF Scotland UK Tel. (0)131 650 2430 Fax (0)131 650 2425 R.Monelle@music.ed.ac.uk ABSTRACT: Jose Luis Martinez's article in the January, 2000, issue of MTO applies Peircean theory to Indian Classical music. Martinez goes further than most musicians who use Peirce's ideas. Since Indian ragas are associated with extramusical items, he speaks of "musical reference." Nevertheless, he is also convinced that there is something called "intrinsic semiosis," not related to an "outside world." This seems a similar concept to Nattiez's "neutral level." It is based on the relation of qualisigns, sinsigns and legisigns. But where Nattiez makes the mistake of overlooking the concept of pertinence and thus imagining that an abstract rationalism is a kind of "immanence." Martinez makes the mistake of imagining that the relation of sinsign and legisign is itself semiotic, rather than merely logical. This difficulty may be unravelled by considering music, not as a language but as a literature, and turning to David Lidov's idea of "processual interpretants" in art. Every artwork, not only music, may be said to have an interpretant which is a process rather than a thing. The object may therefore seem ambiguous and elusive. But this does not mean that semiosis is "intrinsic," limited to the syntactic level of the work, or that music can be examined neutrally, without consideration of the artist and the observer. Semiosis always determines representation and interpretation. ========================================== [1] Most applications of Peircean theory to music have been sketchy, being usually confined to the trichotomy of icon, index, and symbol. The outstanding feature of Jose Luis Martinez's paper on Indian music to the Atlanta conference of SMT, reproduced in the January issue of *MTO*, was the introduction into music theory of the qualisign, sinsign and legisign, of the idea of emotional, energetic and logical interpretants, and of other aspects of Peirceanism that are normally the preserve of the philosophers. Here is a musician who is able to swim in the broader expanse of the Peircean sea. [2] It is, of course, a commonplace that the Indian *raga* system acknowledges a level of referential meaning. Martinez cites *raga malkauns*, which is said to have a signification of "seriousness or peacefulness." In this respect, the raga becomes a legisign, a type of which the tokens are individual improvisations on the raga. And since the raga has qualities that cause it to resemble its object (it is performed slowly, and the notes mostly lie in the low register) it is an iconic legisign. This is a thoroughly convincing application of Peircean theory to music. [3] This kind of semiosis is called "Musical Reference" by Martinez. He invokes two other kinds: one of these is Musical Interpretation, which is shown in musical treatises and critiques (it is "the study of the musical sign related to its interpretants"). In the Indian tradition, this may take the form of something that resembles our own music theory, but may also take narrative and mythical forms, which Martinez calls "analogic." [4] The third kind of musical process is called "Intrinsic Semiosis." Kofi Agawu, in his response to this session of the conference (which included three other papers) relates Martinez's system of three semioses to Nattiez's "tripartition theory." Presumably, Intrinsic Semiosis made Agawu think of the "neutral level," and Musical Interpretation evoked the "esthesic level." [5] Ideas like "intrinsic semiosis"--semiotic, but not related to an "outside world"--have appeared often in music theory. There may be a tenuous connection to the Molino/Nattiez theory, but I think there's a lot more to it than this. Let us, first of all, examine what this author means by his novel concept. At first sight, it seems to resemble Wilson Coker's "congeneric musical meaning" (Coker, 1972, pp. 60-88). There is, however, a fundamental difference. Coker describes congeneric meaning as intramusical, the signifying by one part of a composition of another part. For example, in the first five measures of Beethoven's Fifth, the first phrase (mm. 1-2) "predictively" signifies the second (mm. 3-5), and the second "retrodictively" signifies the first. The ground of signification is iconic, since they resemble each other. This writer is aware that the relation between phrase 1 and phrase 2 is most obviously syntactic, but he says that the syntactic coherence of a composition is established when "one part of a piece may iconically signify another" (Coker, 1972, p. 66). His subsequent descriptions of strophic form, sonata form, and so on, make it clear that he regards repetition and recurrence in music as a kind of iconic reference, that is, a type of signification. It is true that syntax can be made to signify; poets are fond of this device. But a syntactic relation is not in itself a semantic feature. The recurrence of a musical theme in a recapitulation is a means of confirming syntactic coherence. If, in addition, it is significant of something, then this is quite another matter. This kind of choice is stressed by Boris Asafiev, when he suggests that the full close in the tonic key, a syntactic feature in classical music, acquired a semantic weight in the works of Beethoven, coming to signify "unconditional affirmation, persuasiveness, confidence and rationality" (Asafiev, 1976/1942, pp. 763-764). [6] When he insists that syntactic features are automatically aspects of signification, Coker seems to imply, for example, that a musical return signifies "return," which is of course illogical. More properly, the repetition or recurrence of a musical figure is somewhat like the repetition of a seme in a syntactic string; it inaugurates coherence and constructs redundancy. The coherent syntagm thus constructed may, admittedly, function as a sign. [7] But Martinez's view is different. In Indian music, the performance is always an improvisation; traditional linguistic theories are thus easier to apply, for linguists usually discuss speech, while Western music is considered to be a repertoire of finished scores, something more like literature than language. The performance, then, is a sinsign of a legisign, the legisign being the raga. Since we recognize the raga in the performance by noticing common qualities, the process also involves qualisigns. "Legisigns," he writes, "signify by means of their actualization (replicas or sinsigns), which--in Indian music--are somehow flexible, because the performer improvises, choosing the sequence of a raga's motifs. . . . Further, each raga has its peculiar musical qualities, and this is a matter of qualisigns." [8] Intrinsic semiosis is therefore not iconic--or at least, Martinez does not say it is iconic--but is based on the relation of qualisigns, sinsigns, and legisigns. But such a relation is not semiotic; it is logical. The sinsign is a real thing which is a token of a type. The token-type relation, though it is everywhere active in semiosis, is not itself a semiotic relation. To characterize the musical performance as a sinsign, is not to explain its function in the process of semiosis, but merely to classify it. "The token does not represent the type," writes David Lidov; "the vehicle does not represent the ground" (Lidov, 1999, p. 118). [9] Martinez does not make the mistake of thinking that a syntactic relation is semantic, like Coker. Instead, he makes the quite different mistake of imagining that a sinsign signifies a legisign. If this were so, then a real Boeing 747 would signify the category "Boeing 747" or a real proper noun which I use in speech, like "Professor Agawu," would signify "proper noun," whereas it clearly signifies the person who responded to this session of the conference. [10] As I have already mentioned, Agawu himself associates Martinez's "intrinsic semiosis" with Nattiez's "neutral level," itself derived from a famous article of Jean Molino (1975). Neither Molino nor Nattiez were writing in Peircean terms when they proposed this idea; they meant to frame it in the terms of structural linguistics. It corresponds, according to Nattiez, with the "immanent level where structural linguistics is situated" (Nattiez, 1975, pp. 50-51). [11] This seemed a very promising line of thought when the Fondements appeared in 1975. Music seems abstract, yet it determines the sort of emotional and energetic interpretants that we associate with semiosis. Perhaps, then, by invoking the "immanent level," we can discuss music in semiotic terms without having to attribute meanings. This, at any rate, was what Nattiez set out to do in the second section of his book. [12] But unfortunately, this proposal, like those of Coker and Martinez, is flawed by a systematic error. The idea of immanence makes us think of Saussure's famous statement that linguistics concerns itself with "differences, without positive terms" (Saussure, 1974, p. 120). For the great Swiss linguist, the phonological level and the semantic level of language were systematically related, although the meanings of words were simply arbitrary. We have moved a long way since then; Emile Benveniste showed that Saussure's logic was at fault in his idea of arbitrariness, because if we assume that phonological units are related to linguistic semantic units (not to real objects) then the relation is "necessary, not arbitrary" (Benveniste, 1971/1939, p. 45). By the time Benveniste was writing, the Prague school had shown that immanent linguistic theory required the concept of pertinence--the information that certain differences were operative within the system, others not. And this information can proceed only from a native speaker, who knows it because she thinks in terms of semantics and pragmatics; that is, because she understands language as a semiosis, not as an abstract system. This kind of immanence is magnificently summarized in Hjelmslev's *Prolegomena*, in which semantic distinctions, systematically considered, are an essential part of the immanence of language (Hjelmslev, 1961). It also rears its head in Chomsky's *Syntactic Structures* (Chomsky, 1957); deep consideration of the generative structuring of language leads the American to realize that grammar may mingle with semantics, and the the ill-formedness of certain hypothetical sentences may depend, not on grammar or syntax, but on meaning. [13] The crisp rationalism of structural linguistics, then, is based on an admission that signification underpins every distinction. The bracketing of meaning by the linguist is entirely provisional. Semiotics, as opposed to semantics and pragmatics, is an inheritor of this kind of exclusive rationalism; it is a theory of how signification works, not a system of interpretation. But like structural linguistics, it either implies a foundation in semantics or it is not a theory of signs at all. Nattiez's "description of the neutral level" is, clearly, not a theory of signs, but a meta-rational system of music analysis. Perhaps the truest thing said about all sign theories is Greimas's principle that significations are "simply human" (Greimas, 1983/1966, p. 10). Other theories are echoed, negatively, in this statement; Hanslick's idea that musical content was "purely musical," for example, or the view of Clive Bell that the esthetic world is "a world with emotions of its own" (Bell, 1928, p. 27). [14] Martinez is on safe ground with his musical reference and interpretation, especially since Indian music theory offers an elaborate account of the moods, pictures and traditions embodied in each raga. Western musicians find it more difficult to base their interpretations exclusively on such pictures; this kind of meaning is called "extramusical." In the West, we need some way of preserving the abstract level of music--the neutral level, the aspect of congeneric meaning, the concept of intrinsic semiosis--in order to avoid a trivial search for pictures and programs. If we deny such a level, then perhaps music is not a sign at all, and the whole enterprise (including Agawu's own writings, and, I confess, my own) is in vain and the semiologists must fall silent. We ought to consider this outcome with some degree of care, for nothing is to be gained from special pleading or the defense of academic empires. Reading Peirce, it is easy to assume that the whole world is composed of signs. Douglas Greenlee feels sympathy with "a suspicion that Peirce believed all events to be signs" (Greenlee, p. 45), though he thinks this view is ultimately false. A contemporary Peircean, David Lidov, lists "abstractive duality" (the distinction of token and type, for instance), "epistemic duality" (such as the relation of sensation and appearance) and "phenomenal duality" (the outward and inward experiences of a thing) as relations that are not semiotic (Lidov, 1999, pp. 118-119). But in a much simpler sense, ordinary things may not be considered signs. A pebble on the beach is not necessarily a sign, though we can consider it as an indexical sign of the eroding power of the sea, an iconic sign of a pigeon's egg, or a symbol of the number "one" if we are counting in pebbles. In spite of this, we do not normally think to classify a pebble as a sign. [15] The music we play in order to accompany dancing may, indeed, be an indexical sign of the dance (so that we call the music "fandango" or "pavane," referring to the dance). But we do not need this dimension to hear it as music; we may not know that the piece is a fandango or that it is a dance at all. It is almost impossible to take such a view of language; the immanent level of language, as I have said, is defined by the level of signification which it brackets. But music can be understood as music without any idea of semiosis. "Language and music, in view of their immanent function . . . cannot be compared at all" (Harweg, 1968, p. 273). If language is opposed to the world, the one as signifying system, the other as merely an inventory of significations, then music is on the side of the world, according to Roland Harweg, like "sunsets and motor races." [16] But if this is so, then why does music move us, and why does it suggest moods and pictures? I believe that we are bound to grapple with a view of musical signification as "simply human"; with an "extrageneric," "referential," semantic view. The difficulty of describing this signification in language must not send us running to abstract rationalisms. [17] Again, Lidov offers a way forward (Lidov, 1999, pp. 181-184). Peirce's term "object" seems to suggest a concrete thing, event, or experience. But signs may be processes rather than things. If the representamen is a process, according to Lidov, the sign is a kind of ritual. "The lighting of the candles, the sweet food after fasting, or the confession" are signs of which the representamina are processes. The object, also, may be a process, and in this case the sign is a "symbol" (in the traditional sense, not in Peirce's sense). A tombstone refers not simply to a grave, but to a whole narrative of experience connected with our relation to the dead person. "The symbol actually provokes a sample of the experience it refers to." Finally, the interpretant may be a process. This is the case with art. "When engaged with art, we are cast into its perspective. The perspective sustained is an interpretant-process" (Lidov, 1999, p. 184). The feelings of excitement, expectation, suspense, delight which accompany our reading of a novel are parts of the interpretant, leading us to understand the text. Yet the *object* of this text may be obscure; in the case of a work with a program, like Hardy's plea for the non-judgmental acceptance of women in *Tess of the d'Urbervilles*, or Eliot's praise of the gentle wisdom of the Jews in *Daniel Deronda*, it is possible to give some kind of account of the object, but in the best novels the object seems "suppressed" (Lidov's word). Speaking of the *Five Orchestral Pieces*, Schoenberg said that "an advantage of music was that one could confess all without actually revealing anything" (Lidov, 1999, p. 185). Therefore, in the case of a sign with a processual interpretant, the object will seem obscure, ambiguous, indescribable. Indeed, this is considered to be a mark of depth in an artistic sign. [18] Oddly enough, this view would apply just as much to literary works as to music. The "object" of a novel or a poem is usually quite hard to discern. The difficulty of relating music semiotics to linguistics derives, not from the fact that language signifies a manifest object while music has no object at all, but from the mistake of taking language, instead of literature, as the material for comparison. The apparent "abstractness" of music is a general feature of artistic signification. In this sense, literature, painting, sculpture, and architecture are also abstract. This realization enables Lidov to present a semiotic account of the Funeral March from Beethoven's *Eroica* Symphony in which social and topical referents are woven into an elaborate system of signification (Lidov, 1999, pp. 231-239). [19] Lidov has grasped the nettle of "extramusical" or "simply human" signification in music, and I have attempted to follow him in a work that will be published shortly (Monelle, forthcoming). Topic theory, proposed by Ratner (1980) and Agawu (1991), has been something of a Cinderella among music studies, but it can be broadened and deepened by a historical study of the cultural themes suggested by musical topics. Music may also signify cultural temporalities, and it may analyze levels of subjectivity. Indeed, the positivistic emphasis of structural linguistics, and even of Peircean semeiotic, may be inappropriate to musical semiosis; musical signification flows through the points of logical arrival, extending into an infinite chain of interpretants and suppressed objects--and this may be a mark of the strength of musical signification, not its weakness. The deconstructive implications of such a view are drawn out more fully in my new book. [20] Martinez's extraordinary achievement in applying the breadth of Peircean sign theory to Indian music must not be diminished by a criticism of his concept of "intrinsic semiosis." Perhaps his doctoral thesis may appear in print so that we can examine his notions in more detail. It clearly has the philosophical strength to withstand our reservations, and indeed to inspire further thought, whether critical or sympathetic. References Agawu, V. Kofi (1991). *Playing with Signs: A Semiotic Interpretation of Classic Music*. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Asafiev, Boris V. (1976/1942) *B.V. Asafiev's Musical Form as Process*. Trans. by James Robert Tull. Ph.D Diss., Ohio State University. Bell, Clive (1928). *Art*. London: Chatto. Benveniste, Emile (1971/1939). "The Nature of the Linguistic Sign." In Mary Elizaeth Meek, ed., *Problems in General Linguistics*, pp. 43-48. Coral Gables: University of Miami Press. Coker, Wilson (1972). *Music and Meaning: A Theoretical Introduction to Musical Aesthetics*. New York: The Free Press. Greenlee, Douglas (1973). *Peirce's Concept of Sign*. The Hague: Mouton. Greimas, Algirdas-Julien (1983/1966). *Structural Semantics: An Attempt at a Method*. Trans. by Daniele McDowell, Ronald Schleifer, and Alan Velie. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Hjelmslev, (1961). *Prolegomena to a Theory of Language*. Trans. by Francis J. Whitfield. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Lidov, David (1999). *Elements of Semiotics*. New York: St. Martins Press. Molino, Jean (1975). "Fait musical et semiologie de la musique." *Musique en Jeu* 17: 37-61. Monelle, Raymond (forthcoming). *The Sense of Music: Semiotic Essays*. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1975). *Fondements d'une semiologie de la musique*. Paris: Union Generale d'Editions. Ratner, Leonard G. (1980). *Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style*. New York: Schirmer. Saussure, Ferdinand de (1974). *Course in General Linguistics*. Ed. by Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, trans. by Wade Baskin. Glasgow: Collins. ================================================================ 3. Review AUTHOR: Yrjo Heinonen TITLE: Review of Walter Everett, *The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver Through the Anthology*. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999 KEYWORDS: Everett, Beatles, songwriting, recording, analysis ABSTRACT: *The Beatles as Musicians* offers an historical survey of the second part of the Beatles' career. It includes analyses of every song that members of the Beatles wrote and released during 1966-70, as well as a brief review of the Beatles Anthology releases of 1995-96. Each song is discussed in terms of songwriting, recording, and musical expression. Though some of the musical analyses may likely be too demanding for readers without, or with only a little, training in music theory, the book will nevertheless be fascinating for anyone interested in the Beatles. The book's focus is clearly on music, but it also offers much to readers more interested in the cultural life of the 1960s. This is a splendid book and surely a milestone in Beatles research. Yrjo Heinonen Conference Chair "The Beatles 2000" June 15-18, 2000 Jyvaskyla, Finland yheinone@cc.jyu.fi [1.1] Walter Everett has published numerous articles on the music of the Beatles. He has approached the topic from the point of view of voice leading and has developed a method of applying voice-leading analysis to answer questions about the expressive content of individual works or songs. The culmination of that program of research is *The Beatles as Musicians*, which, when completed, will be a two-volume compendium covering the Beatles' entire career. The second of these volumes, *Revolver Through the Anthology*, has appeared first and forms the subject of this review. I consider Everett's book to be well researched and thought provoking. Despite of some critical comments presented below, I generally agree with his point of view. [1.2] The title of this book--*The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology*--might strike some Beatles scholars as puzzling. First of all, it seems to associate the "musicianship" of the members of the Beatles with the second half of their career, which is generally known as "the recording years" (the years preceding *Revolver* are usually referred to as "the touring years"). In 1970, John Lennon told Jann Wenner of *Rolling Stone* magazine that "the music was dead before we even went on the theatre tour of Britain." This tour took place in early 1963! Lennon went on to say, "The Beatles' music died then, as musicians. That's why we never improved as musicians; we killed ourselves then to make it" (quoted from Miles 1978, 17). "Making it" means, of course, the national and international breakthrough of the group. During the same interview Lennon observed, "Later on we became technically efficient recording artists--which was another thing--because we were competent people and whatever media you put us in we can produce something worthwhile." Lennon's train of thought seems to be that the touring years--or, rather, "the performing years," the years he associated with *musicianship*--were over when the Beatles entered the recording studio. Although I recognize the point of Lennon's words, I do not personally consider Everett's title to be misleading. Lennon associated "musicianship" with stage performance, not with studio work, and it is indeed quite clear that during the days of Beatlemania the Beatles became impoverished as *stage* musicians. Nevertheless, it is equally clear that they subsequently improved as *recording* musicians. Surely they were still *musicians*. [1.3] A second quibble is connected to the period the book covers. One would expect that the first of the two volumes would be devoted to the years 1957-65 (from the Quarry Men days through *Rubber Soul*) rather than to 1966-96 (from *Revolver* through the *Anthology*). Had Everett started with a volume dealing with the first half of their career, he could have avoided the 25-page chapter, "The Beatles before 1966," altogether. Starting the second volume with *Revolver* may be well grounded with respect to the quite sharp stylistic change evident in *Revolver*. Moreover, this particular album, to quote Everett, "happens to fall exactly at the midpoint of the telling of the story" of their career. [1.4] Yet the whole thirty-year period from the release of *Revolver* in 1966 to the release of the three volumes of the *Anthology* in 1995-96 hardly constitutes a coherent "period." In practice, Everett's focus is almost solely on the "recording years" (1966-70). The solo careers of the former members of the Beatles are summarized very briefly in five pages and only ten pages are devoted to the *Anthology* release. It must be noted, however, that when discussing songs originally released during 1966-70, Everett refers to the early or alternate versions of the same songs released in the *Anthology*. In this sense the *Anthology* is present throughout the whole book. [2.1] In writing a history of the Beatles as musicians, Everett strikes a balance between two competing contemporary approaches to the historiography of music. One is the "Dahlhausian" concept of presenting music history as a narrative that takes the musical "work" as the unit of the chronology. In the extreme case, the resulting narrative should consist of musical works arranged in chronological order according to the principle of novelty (that is, according to the date of the premiere or publishing the work). The other is the "Treitlerian" concept of music history as criticism. According to this view, much more attention should be paid to the interpretation of historical phenomena than to enumerating "facts" in their chronological order. All history--including the previous literature on history--is *present* in the sense that it is always perceived and interpreted at present. And as the term "criticism" implies, Treitler encourages music historians to evaluate the music that is the focus of their study. In consequence, the study of music history becomes a part of (general) music criticism. [2.2] At the broadest level, Everett presents "the complete history" of the Beatles in the second half of their career as a chronological narrative, with due attention to the novelty principle--"innovations are carefully noted as they appear" (p. ix). This approach is most evident in the chronological summaries (time lines) of the musical events over particular periods. At the level of particular albums, however, he tends to rely more on the "criticism" approach. The order in which he discusses songs, for example, is influenced by his emphasis on, for instance, the unity of *Sgt. Pepper* and *Abbey Road* or the subjective value of the songs in *Magical Mystery Tour*. The "narrative" approach is evident only in *Revolver*, whose songs are discussed in chronological order according to the date they were taken into the recording studio. [2.3] In serving both the "narrative" and "criticism" approaches, it is possible to omit something that fits neatly into neither scheme and yet may be important (see Heinonen & Eerola 1998). Thus Everett pays practically no attention to the *Yellow Submarine* soundtrack LP, which EMI/Apple officially released as a Beatles album in early 1969. There were four new songs by the Beatles in *Yellow Submarine*. Everett discusses these songs as parts of other more important projects (which they undoubtedly were). Three of the songs--"Only A Northern Song," "All Together Now," and "It's All Too Much"--are discussed briefly under the heading "'All You Need Is Love' / 'Baby You're A Rich Man' and Some Shelf-Sitters" (pp. 124-129). The fourth song, "Hey Bulldog," is discussed together with "Lady Madonna," "The Inner Light" and "Across The Universe" (pp. 152-158). Despite the fact that *Yellow Submarine* can by no means be compared to any other British album release--its contents come quite close to the United Artists' soundtrack releases of the films *A Hard Day's Night* and *Help!*--it deserves to be treated as an independent album by virtue of being an official Beatles release. Similarly scant attention is paid to the seven songs by George Martin added to the *Yellow Submarine* album from the actual film soundtrack. Six of these "songs" were his original compositions and one was his orchestral arrangement of "Yellow Submarine." When will we have serious analyses or commentaries of these "Beatle" songs in the Beatles literature? [3.1] In general, each song is treated in a similar manner: first Everett describes how the song was written, then he relates how it was recorded, and finally he gives an analysis of the musical expression. This plan is similar to that used by Ian MacDonald in his *Revolution in the Head*, first published in 1994. In describing the genesis of the songs, Everett has combined data from various sources. One category of sources includes statements by the songwriters themselves as well as by people who (have claimed to have) witnessed the writing of a song or a part of it. Another and perhaps more reliable category of sources includes demo tapes and lyric sketches as well as early and alternative takes for the songs. These "drafts" are treated as equivalents of the compositional sketches and drafts written by classical composers. [3.2] The book includes many references to general influences as well as to concrete sources of inspiration for particular songs. Everett presents, for example, a transcription of the Kellogg jingle on which the refrain of Lennon's "Good Morning Good Morning" was based. He also discusses intertextual relationships that he does not necessarily claim to be real "influences" or "sources of inspiration." Perhaps the most astonishing of these is the almost verbatim similarity between "Hey Jude" and John Ireland's *Te Deum*. One cannot avoid the impression that if McCartney was familiar with Ireland's work, then this work was an actual--although by no mean conscious--source of inspiration for "Hey Jude." [3.3] With respect to songwriting, the book has some shortcomings. If one is familiar with the extensive literature on the writing of famous Beatles songs, then the omission of some landmark statements is hard to explain. Let us take, for example, "Eleanor Rigby" and "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds." Donovan Leitch has claimed that McCartney started "Eleanor Rigby" with Ola Na Tungee as the protagonist. This claim is mentioned both in *A Hard Day's Write* by Steve Turner (1995) and *Many Years from Now* by Barry Miles (1997). Donovan's account would seem to bear repeating. Everett does of course mention that, according to Lennon, the title of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" was based on his son's drawing of the same name. But he fails to mention that Turner (1995) presents a drawing that he claims to be Julian Lennon's original depiction. [3.4] Due to the scope of the book, it is not the place to look for solutions to Beatles "mysteries." "Eleanor Rigby" and "Lucy In The Sky" can also serve as examples of the way Everett tends to leave conflicting claims or interpretations unresolved. As anyone familiar with the Beatles literature knows, "Eleanor Rigby" is one of the songs where Lennon and McCartney disagree as to the extent of their respective authorship ("In My Life" is the other). Everett sets out the problem and mentions the conflicting sources, but closes the case by saying "No matter who composed the lyrics . . . it likely was a group effort." As for "Lucy In The Sky," most commentaries regard it as a drug song, although both Lennon and McCartney have denied this and have pointed out that the song is based on Julian Lennon's above-mentioned drawing and Lewis Carroll's *Through the Looking-Glass*. The matter of being or not being a drug song is duly discussed in the book. Everett even points out the similarity between "Lucy In The Sky" and the dreamy final poem of Carroll's *Through the Looking Glass*. But again, he closes the case by stating that "Whether dream-based, drug-based, or both, the song's amphibolous phantasms entice the listener away from all concerns with reality." I tend to agree that reading "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" as "LSD" is more myth than fact. Solving Beatle myths is surely not Evetett's aim, as he himself writes in the preface of his book. "In many cases, my explanation as to the 'meaning' of a given passage or song--often based on combined elements of the musical and poetic texts, along with knowledge of the composers' biography and intent--is offered, but all listeners must solve the Beatles' many mysteries for themselves" (p. xi). [3.6] As to the recording process, Everett's account is based mainly on Mark Lewisohn's *The Beatles: Recording Sessions* (1988), in which the group's studio work is documented extremely well. In my opinion, Everett's most important contribution to the existing knowledge concerning the recording process of the Beatles is the identification of every part, its performer, and the instrument used in each song. He also clearly indicates where a particular part is positioned in the stereo picture. Fine work indeed. [4.1] Everett's sources consist not only of the official "canon"--the Beatles' LPs, singles, EPs, and CDs recorded in London and released by EMI and Apple--but also of "every available document of a Beatles' musical activity during the period covered" (p. viii). These documents include various audio, video, print, and multimedia sources, including various "bootleg" releases. The way he takes the "bootleg drafts" and lyric sketches as equivalents of the compositional sketches of classical composers is very illuminating. The analysis of the writing and recording process of "Strawberry Fields" is fully comparable to the carefully detailed sketch studies that modern musicologists have written concerning the works of Beethoven or Mozart. [4.1] The scores referred to by Everett in his analyses can be found in *The Beatles: Complete Scores*, published by Wise Publications (1989). This book includes transcriptions of all songs released by the Beatles from 1962 to 1970. Everett writes that this publication is "an 1,100-page compendium of practically full scores of every song appearing on an EMI single or LP during the years 1962-70" (p. xiii). He admits that the scores "are not without faults," but adds that "they will certainly not be replaced in the near future" (ibid.). [4.4] In my opinion the scores are far from complete--partly because of the hundreds (or thousands) of faults they include, partly because the repeated sections of a song are too often presented only as they occur the first time through. Changes in arrangements in later repetitions are either omitted or represented by only the most prominent features like an added second voice or instrumental riffs or fills. Jouni Koskimaki and I have tried to illustrate this in our case study of the arrangement of "Cry Baby Cry." According to our study, the "complete" Wise score "contains only the intro, the first chorus, and the coda. . . . In other words, some 60% (choruses II, III and IV) of the arrangement is missing altogether" (Koskimaki and Heinonen 1998). This practice saves work and paper but does not do justice to the original sound recording. Nevertheless, I agree with Everett that the expression of musical ideas in his book would have been much more difficult without the Wise scores. Even with its faults and missing parts that publication is surely the best available "Complete Beatles" score. [5.1] Everett's musical examples fall into two categories: (1) transcriptions of sound recordings, and (2) voice-leading graphs and other analytical constructions. With respect to the sound recording, some of them are intended as supplements to the Wise scores. All these transcriptions have been made by Everett himself, with the exception of the orchestral crescendo in "A Day In The Life," which was prepared by Glenn Palmer. Some other sound-recording transcriptions deal with the demo versions and early or alternative takes of the songs. It is a pity that most of these transcriptions are incomplete--probably due to problems with copyrights, lack of space, or both. In any case, these transcriptions will be welcomed by all who are interested in applying the approaches of sketch or manuscript studies to the songwriting and recording processes of the Beatles (or popular music in general). Later literature will probably cite Everett's book as the first to apply this approach extensively and systematically to Beatles research. I consider this one of the book's greatest contributions. [5.2] The analytical method applied by Everett rests on Schenkerian voice-leading analysis, or rather, an adaptation of it. The method itself is widely debated, as is its applicability to popular music. If one does not know the principles and techniques of this method, many of Everett's analytical points will be difficult to understand. Without going too much into the details, I would like to illustrate how Everett applies Schenkerian voice-leading analysis to one song. [5.3] "I Am The Walrus" is a Beatles' song unlikely to be considered "tonal" in the strict Schenkerian sense. Yet Everett succeeds in finding a structure quite similar to the Schenkerian *Ursatz*. The pillars of this *Ursatz* appear as follows. The 5th occurs at 0'21" (the beginning of the first bar of the first verse A, "I am he as you are he") and the 4th occurs at 2'47" (the beginning of the penultimate bar of the third verse A, "how they snide"). The 3rd--which is a flatted "blue" note--occurs at 2'50" (at the beginning of the last bar of the third verse A, "crying"). The 2nd occurs at 3'04" (at the beginning of the penultimate bar of the third verse B, "man you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe"), supported by II#. The dominant (V) appears at 3'15" (the beginning of the last bar of the refrain, "walrus") and the home tonic is eventually reached at 3'25" (the beginning of the first bar of the coda, "juba, juba"). [5.4] This deep structure is, according to Everett, "deceptively 'normal'" (p. 136). At the middleground level, he states, harmonic norms are violated especially in the bridge (2:11-2:25), whereas the foreground harmony "cynically challenges the underlying tonal centricity at nearly every turn" (p. 137). Although I have my doubts about the details and about the method in general, I agree with Everett's main analytical interpretations. The foreground of "I Am The Walrus" is, to quote Everett, a "masterful welding of poetic and musical nonsense" (p. 138). Behind this surface there is, however, a middleground that violates tonal principles no more than do many Tin Pan Alley songs or the songs of Liszt. Behind this middleground are basically tonal *reference points*--the only "violation" of Schenkerian *Ursatz* is the flatted "blue" third in the "Urlinie." "I Am The Walrus" is, then, not pure chaos but organized chaos. And the organization behind the chaos is, as Everett shows, basically tonal. [6.1] The dispute between "culturally" and "musically" oriented popular music research cannot be left without mention. The "cultural" side maintains that popular music is more a cultural (or sociological) than a musical phenomenon (see, for example, Denisoff 1986, 31). The "musical" side takes music--the sounds themselves--as the primary subject matter of popular music (Middleton 1990, Moore 1993). Everett discusses this topic briefly in his preface, where he cites justification of the "musical" side. He writes that while the proponents of the "cultural" side "are certainly free to limit their own investigations in any desired way," he hopes that his book "would suggest to them that their own endeavors might be enhanced by an objective hearing of the music" (p. x). Without denying the justification of the "cultural" approach, which Everett himself do not deny either, I very warmly welcome this point of view. [6.2] Another common assumption from the "cultural" side is, to quote Everett again, that "popular music cannot be analyzed to useful ends with tools 'created' for the appreciation of classical music" (p. x). As has been said above, Everett applies basically Schenkerian voice-leading analysis to the songs of the Beatles. In support of this approach one may cite Richard Middleton, according to whom there "seems no reason why Schenker analysis could not be applied to popular songs governed by functional-tonal processes: nineteenth century types, for example, or most Tin Pan Alley songs" (Middleton 1990, 193). He too presents examples that are not so obviously tonal in the sense of Western tonality (including "Twist And Shout" by the Beatles) and maintains that "a full-blown rejection of the [Schenkerian] theory for this kind of music is less appropriate than the development of a 'modified Schenkerianism'" (p. 196). Everett's analysis of "I Am The Walrus" (discussed above) is, in my opinion, a good example of the kind of "modified Schenkerianism" to which Middleton refers. I think it also succeeds in revealing quite conventional reference points behind what at first sight--or, rather, first hearing--might seem to be chaotic nonsense. [6.3] A rather surprising endorsement of long-range hearing characteristic of the Schenkerian approach comes from no less an authority than Paul McCartney. He gave the following statement to Hunter Davis in August 1966: "I can hear a whole song in one chord. In fact, I think you can hear a whole song in one note, if you listen hard enough. But nobody ever listens hard enough." The main idea of this statement by the then 24-year-old Paul McCartney echoes the very idea behind Schenkerian analysis. [7.1] The back cover of the paperback edition of Everett's book quotes John Covach who considers Everett's book "the most important book on the Beatles to appear so far." Without falling into the trap of comparing the book to, say, Mark Lewisohn's *The Beatles: Recording Sessions* or Hunter Davies' *The Beatles* (the only authorized biography of the group), I think it fair to say that Everett has written the most important *musicological* book on the group so far. This two-volume opus, when finished, will undoubtedly be a milestone in Beatles research--really a splendid book. REFERENCES Dahlhaus, Carl. *Foundations in Music History*. Trans. by J.B. Robinson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Davies, Hunter. *The Beatles. The Only Authorized Biography*. Rev. ed. London: Arrow Books, 1992. Denisoff, R. Serge. *Tarnished Gold: The Record Industry Revisited*. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, 1986. Heinonen, Yrjo and Eerola Tuomas. *Songwriting, Recording, and Style Change. Problems in the Chronology and Periodization of the Musical Style of the Beatles*. In *Beatlestudies 1*, Research Reports 19. Edited by Yrjo Heinonen, Tuomas Eerola, Jouni Koskimaki, Terhi Nurmesjarvi and John Richardson. Jyvaskyla: University of Jyvaskyla, Deparment of Music, 1998. Koskimaki, Jouni and Heinonen, Yrjo. *Variation as the Key Principle of Arrangement in 'Cry Baby Cry'*. In *Beatlestudies 1*, Research Reports 19. Edited by Yrjo Heinonen, Tuomas Eerola, Jouni Koskimaki, Terhi Nurmesjarvi and John Richardson. Jyvaskyla, Finland: University of Jyvaskyla, Deparment of Music, 1998. MacDonald, Ian. *Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties*. New York: Henry Holt, 1994. Middleton, Richard. *Studying Popular Music.* Milton Keynes, England: Open University Press, 1990. Miles, Barry, and Marchbank, Pearce, eds. *The Beatles: In Their Own Words*. New York: Omnibus, 1978. Moore, Allan F. *Rock: The Primary Text*. Buckingham, England: Open University Press, 1993. Treitler, Leo. *Music and Historical Imagination*. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989. ================================================================= 4. Announcements Editor Sought: Perspectives of New Music Research Request: Biographical Information on Twentieth-Century Polish Composers New E-mail discussion list: Royal Musical Association Conference Announcement: Acoustics and Music: Theory and Applications Conference Announcement: International Conference on Nineteenth-Century Music Conference Announcement: 2nd Symposium on Systems Research in the Arts Call for Papers: Popular Music Today: Objects, Practices, Approaches Call for Papers: Oxford Music Analysis Conference Call For Papers: Music IR 2000 Online Catalogues Available: British Library Manuscripts Request for Encyclopedia Assistance: Nupeida.com Call for Papers/Presentations/Panel Discussions: 2001 SCI Student National Conference. Spring 2000 Colloquium Schedule, University of Chicago Music Dept. Conference Information: Music Theory Midwest 2000 Event Announcement: CMS ARIA Institute. Call for Papers: Music and AIDS =============== Editor Sought: Perspectives of New Music PERSPECTIVES OF NEW MUSIC seeks an Editor. We are looking for a person whose history, experience, knowledge, interests, and energies could sustain, vitalize, diversify, and expand the scope and the depth of this longstanding independent forum for contemporary creative musical thinking, a person who is enthusiastic about helping our readers explore the widest possible world of contemporary work in and around music. Traditionally, the position of Editor has been an unpaid one, overseeing a paid production staff and coordinating the efforts of a diverse international group of Associate Editors. We are flexible about arrangements and welcome any proposal for a solo editor, a group editorship, or an individual interested in participating in a group. Those interested should communicate with John Rahn, Chair Perspectives of New Music Search Committee Music Box 353450, University of Washington Seattle WA 98195-3450 (206) 543-2291 jrahn@u.washington.edu We will continue to accept proposals until the position is filled; proposals received before July 15th, 2000, will receive first consideration. =============== Research Request: Biographical Information on Twentieth-Century Polish Composers A group of editors under the leadership of Prof. Marek Podhajski is compiling a book on Polish composers 1918-2000 (including emigres). The book is going to be published in Polish and in English. Prof. Podhajski already has nearly 800 names from around the world. The book will be a documentation of the achievements of Polish composers on the broad historical background (including Poland's political reality, social and cultural developments, and changes through the Twentieth Century). The documentation is based on different bibliographical materials, and different sources concerning life and creations, which would be critically analyzed by a group of Polish specialists led by Prof. Podhajski, author of many books, and a known authority in Twentieth- Century music. Any person of Polish background who created even one composition that was performed publicly (especially if the work was published, printed on a concert announcement, concert program, recorded or made a subject of live off-site transmission, mentioned in newspaper critique or in other media, etc.), is invited to send the information. The research covers the body of creation from the end of World War I (November 11, 1918), the day Poland regained independence until January 1, 2001. The subjects of research would be divided in groups: (1) composers who were born in the nineteenth or twentieth centuries, but creating past 11.11.1918 (2) composers who were born and died in period from 11.11.1918-1.1.2001. (3) composers who were born after 11.11.1918 and before 1.1.2001, whose life continues in the twenty-first century. The authors are initially researching composers of classical music, but they are planning to include creators of other types of artistic music (for example, music written for the needs of dramatic theatre, film, or television). The authors want the book to be the source of knowledge about Polish music of the twentieth century. They do not want to omit any creator who even by smallest input wrote himself or herself into the flow of Polish music history. Prof. Podhajski, together with the group of editors, is planning to put in even the smallest documented mention to register only the simplest facts, which are going to be researched further in the future. Entrance to the book is based on word standards (The International Biographical Center, Cambridge, IBC). For further information contact Ms. Katarzyna (Kathy) Szymanska, . =============== New E-mail discussion list: Royal Musical Association The Royal Musical Association (the national musicological society in the UK) has now initiated an e-mail discussion list and invites all who are interested, not only paid-up RMA members, to subscribe and participate. Anyone is free to subscribe; only list members will be free to post messages; the list is unmoderated (at least for the time being); listings of subscribers' addresses will be available only by e-mail and only to list members. Messages will be archived. To subscribe, send the message subscribe RMA-list FIRSTNAME LASTNAME (substituting your own first and last names for FIRSTNAME LASTNAME) to and you will be sent the introductory file with further details. Do please join and use the list! Geoffrey Chew Music Department, Royal Holloway College (University of London) =============== Conference Announcement: Acoustics and Music: Theory and Applications WorldSES CONFERENCE, AMTA 2000 Montego Bay, Jamaica, December 20-22, 2000. Organizer and Sponsor: WSES (World Scientific and Engineering Society) If you know people that are interested in Acoustics and/or Music, please send them this web page by email. * During the Dinner, a small festival / concert will take place. Those participants that want to participate--presenting their work/composition--must send a message to: usa@worldses.org * Your contribution will be published in CD-ROM Proceedings as well as in WSES Press Luxurious International Editions with world circulation (see below) Deadline for paper submission: APRIL 15, 2000 Notification of Acceptance/Rejection: MAY 15, 2000 Topics: a)Acoustics Mathematical Models in Acoustics Computational Acoustics Boundary Value Problems Environmental Acoustics Architectural Acoustics Acoustics Measurements Sound Insulation Noise Control Engineering Active Control of Sound Prediction Methods Acoustics of Fluids Elasticity Theory and Acoustics Underwater Acoustics Space Acoustics Untrasound technology and applications Electronics for Sound Art and Technology Speech Processing Language Processing and Technology Statistical Acoustic Signal Processing and Multirate Signal Processing Interpolation and Transforms in Acoustics. Vector Quantization. Spectral Analysis and Power Spectrum Estimation Wavelet based acoustics. Coding in Acoustics. Adaptive filtering. Parameter Estimation. Signal Reconstruction. Recognition Vibro-Acoustics Ambiophonics Simulation Methods in Acoustics Bio-Acoustics Seismic Imaging Medical Diagnostics Non-destructive Inspection Biological Effects of Sound Psychoacoustics Neural Networks Applications in Acoustics Applications of Fuzzy Logic in Acoustics Genetic Algorithms' Applications in Acoustics Military Topics Other relevant topics and applications. b)MUSIC Mathematical Models in Music Computers in Music Composition Neural Networks, Fuzzy Logic, Genetic Algorithms in Music Multimedia Modeling of Music in European and non-European Scales Mathematics of Greek (i.e. Byzantine) Music Mathematics of Oriental Music and, in general, of non-european music Central-American, Latin-American Music Jazz Study. Reggae Study. Pattern Recognition in Music Automatic Music Composition Biological Effects of Music Electronic Musical Instruments Electronic Music Mathematical Analysis of Musical Instruments Music and Psychology Music Education and Music in Education Music and Religion History of Music Music and Civilization Musicology, Ethnomusicology Music in Art and Philosophy Music and Dance Music and Dance especially from Neural-Sciences point of view Music and Poetry (epic, lyric, dramatic) New Trends in Music Composition Other relevant topics and applications. Publications Publish your paper 1) in the Proceedings and 2) in WSES-Press International Luxurious Editions ALL THE ACCEPTED PAPERS will be published twice (two different publications) 1) in the CD-ROM Proceedings (with Search Facilities and Page Numbering) as well as 2) in the Electrical and Computer Engineering International Reference Book Series of WSES PRESS as Post-Conference Books (Hard cover, velvet paper, international circulation). These will be different International Editions (with different ISBN). Also, special issues of selected papers will appear in Computational Acoustics, Applied Acoustics and Informatics journals. Place: Special Arrangements for AMTA 2000 participants have been made (discount rates) with the Wexford Modego Bay Hotel where the conference will take place. Hotel: Wexford Modego Bay Gloucester Avenue Montego Bay, Jamaica ON-LINE HELP: Regarding your submission, registration, travel, etc, please, feel free to contact . SOCIAL PART: The relevant arrangements for the social part have already been made with travel agencies (Welcome Cocktail, Official Dinner, Coffee-Breaks, Excursions, etc). Details are available upon request: During the Social Part, a small festival/concert will take place. Those attendees who want to participate must send a message to . =============== Conference Announcement: International Conference on Nineteenth-Century Music INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NINETEENTH-CENTURY MUSIC Royal Holloway, University of London 29 June to 2 July 2000 The Music Department at Royal Holloway, University of London will host the eleventh International Conference on Nineteenth-Century Music from 29 June to 2 July 2000. The conference will be held on the College's campus in Egham, Surrey, which is 35 minutes by train from London and a short journey from Heathrow and Gatwick airports. The conference will begin at lunchtime on Thursday, 29 June and end after lunch on Sunday, 2 July. There will be sessions on the following topics: Music, Literature and the Arts Italian Studies Nationalism The Victorian Era Music as Commodity Paris: Decadence, Eroticism and the Grotesque Lieder Homage and Appropriation Performing Traditions The Beethoven Influence Ethnomusicology in the Nineteenth Century Popular Musics Politics and the State Women's History Gender Studies Editing Opera Mozart's Legacy Issues in Theory and Analysis Professor Hermann Danuser (Humboldt Universitaet, Berlin) will deliver the Keynote Paper on "Specificity in Musicology", and there will be a special round-table session chaired by John Daverio (Boston University) on "Romanticism and the Historical Consciousness." On Friday, 30 June Kenneth Hamilton (University of Birmingham) will give a recital on a Erard piano from 1851, and Cambridge University Press will host a reception. On Saturday, 1 July the internationally acclaimed Florestan Trio (Susan Tomes, Anthony Marwood and Richard Lester) will perform in Royal Holloway's magnificent Picture Gallery, a tour of which will be provided for delegates. Throughout the conference there will be a book exhibition organized by Rosemary Dooley. Accommodation will be available on campus in single study-bedrooms approximately five minutes' walk from the conference venue; most rooms have private facilities (available on a first-come, first-served basis). Lunch and dinner will be provided in the self-service Refectory; vegetarian menus are available. *Early booking is advisable, as space is strictly limited.* Please note that "Conference Package" bookings, which offer a discounted registration fee and other benefits, will be given first priority. For all bookings, payment should be received in full by 15 June 2000. A booking form can be obtained from any of: Dr. David Charlton Dr. Katharine Ellis Dr. John Rink Department of Music Royal Holloway, University of London Egham TW20 0EX England tel: + 44 1784 443532 fax: + 44 1784 439441 The booking form can also be downloaded from the conference website at . PATRONS We are particularly indebted to Grove Dictionaries of Music and the Music & Letters Trust for their generous support. SPONSORS The conference gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of Ashgate Publishing, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press Journals, and the University of Birmingham Music Department. Programme as of 20 January 2000 THURSDAY 29 JUNE 2000 MUSIC, LITERATURE AND THE ARTS (afternoon) Ingrid Sykes, Honore de Balzac and the Organ: Towards a Closer Definition of Absolute Music Charlotte Purkis, Fin-de-siecle Fantasy as Performative Memoir in Gertrude Hudson and Constance Smedley's Writings on Music Sabine Lichtenstein, Thomas Mann's Bells: A Polyphonic Farewell to the Romantic Art of Music Mary Davis, Rethinking the "Static Sound Decor": Satie and Puvis de Chavannes Leslie Kearney, From Symbolism to Abstraction: The Art of Memory ITALIAN STUDIES (afternoon) Francesco Izzo, Laughter Between Two Revolutions: Comic Opera and the Risorgimento, 1831-1848 Helen Greenwald, Defining Verdi's Comic Vision: Towards a Theory of Comedy for the Late Nineteenth Century Emanuele Senici, "Cantando un madrigale": Verdi's Falstaff and the Uses of Mimesis Roberta Marvin, Rossini's Petite Messe solennelle: Its Journey to Italy Gundula Kreutzer, Oper im Kirchengewande: Verdi's Requiem and the Topos of "Italian Music" in Late Nineteenth-Century Germany NATIONALISM (evening) Halina Goldberg, "Remembering that Tale of Grief": The Prophetic Voice in Chopin's Music Ingrid Loe Dalaker, T. D. A. Tellefsen: Too French for the Norwegian National Movement? Maria McHale, The (Un)Englishness of Elgar's Gerontius: Issues of Reception and National Identity Daniel Grimley, Archaism and Baroque Modelling in the Music of Carl Nielsen THE VICTORIAN ERA (evening) Therese Ellsworth, The Performance and Reception of J. S. Bach's Keyboard Concertos in Nineteenth-Century London David Knight, Coronation Music: Handel in Nineteenth-Century England Monika Hennemann, Much Ado About The Tempest: Mendelssohn's Last Opera Projects for England Helga Perry and Bruce Miller, The Reward of Merit? An Examination of the Suppressed "De Belville" Song in Gilbert and Sullivan's _Iolanthe_ FRIDAY 30 JUNE 2000 MUSIC AS COMMODITY (morning) Orly Leah Krasner, Birds of a Feather: The Marketing of a Coloratura Roe-Min Kok, Childhood as Musical Commodity: Evaluating Robert Schumann's Music "fuer die Jugend" James Deaville, Publishing Paraphrases and Creating Collectors: Friedrich Hofmeister, Franz Liszt and the Technology of Popularity Simon McVeigh, Music and the Consumer Society: London's West End Concerts in the 1890s Scott Warfield, "Reveal Nothing to Him of His Market Value": The Publication of Strauss's First Three Tone Poems PARIS: DECADENCE, EROTICISM AND THE GROTESQUE (morning) Sarah Hibberd, "L'Homme imparfait": Depictions of the Grotesque in 1820s Paris Clair Rowden, Dreams of Decadence: Thais and Caricature Julie McQuinn, Time Warping in Debussy's _Chansons de Bilitis_: Memories of Bilitis and the Minds of Her Creators LIEDER (morning) Susan Youens, Ego, Ehrgeiz and the Lied: Schubert and his Pyrker Songs Amanda Glauert, "Lass die Saiten rasch erklingen, und dann sieh ins Buch hinein": Understanding the Aesthetics of Musical Response in Goethe's Lyrical Poetry LECTURE-RECITAL BY KENNETH HAMILTON ON ERARD PIANO (1851) HOMAGE AND APPROPRIATION (afternoon) John Phillips, Ferdinand Loewe's Version of Bruckner's Ninth Symphony (1903), or, How to Earn a Place in the Canon Nicholas Baragwanath, Alban Berg, Mahler's Ninth Symphony, and Wagner's Parsifal Alexander Rehding, Beethoven's Ninth at 165 Gabriella Dideriksen, Mozart's Operas Recast: Instrumental Responses of the Nineteenth Century Christopher Gibbs, Encrypting Beethoven: The Secret Programme of Schubert's E-flat Piano Trio PERFORMING TRADITIONS (afternoon) William Weber, From "Miscellany" to "Homogeneity" in Concert Programming Naomi Andre, Haunting Legacies: The Castrato in the Early Nineteenth Century Matti Huttunen, The Performer as a National Hero Laura Tunbridge, "These Shew'd His Signs Among Them": Schumann, Handel and the Pictorial Imagination Jonathan Bellman, Alla Zingarese: Early Recordings and the Preservation of a Popular Performance Style RECEPTION SPONSORED BY CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS ROUND-TABLE: ROMANTICISM AND THE HISTORICAL CONSCIOUSNESS (evening) Speakers include Marshall Brown, Susan Bernstein, and Katherine Kolb; chaired by John Daverio SATURDAY 1 JULY 2000 ROUND-TABLE: THE BEETHOVEN INFLUENCE (morning) Speakers include Thomas Sipe, K. M. Knittel, Sanna Pederson, John Deathridge and Nicholas Marston; chaired by Daniel Chua ETHNOMUSICOLOGY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (morning) Martin Clayton, Charles Samuel Myers: A Forgotten Pioneer of Ethnomusicology Gerry Farrell, Colonialism and Music Education in Nineteenth-Century India: The Case of S. W. Fallon Bennett Zon, Savage Time/Civilised Time: Progress in Early British Ethnomusicology POPULAR MUSICS (morning) Peter Van der Merwe, Classical, Popular and Folk: Cross-Currents in Late Nineteenth- Century Music Derek Scott, No Smoke Without Water: The Incoherent Message of Montmartre Cabaret TOUR OF ROYAL HOLLOWAY PICTURE GALLERY POLITICS AND THE STATE (afternoon) Karl Kuegle, Historicism as Political Tool: The Case of Mid-Nineteenth-Century Germany Diana Hallman, Of French Patriotism and Franco-British Relations: 'L'Affaire ministerielle de Charles VI', 1843 Michael Strasser, "The Good Takes Hold of Us": The Impact of the Franco-Prussian War on Parisian Concert Life Jann Pasler, State Politics and the French Aesthetics of Prix-de-Rome Cantatas, 1870-1900 WOMEN'S HISTORY (afternoon) Brigitte Hoeft, "That Marvellous and Only Real Home of Music": Nineteenth-Century American Women Musicians in Germany Angeline Brasier, Pauline Viardot-Garcia as Composer: Evocations of the Spanish Musical Past GENDER STUDIES (afternoon) Donna Parsons, The Dream of Musical Opportunities: The New Woman and the Realities of Professional Musicianship Alexandra Wilson, Male Medusas: Gender and Nationalism in Italian Puccini Reception KEYNOTE PAPER (afternoon) Hermann Danuser, Specificity in Musicology CONCERT BY THE FLORESTAN TRIO, ROYAL HOLLOWAY PICTURE GALLERY (evening) SUNDAY 2 JULY 2000 ROUND-TABLE: EDITING OPERA (morning) Speakers include Richard Langham Smith, Hugh Macdonald, David Grayson, Roger Parker and Peter Owens; chaired by Richard Langham Smith MOZART'S LEGACY (morning) Keith Chapin, Naive and Sentimental Counterpoint: Mozart, Schumann and the _stile antico_ Mark Everist, Enshrining Mozart: Don Giovanni and the Viardot Circle, 1830-1892 ISSUES IN THEORY AND ANALYSIS (morning) Julian Horton and Paul Wingfield, Theory and Practice in Nineteenth-Century Sonata Form Zohar Eitan, Musical Gesture and the Ethos of the Appassionata Poundie Burstein, Devil's Castles and Reminiscence in Schubert Danae Stefanou, Temporality in Liszt: The Non-Linear Aspect Geoffrey Chew, Dvorak's Minor Concerns: Aesthetic and Technical Aspects of his Use of Tonality =============== Conference Announcement: 2nd Symposium on Systems Research in the Arts The 2nd Symposium on Systems Research in the Arts "Music, Environmental Design, and the Choreography of Space" to be held in conjunction with the 12th International Conference on Systems Research, Informatics, and Cybernetics Papers are invited for the 2nd Symposium on Systems Research in the Arts, to be held in conjunction with the 12th International Conference on Systems Research, Informatics, and Cybernetics, July 31-August 5 in Baden-Baden, Germany. The study of systems within the scope of traditional arts-related theory, or the application of general systems methodologies to the analysis of music, architecture, interior design, dance, theatre, and the visual arts are areas of particular interest. Abstracts of approximately 200 words should be submitted for evaluation. All proposals will be judged based on scholarly quality, originality, and potential for further discourse. These may be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word format to Jim Rhodes, Shorter College, USA or Jane Lily, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA . For more complete contact information and details about the symposium, please visit the IIAS home page with particular attention to the link "Symposium on Systems Research in the Arts." =============== Call for Papers: Popular Music Today: Objects, Practices, Approaches Popular Music Today: Objects, Practices, Approaches The Bulgarian branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music and the Institute of Art Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences with the courteous cooperation of the British Council in Bulgaria is organizing an interdisciplinary seminar on Popular Music Today: Objects, Practices, Approaches to be held in Sofia, 23-24 June 2000. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Philip Tagg, Institute of Popular Music, Liverpool, UK. The seminar is open to all interested in the subject and welcomes proposals oriented to changing cultural agendas in popular music/studies in the information age. While keeping a connection with basic methodological perspectives identified in popular music studies, topics include but are not limited to innovative aspects concerning issues of globalization and cultural differences; aesthetics, identity and value systems; technology, communication and media; methods of studying. Proposals for twenty-minute papers and round table discussions are invited. Official languages: English, Bulgarian. Translation will be provided. Timely submission of the written papers which will facilitate the translation process is highly encouraged. Seminar proceedings are expected to be published in the academic journal _Bulgarsko Muzikoznanie_ [Bulgarian Musicology], a publication of the Institute of Art Studies. Arrival: 22 June Seminar days: 23-24 June Departure: 25 June Registration fee: US$20 Accommodation: reservations will be made in the hotel of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (50 "Shiptchenski prohod" blvd., Sofia), located near the seminar place. Single room: US$38 (with breakfast) Double room: US$48 (US$24/person, with breakfast) Note: The organizers expect a discount of the hotel prices, which will be additionally announced. Please send paper abstracts (preferably via e-mail) of no more than 250 words or just formulated topic proposals for discussion to: Dr. Claire Levy Kv. Hadji Dimitar Bl. 140 Vh. 2 1510 Sofia Bulgaria tel: +3592 4709753 fax: +3592 9433092 (for info in English) Dr. Lubomir Kavaldjiev tel: +3592 667235 (for info in German) Dr. Rossitca Draganova tel: +3592 554742 (for info in French) Deadline for participation proposals: 21 April 2000 Notification to participants: 15 May 2000 (including any further details). =============== Call for Papers: Oxford Music Analysis Conference University of Oxford Faculty of Music Oxford Music Analysis Conference 22-24 September 2000 The Oxford University Faculty of Music, in association with the Society for Music Analysis and the journal _Music Analysis_, will host OxMAC 2000 from Friday 22 September to Sunday 24 September 2000; accommodation and meals will be provided in St Peter's College. The members of the programme committee are: Jonathan Cross (University of Bristol) Nicholas Marston (University of Oxford) John Rink (Royal Holloway, University of London) The committee invites proposals for papers dealing with any aspect of music theory and analysis; papers should be planned to last a maximum of 25 minutes within a 40-minute slot. Proposals for round-table and themed sessions are also welcome: in these cases, a maximum of four participants should plan 15-minute papers within a 90-minute slot (round table) or 20-minute papers within a two-hour slot (themed session). Proposals for papers (maximum 300 words, or 1000 words for a round table/themed session) should be sent, preferably by email (please do not use attachments), to Dr Nicholas Marston St Peter's College Oxford OX1 2DL England no later than 31 May 2000; the committee undertakes to notify all selected speakers by 30 June. Authors should include their name in all submissions; proposals for round tables and themed sessions should identify all participants, including a convenor to whom further correspondence and queries may be addressed. Those proposing individual papers are not barred from participation in joint submissions also. =============== Call For Papers: Music IR 2000 MUSIC IR 2000: International Symposium on Music Information Retrieval Plymouth, Massachusetts October 23-25, 2000 Important Dates and Deadlines: June 15: Research papers due Aug. 15: Authors notified of committee decision Sept. 15: Final submission of camera-ready copy Sponsored by the National Science Foundation About Music IR 2000 Interest in music information retrieval (music IR) is exploding. This is not surprising: music IR has the potential for a wide variety of applications in the educational and academic domains as well as for entertainment. Yet, until now, there has been no established forum specifically for people studying music retrieval. The International Symposium on Music Information Retrieval will be held in Plymouth, Massachusetts from October 23-25, 2000. Building upon research being conducted around the world, this will be the first music IR symposium. The resulting information interchange will enable scholars to move more quickly towards viable solutions to many problems. The conference will include both invited and submitted papers, plus a panel with live performance of musical examples on the piano. The keynote speaker will be Marvin Minsky, founder of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and long-term member of the _Computer Music Journal_ editorial board. General Topics Topics to be covered may include, but are not limited to, the following: * Estimating similarity of melodies and polyphonic music * Music representation and indexing * Problems of recognizing music optically and/or via audio * Routing and filtering for music * Building up music databases * Evaluation of music-IR systems * Intellectual property rights issues * User interfaces for music IR * Issues related to musical styles and genres * Language modeling for music * User needs and expectations Conference Organizing Committee Conference Chair: Donald Byrd, University of Massachusetts--Amherst Program Chair: J. Stephen Downie, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Tim Crawford, Kings College, London W. Bruce Croft, University of Massachusetts--Amherst Craig Nevill-Manning, Rutgers University Call for Papers Research papers must consist of original contributions (not previously published, and not currently being considered for publication elsewhere). Full research papers of at most 3,000 words including an abstract, affiliation, and keywords should be submitted via email (preferred method) to or via mail to the address indicated below and must be received by June 15, 2000. If submitting via email, attach a file in .PDF format (preferred), PostScript, or Microsoft Word. If you submit a PostScript or Word file, enclose any unusual fonts (e.g., music). It may be safest to submit diagrams and music examples in one or more separate JPEG files, GIF files, or EPS files with unusual fonts embedded. If submitting by mail, send three hardcopies of the paper. Authors will be informed of the Program Committee's decision by August 15, and camera-ready copy of accepted papers must be received by September 15. Mailing Address for Paper Submissions: MUSIC IR 2000 CIIR, Department of Computer Science 140 Governors Drive University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003-4610 tel: 1-413-545-0463 About Plymouth, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Plymouth is the site of the first permanent European settlement in New England and the site of the first American "Thanksgiving." Plymouth Historic Attractions: * Mayflower II--reproduction of ship that brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth * Plimoth Plantation--reproduction of the 1627 Pilgrim village; extraordinary living museum of Pilgrim life, with staff playing Pilgrim roles. * Plymouth Rock, where the Pilgrims are believed to have disembarked. * Pilgrim Hall Museum * 1749 Court House * Trolley Tours Other Plymouth Attractions: * Plymouth Harbor Cruises * Ocean Spray Cranberry Visitor Center and Museum * Splashdown Amphibious Tours =============== Online Catalogues Available: British Library Manuscripts BRITISH LIBRARY MANUSCRIPTS CATALOGUES GO ONLINE A three-year project to automate the printed catalogues of manuscripts and to make them available remotely via the Internet has been successfully completed. This innovative conversion project was developed and executed with generous financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. Compiled over nearly two centuries, the scholarly catalogues of the Department of Manuscripts, cover all types of handwritten material in western languages. These range from notes written on papyrus in the pre-Christian era to contemporary literary and political papers, and include manuscript music and maps, wax seals, drawings, photographs and illuminated manuscripts. Sixty-two volumes, hitherto only available in the Manuscripts Reading Room at the British Library or in a few specialist research libraries, have been converted from print to database. The catalogues selected for conversion comprise the quinquennial Catalogues of Additions and those of named special collections. Subject and language-based catalogues are not included. A full list is displayed online and in the User Guide. There will be a continuing programme of enhancement and expansion.In addition, all the new cataloguing prepared on computer since 1986, some of it not yet published, has been merged into the system. For the first time, users can encompass most of the mainstream catalogues in a single search, rather than having to refer to a series of consecutive volumes. They can also retrieve keywords in context or combinations of index terms which could not be targeted in the printed text. The online catalogue can be accessed using a standard browser at or via the British Library's Website at ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Catalogues of Music Manuscript holdings --------------------------------------- The following information attempts to relate the published catalogues listing the Library's music and music-related manuscript holdings with the online catalogue: * Augustus Hughes Hughes, _Catalogue of Manuscript Music in the British Museum_ 3 vols (London, 1906-9 R/1964-6). The information in this catalogue is *more detailed* than that on the online catalogue. * Pamela Willetts, _Handlist of music manuscripts acquired 1908-67_ (London, 1970). The information in this catalogue is generally in *less* detail than the online catalogue. * William Barclay Squire, Catalogue of the King's Music Library, part I, The Handel Manuscripts; part II, The Miscellaneous Manuscripts (London, 1927, 1929). This catalogue is not yet available through the online catalogue but a data conversion is under way and should be made available online later in the year. * Arthur Searle, _The British Library Stefan Zweig Collection: Catalogue of the Music Manuscripts_ (London, The British Library, 1999). This catalogue is more detailed than the version published in the _Catalogue of Additions_ and that available on the online catalogue. Manuscripts acquired from 1968 are listed along with other manuscripts acquired by the Library in the quinquennially-published Catalogue of Additions. Those volumes covering the periods 1976-80, 1981-5 and 1986-90 have been published and those for 1956-1975 and 1990-1995 are in preparation. Information on these holdings is available from the typescript Summary Catalogue of Music Manuscripts on the open access shelves of the Rare Books and Music Reading Room in the British Library's new building at St Pancras. The information in these catalogues is the *same* as that in the online catalogue. Information on the following is only currently available through inhouse typescripts: Manuscripts on Loan Copies of manuscripts received under Export license rules Microforms of manuscripts in other collections "Tips for searching" are available online. When searching for particular works by composers it is worth noting that the index entries are not generally made for individual compositions, particularly where the library's holdings of a composer are large. However, it is possible to use the 'near' operator in a Descriptions search to combine part of a composer's name with part of a title (e.g. Tippett near child for Michael Tippett's "Child of our time;" Curzon near Mozart for Clifford Curzon's annotated copies of works by Mozart; string near quartet for "string quartets," "quartets for strings," etc). If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact Chris Banks Curator of Manuscript Music & Deputy Head Music Collections The British Library 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7510 fax: +44 (0)20 7412 7751 =============== Request for Encyclopedia Assistance: Nupeida.com A major new encyclopedia project, Nupedia.com, requests expert help in constructing an "open content" encyclopedia, planned to become the largest general encyclopedia in history. The project has significant financial support, and its leaders and owners are committed to a years-long, intensive effort--to founding an open, public institution. If you are an expert in any subject, your participation in the project will be welcome. We are in need of well-qualified writers, editors, and peer reviewers, and will be doing searches for subject area editors. Moreover, if you are a good writer and researcher, you may be interested in contributing short biographies, descriptions of cities, and other brief entries. What does it mean to say the encyclopedia is "open content?" This means that anyone can use content taken from Nupedia articles for almost any purpose, both for-profit or non-profit, so long as Nupedia is credited as the source and so long as the distributor of the information does not attempt to restrict others from distributing the same information. Nupedia will be "open content" in the same way that Linux and the Open Directory Project (dmoz.com) are "open source." As has been the case with those projects, we plan to attract a huge body of talented contributors. Since making our initial press release earlier this month, over 800 people from around the world have signed up as Nupedia members, including some very highly-qualified people (including Ph.D.s in very many relevant subject areas). Because Nupedia will be open content, it will be in a freely- distributable public resource created by an international public effort. It is not an exaggeration to say that your contributions would help to provide an international public a free education. We believe Nupedia is, thus, a project worthy of your attention. If you want to join us or stay apprised of the progress of Nupedia, please take a minute to go to the Nupedia website at and become a member. (Becoming a member is quick, easy, and free.) Thank you very much for your attention. Larry Sanger, Ph.D. expected May 2000 Philosophy, Ohio State Editor-in-Chief, Nupedia.com San Diego, California P.S. If you wish to help promote this project--something we would greatly appreciate--please do forward this announcement to any *appropriate* forums and to colleagues you think may be interested (including your local/departmental mailing lists and newsgroups). Or, if you would rather that Nupedia make the announcement on a forum you frequent, please just give us a pointer to the forum and we can take it from there. =============== Call for Papers/Presentations/Panel Discussions: 2001 SCI Student National Conference. The Indiana University SCI Student Chapter is pleased to announce a call for papers for the 2001 SCI Student National Conference, "Dawn of the Millennium." Papers can be from a theoretic, historical, social, etc. perspective. Papers will be judged based on quality and relevance to contemporary art music. Papers/presentations dealing with issues before 1960 will not be considered. Papers/presentations should be approximately 25 minutes in length, and will be followed by a 10 minute question and answer/discussion period. All materials must be postmarked by August 15, 2000. Submissions should include: 1) A three to five page typed description of your paper/presentation (this can include examples and portions of your paper; illegible or incomplete papers will not be considered), 2) a SASE for return of materials, 3) SASP for confirmation of receipt of materials, 4) proof of student status (photocopy of valid student ID or a letter from a teacher), 5) a contact sheet including address, email, daytime phone, title of paper/presentation, duration and list of equipment required. All participants must be or become members of SCI before the conference. Please send all materials to: Jason Bahr Host, SCI National Student Conference, 2001 Indiana School of Music Bloomington, IN 47405 Inquiries may be sent to =============== Spring 2000 Colloquium Schedule, University of Chicago Music Dept. I write to announce the Colloquium schedule at the University of Chicago Department of Music during the spring quarter. All events will take place in Goodspeed Hall, Room 402, except for the event of April 14, which is scheduled for the Film Studies Center on the 3rd floor of Cobb Hall. All events are free and open to the public. April 14, 3:00pm: Marta Ptaszynska, Professor of Music, University of Chicago, "In Remembrance of the Holocaust" This event will involve a screening of a performance of Mme. Ptaszynska's Holocaust Memorial Cantata, conducted by Sir Yehudi Menuhin, together with comments by the composer. April 28, 3:30pm, GoH 402: Harald Krebs, Professor of Music, University of Victoria, "Metrical Dissonance in the Music of Chopin." Krebs is the author of the acclaimed recent book, _Fantasy Pieces: Metrical Dissonance in the Music of Robert Schumann_ (Oxford U. Press, 1999) May 12, 3:30pm, GoH 402: Jessie Ann Owens, Professor of Music, Brandeis University, "Thomas Weelkes and the English Lament." Professor Owens is the author of the celebrated book, _Composers at Work: The Craft of Musical Composition, 1450-1600_ (Oxford U. Press, 1997). She is President-Elect of the American Musicological Society. May 19, 3:30pm, GoH 402: H. Colin Slim, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Irvine. Professor Slim, distinguished musicologist of the Renaissance, former member of the U. of C. faculty, and former President of the American Musicological Society, will be returning to Chicago to lecture on Stravinsky's _Scherzo a la Russe_. May 26, 3:30pm, GoH 402: Travis A. Jackson, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan. Professor Jackson, currently serving as Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago, is an ethnomusicologist specializing in jazz and urban African-American culture. June 2, 3:30pm, GoH 402: J. Peter Burkholder, Professor of Music and Associate Dean of the Faculties, Indiana University, "Uniformity and Diversity in the History of Musical Style." Professor Burkholder, who holds a U. of C. Ph.D. (1984), is currently serving as Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago. He is the author of two award-winning books on the music of Charles Ives. Richard Cohn Professor of Music Chair, Dept. of Music University of Chicago =============== Conference Information: Music Theory Midwest 2000 Music Theory Midwest 2000 Lawrence University, 19-20 May The 11th annual meeting of MTMW will be held in Appleton, WI at Lawrence Conservatory, 19-20 May 2000. A highlight of the conference will be the keynote address by Professor Janet Schmalfeldt of Tufts University. Distinguished theorist, former President of the Society for Music Theory, and Lawrence alumna, Professor Schmalfeldt will speak on "Performance, Analysis, and Schubert." Other special activities include a forum on "Reimagining the Core Curriculum" and an opportunity to attend a performance of Brahms' _Ein deutsches Requiem_. For the complete program and registration please see our web site (above) or contact Gene Biringer, the local arrangements coordinator, . =============== Event Announcement: CMS ARIA Institute. CMS Launches new Music Institute with Business Connections The College Music Society is pleased to announce the launching of its new ARIA Institute at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, July 6-9 2000. ARIA, an acronym for Academic and Recording Industry Alliances, is a four-day institute geared to college music teachers, graduate music and music business students, and scholars with an interest in the current music industry and its operation. Cutting-edge music business professionals will join music teachers in a pilot project whose goal is to provide a venue in which the academy and industry might learn together, ultimately building better-informed educators, musicians, consumers, and employees. A highlight of the event will be an address delivered by Frank Creighton of the Recording Industry Association of America, and an impressive roster of speakers include, in addition to top music business academics, Dan Storper of Putumayo World Music, Gerd Leonhard of LicenseMusic.com, and Sergio Rozenblat, marketing director for the Miami Sound Machine at CBS and WEA label chief of Luis Miguel. ARIA's topics will give wide coverage to the economic and legal aspects of the new music economy. This theme will be explored in a variety of settings, including the classroom, with focus on the Internet and music e-commerce, including publishing. Music majors will find out what they need to know about the entertainment industry and teachers will be exposed to industry information for use in Music in General Studies courses. Don't miss this opportunity. Music industry activities constitute, by far, the most important creative domains in contemporary music practice because ongoing developments make new creative options possible for consumers and listeners. Register now! See or write to The College Music Society 202 West Spruce Street Missoula MT 59802 tel: +1 406-721-9616 fax: +1 406-721-9419 ARIA--Academic and Recording Industry Alliance (a College Music Society project) Sally Reid =============== Call for Papers: Music and AIDS Abstracts are invited for a new book on music in the context of AIDS. Of particular interest are writings about musical works created in direct response to the crisis. Genres may include classical/neo-romantic, avant-garde, Top 40, alternative rock, jazz, hip-hop, country, musical theater, and others. I will also consider writings about musical reinterpretations, musical groups and institutions, benefit and fundraising activities, memorials and biographies, and other such phenomena. A broad range of approaches, including cultural critique, sociological or psychosocial explication, historical documentation or technical analysis (and optimally syntheses of any of these) is welcome. Collaborations, especially between people working in different fields or methodologies, are encouraged. The book is under consideration by a major academic publisher. Please convey any expression of intent to write for this volume as soon as possible. Deadlines for materials: abstracts (less than one page) are requested by June 15, 2000, although I will consider abstracts which arrive later than that date. I currently plan to ask for finished drafts of papers by May 1, 2001. Please send all materials to: Paul Attinello Department of Music University of Hong Kong Pokfulam Road Hong Kong tel: +852 2859 2894 fax: +852 2858 4933 ================================================================= 5. Employment Position Announcements Universite Laval: Assistant Professor of Composition Middle Tennessee State University (two positions): Music Theory/Composition, B. Musicologist/Ethnomusicologist George Washington University: Music Theory (one Year) University of Zurich: Professor in Ethnomusicology and Social Anthropology =============== Universite Laval: Assistant Professor of Composition Responsibilities: Teach composition and orchestration courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Direct research for M.Mus. students. Conduct the 20th-century music ensemble. All courses are taught in French only. Appointment: Assistant Professor in a half-time (50%) position leading to tenure. Salary determined by the collective agreement. Effective date is September 1, 2000. Qualifications: 1) Completed doctoral degree or equivalent 2) Record of professional achievement 3) Successful teaching experience 4) Good working knowledge of computer tools 5) Mastery of French 6) Aptitudes for team work General Information: Located in the heart of Quebec's historic capital city, Universite Laval is one of Canada's leading universities. Universite Laval traces its origins back to 1663 when Monseigneur de Laval, the first bishop of New France, founded the Seminaire de Quebec. As Canada's first university, Universite Laval was the very first place in North America to offer higher education in French. It has been a pioneer in program assessment and strategic planning, and its 1992-1997 master plan sets out goals for management and services for both the academic and administrative sectors. As of fall 1998, Universite Laval had over 350 programs at three levels of study and 35,800 students. Applications: Letter of application, curriculum vitae, and other credentials (including a list of references) should be sent to the address below. Applications must be received by June 1, 2000. Monsieur Raymond Ringuette, doyen Faculte de musique Universite Laval Sainte-Foy, Quebec G1K 7P4 CANADA Universite Laval hires on the basis of merit and is committed to employment equity. In accordance with Canadian immigration requirements, this advertisement is directed in the first instance to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada. For more information: tel: +1 418-656-5742 fax: +1 418-656-7365 =============== Middle Tennessee State University (two positions): Music Theory/Composition, Musicologist/Ethnomusicologist A. Music Theory/Composition MTSU seeks to fill a nine-month, tenure-track position in Music Composition and Theory. The successful candidate must demonstrate outstanding potential as a composer and theorist and have a strong commitment to teaching composition and theory at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Doctorate or professional equivalent required, ABD will be considered; university teaching experience highly desirable. Salary and rank commensurate with the candidate's professional qualifications and experience. B. Musicologist/Ethnomusicologist The MTSU Department of Music seeks to fill a tenure-track position in Musicology/Ethnomusicology. The successful candidate will have (a) primary research interests in American Music with secondary research interests in ethnomusicological or Western classical topics, and (b) a strong commitment to teaching music history at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Doctorate or professional equivalent required, although ABD will be considered; university teaching experience highly desirable. Salary and rank commensurate with the candidate's professional qualifications and experience. The Department of Music at MTSU is a comprehensive, rapidly growing program with over 300 majors, 29 full-time and 18 adjunct faculty, in a University with over 19,000 students. MTSU is located in Murfreesboro, a city of approximately 60,000 people thirty miles southeast of Nashville. All music degree programs at MTSU are fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. Applicants for either position should send a curriculum vitae and three letters of recommendation to: Mr. George Pimentel Assistant to the Dean Box 97 College of Liberal Arts Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, Tennessee 37132 Supporting materials should not be sent with the initial application. N.B. Dear SMT friends: although the first announcement reads Composer/Theorist, if you are primarily a theorist, or have good graduate students or recent graduates who are more academic theorists than composers, please don't hesitate to apply or have your students send their materials. We're really very open to hiring either a promising composer or a theorist or a combination of the two. The important thing is that the candidate be good at what he or she does and has a strong desire to teach and gift for doing so. The new faculty member will share in both undergraduate and graduate instruction. If you have any questions about this position, please don't hesitate to call. I may be reached at home +1 615-890-7089. The number at school is +1 615-898-2469 All best wishes, Mike Linton, chair theory/comp search committee Associate Professor of Music Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, TN 37129 =============== George Washington University: Music Theory (one Year) POSITION/RANK: Visiting Assistant Professor of Music (Full-time, one-year replacement) INSTITUTION: George Washington University, Department of Music QUALIFICATION: PhD/Theory preferred, ABD/Theory acceptable SPECIALTY: Undergraduate theory, aural skills DUTIES: Teach undergraduate harmony, aural skills, counterpoint, analysis; private composition lessons optional if qualified SEND: CV, 3 letters of recommendation DEADLINE: Open until job filled CONTACT: Roy J. Guenther, Chairman Theory Search Committee Department of Music George Washington University Suite B144 Phillips Hall Washington, DC 20052 tel: +1 202-994-6245 fax: +1 202-994-9038 =============== University of Zurich: Professor in Ethnomusicology and Social Anthropology POSITION/RANK: Professor in Ethnomusicology and Social Anthropology INSTITUTION: University of Zurich, Switzerland QUALIFICATIONS: extensive fieldwork and postdoctoral lecturing qualifications (Habilitation or equivalent achievements) JOB DESCRIPTION/RESPONSIBILITIES: Applicants should be proficient in general Social Antropology and be capable of guiding the study of Ethnomusicology ITEMS TO SEND: curriculum vitae list of publications list of teaching courses DEADLINE: 6-10-2000 CONTACT: President of the Appointment Committee Prof. Dr. Martin Lienhard Romanisches Seminar Plattenstrasse 32 CH-8025 Zurich ================================================================= 6. New Dissertations New Dissertations Capuzzo, Guy. "Variety Within Unity: Expressive Ends and their Technical Means in the Music of Elliott Carter, 1983- 1994." Eastman School of Music, 1999. Dodds, Michael R. "The Baroque Church Tones in Theory and Practice." University of Rochester, 1999. Harris, Joseph H. "Harmony in Olivier Messiaen's _Eclairs sur l'Au-Dela_." University of Iowa, 2000. Herlin, Thomas R. "Carl Ruggles and the Viennese Tradition: A Comparative Analysis." University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2000. Johnson, Shersten R. "Hearing the Unvoiceable: Writer's Block in Benjamin Britten's _Death in Venice_." University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2001. Nicholson, G. Gordon. "The Experience of Successful Contemporary Classical Musical Composition for Non- Computer-Assisted Performance: A Qualitative Study." Saybrook Institute (San Fransisco, CA), 1997. Rifkin, Deborah. "Tonal Coherence in Prokofiev's Music: A Study of the Interrelationships of Structure, Motives, and Design." Eastman School of Music, 2000. Samplaski, Arthur G. "A Comparison of Perceived Chord Similarity with Predictions of Selected Twentieth- Century Chord-Classification Systems, using Multidimensional Scaling and Cluster Analysis." Indiana University, 2000. =============== AUTHOR: Capuzzo, Guy TITLE: "Variety Within Unity: Expressive Ends and their Technical Means in the Music of Elliott Carter, 1983-1994" INSTITUTION: Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester BEGUN: 1998 COMPLETION: 1999 ABSTRACT: The dissertation investigates four compositions written by Elliott Carter (1908-) from 1983 to 1994: _Changes_ (1983), _Con Leggerezza Pensosa_ (1990), _Scrivo in Vento_ (1991), and _Gra_ (1994). After a review of the large and varied theoretical and analytic literature relevant to Carter, I show that considering each of the four pieces as generated from a row, row class, and/or compositional space is analytically, theoretically, and aurally profitable. The dissertation attempts to account for what Carter's music can sound like--both to those persons familiar with it and to those for whom it is new. Writers on Carter's music often employ metaphorical language in the description of his music's expressive effects--notions of conflict, opposition, dialogue, change and uniformity. I strive to capture the technical means underpinning the expressive results of these works. Sometimes Carter's own writings are taken as a springboard; other times, I pursue my own interpretations. The dissertation has six chapters. Chapter 1 presents an Introduction and literature review, and defines terms and notation. Chapters 2-5 present analyses of the four pieces listed above. Chapter 6 is a Conclusion. KEYWORDS: Elliott Carter, Twentieth-Century, Analysis, set theory CONTACT: 69 Emerson Plaza West Emerson, NJ, 07630-1877 tel: +1 201-261-0240 =============== AUTHOR: Dodds, Michael R. TITLE: "The Baroque Church Tones in Theory and Practice" INSTITUTION: University of Rochester BEGUN: Summer 1994 COMPLETED: January 1999 ABSTRACT: The church tones, or _tuoni ecclesiastici_, are a set of tonalities arising from the harmonization and transposition of the eight Gregorian psalm tones in Roman Catholic Offices. Adriano Banchieri's classic theoretical presentation of the church tones in _L'Organo suonarino_ (1605) was followed by a long succession of treatments by other music theorists, not least of all Johann Mattheson, who, in _Das neu-eroffnete Orchestre_ (1713) used them as the foundation for his first listing of the twenty-four major and minor keys. This dissertation traces the church tones from their origins in late-sixteenth-century Italian psalmody, through Austrian and Bavarian sources, to their reception in the eighteenth century by north German theorists. Because the church tones arose from the complex interaction of various conventions and practical constraints, not all Baroque musicians recognized them as modal categories in their own right. Others did recognize them as such, however, regarding them as the "tones according to the modern use" or as a reduction of Zarlino's twelve modes, and presenting them using the same theoretical apparatus used to explain the traditional eight- and humanistic twelve-mode systems. Changes in modal representation in a large body of keyboard cycles ordered according to the church tones suggest that the "transition from modes to keys," while incremental in certain respects, is best explained in terms of paradigm shifts occurring around the beginning and ending of the Baroque rather than as an evolutionary process. By mediating between vocal and instrumental ways of organizing tonal space, the church tones bridged the vocally oriented, twelve-mode system of the sixteenth century and the keyboard-oriented, two-mode system of the eighteenth century. KEYWORDS: mode, modality, tone, tonality, modal representation, alternatim practice, versets TOC: I. Concepts and Contexts II. Psalm-tone tonalities in Selected Late Cinquecento Writings III. The Church Tones in Seicento Writings Addressing Organ-Choir Antiphony IV. The Church Tones in Seicento Theoretical Writings V. The Church Tones in Austrian and Bavarian Writings about Music VI. Modal Representation in Italian and South German Keyboard Versets Ordered according to the Church Tones VII. Epilogue: The Reception of the Church Tones in Eighteenth- Century North German Music Theory CONTACT: Division of Music Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas TX 75275 tel: +1 214-768-3595 =============== AUTHOR: Harris, Joseph H. TITLE: "Harmony in Olivier Messiaen's _Eclairs sur l'Au-Dela_" INSTITUTION: University of Iowa BEGUN: January, 1998 COMPLETED: September, 2000 ABSTRACT: The aim of my dissertation is a comprehensive examination of the harmonic language of French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992). I will systematically define Messiaen's harmonic techniques, then demonstrate his use of these techniques in his late orchestral work _Eclairs sur l'Au-Dela_ (1991). Although Messiaen's music has been the subject of much scholarly research, his harmonic techniques have never received a rigorous examination. Most authors who have addressed this topic do little more than quote Messiaen's writings. In my dissertation, I intend to follow Messiaen's theories whenever possible; when his theories alone do not provide enough guidance for a complete analysis, I extrapolate and formulate new analytical strategies. As a result of my preliminary research, I have concluded that Messiaen's harmonic language comprises five elements: birdsong, modal passages, color chords, resonant sonorities, and free harmonic passages. Messiaen treats these elements as distinct categories and rarely combines them. However, he does use them simultaneously, juxtaposing and layering them in his music much the same way an abstractionist painter might juxtapose blocks of colors on the canvas. To faithfully analyze Messiaen's music, one must first be able to separate and identify each of these elements. Once this is done, one can then analyze relationships between the elements and a work's overall structure. To demonstrate Messiaen's harmonic techniques within the context of his music, I will analyze _Eclairs sur l'Au-Dela_, an orchestral work in eleven movements. This particular work is one of Messiaen's last completed compositions and provides perhaps the clearest illustration of his compositional methods. The size of the orchestra is small and the scoring (the distribution of musical materials among the instruments) tends to remain uniform. More importantly, Messiaen's compositional style evolved over the course of his career; late works such as _Eclairs_ tend to offer the most concise and distinct examples of his harmonic techniques. KEYWORDS: Olivier Messiaen, Eclairs sur l'Au-Dela, analysis, atonal, harmony TOC: Chapter 1: Introduction 1. Goals of the present study 2. Historical background of _Eclairs sur l'Au-Dela_ and relevance to the present study 3. Assessment of previous research on Messiaen's harmonic language Chapter 2: Classified Harmonic Elements 1. The modes of limited transposition 2. The turning chord group 3. The chord of resonance 4. The chord with contracted resonance 5. The chord in fourths 6. The chord of total chromaticism 7. The chord on the dominant 8. Chords of transposed inversions Chapter 3: Unclassified Harmonic Elements 1. Resonance a. Pitch-class complementation b. Chromatic saturation 2. Voice leading a. Chromatic voice leading b. Split transformation Chapter 4: Messiaen and Color 1. The historical relationship between color and pitch-class 2. Messiaen's relationship to contemporary artists 3. Messiaen's synesthetic experience of color 4. The influence of color on Messiaen's harmonic language 5. Cataloging colors in Messiaen's music a. Modal colors b. Non-modal colors Chapter 5: Analysis of Individual Movements of _Eclairs sur l'Au-Dela_ 1. "Apparition de Christ glorieux" 2. "La constellation de Sagittaire" 3. "L'Oiseau-Lyre et la Ville-Fiancee" 4. "Les Elus marques de sceau" 5. "Demeurer dans l'Amour" 6. "Les sept Anges aux sept trompettes" 7. "Et Dieu essuiera toute larme de leurs yeux" 8. "Les Etoiles et la Gloire" 9. "Plusieurs oiseaux des arbres de Vie" 10. "Le chemin de l'Invisible" 11. "Le Christ, lumiere du Paradis" Chapter 6: Conclusion 1. Relationships between harmonic elements 2. Critique of my analytical methodology 3. My analytical methodology applied to other works of Messiaen, and to works of other French composers CONTACT: 1212 Erin St. Apt. D Madison, WI 53715 tel: +1 608-441-0017 =============== AUTHOR: Herlin, Thomas R. TITLE: "Carl Ruggles and the Viennese Tradition: A Comparative Analysis" INSTITUTION: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign BEGUN: July, 1996 COMPLETED: April, 2000 ABSTRACT: The music of Carl Ruggles (1876-1971) is most often associated with that of the other American members of the International Composers' Guild (1921- 27). The Guild promoted new music of an experimental nature, which is difficult to place in any compositional "camp." The resultant association of this music, while warranted socially and historically, is unwarranted musically. The purpose of this study is to suggest a different association--that between Ruggles' music and the so-called atonal works of the second Viennese school. Four specific works are compared and contrasted: Ruggles' _Men and Mountains_ (1924) and _Portals_ (1925), Arnold Schoenberg's _Five Pieces for Orchestra_, op. 16 (1909), and Anton von Webern's _Six Pieces for Orchestra_, op. 6 (1909). In order to justify associations between Ruggles and the second Viennese school, four different aspects of the music are examined: pitch organization, texture, rhythm, and form. KEYWORDS: Ruggles, Schoenberg, Webern, Atonality, Analysis, Second Viennese School, International Composers' Guild, Men and Mountains, Portals TOC: I. Introduction From Charles to Carl A Comparison of the Music A Note on the Scores II. Pitch Content Generalization to Pitch Class Comparison of Completed Aggregates Possible Precedents Analysis of Pitch-Class Data III. Texture Thickness Density Tone Color Loudness Patterns Conclusion IV. Rhythm Tempo Indications Meters and Trends in Beat Division Other Aspects Affecting Rhythm Conclusion V. Form Form in Ruggles' _Men and Mountains_ and _Portals_ Form in Schoenberg's _Five Pieces_, op. 16, and Webern's _Six Pieces_, op. 6 Trends in Structure VI. Summary and Conclusion Carl Ruggles: An Inheritor of the European Tradition? Appendix A: Lists of Completed Aggregates Completed Aggregates in Ruggles' _Men and Mountains_ and _Portals_ Some Completed Aggregates in Schoenberg's _Five Pieces_, op. 16, and Webern's _Six Pieces_, op. 6 Appendix B: Piano-Score Reductions (Ruggles) Appendix C: Piano-Score Reductions (Schoenberg and Webern) Appendix D: Pitch-Class Statistics Appendix E: Lists of Sizes and Types of Chords Sizes and Types of Chords in Ruggles' _Men and Mountains_ and _Portals_ Sizes and Types of Chords in Schoenberg's _Five Pieces_, op. 16, and Webern's _Six Pieces_, op. 6 Bibliography CONTACT: Thomas R. Herlin 13521 Delphi Drive Littleton, CO 80124-2803 tel: +1 303-790-2813 =============== AUTHOR: Johnson, Shersten R. TITLE: "Hearing the Unvoiceable: Writer's Block in Benjamin Britten's _Death in Venice_" INSTITUTION: University of Wisconsin--Madison BEGUN: May, 1998 COMPLETED: May, 2001 ABSTRACT: Britten's last opera, _Death in Venice_, essentially plays out a dramatic struggle for words that is formulated in words, and as such poses the analytical problem: how does one musically voice writer's block? The interrelation between character utterances (or lack thereof) and the ambient music that sounds and surrounds them is vital in a dramatic context driven by Aschenbach's chronic inability to write, speak, or at times even to understand words. Since the power of words is central to this drama, the ways in which words and music interact, and the ways in which these interactions are perceived over time, merit critical attention. My dissertation relies on the writings of Freud and others on the subject of blockage in the creative process to help develop notions of blockage in the opera's text-music discourse, and expands on these ideas to more distant domains of cognitive processes. The analysis uses various methods including Conceptual Integration Network models to describe the way a listener might create meaning beyond that of the text alone by composing a blended mapping of text-music concepts. By doing this analysis, I hope to shed light on one of the opera's central issues: the loss of words that both initiates Aschenbach's journey and follows him to the end. KEYWORDS: Benjamin Britten, Opera, Freud, Writer's Block, Text-Music Relations CONTACT: 4522 Humanities Building 455 North Park Street Madison, WI 53706 tel: +1 608-236-0594 =============== AUTHOR: Nicholson, G. Gordon TITLE: "The Experience of Successful Contemporary Classical Musical Composition for Non-Computer-Assisted Performance: A Qualitative Study" INSTITUTION: Saybrook Institute, San Francisco, CA COMPLETED: November, 1997 ABSTRACT: In this study, I have articulated the experience of musical composition for contemporary classical composers. The literature pertaining to several areas related to musical composition, as well as the writings of, and interviews with, eminent composers were surveyed as background to the study. There was also metatheoretical consideration of the Zen concept of interbeing and Bohm's theory of the interpenetration of all things, which provided background for understanding the creative experience of composition. Eight classical composers, participating in open-ended interviews, were asked to describe in detail their personal experiences of the practice of composition. Participants were familiarized with the qualitative interview methods used. The researcher, a composer, assumed the role of coauthor of the interviews, not to influence participants' descriptions, but to assist them in reliving their experiences of composing. The interview data were transcribed and analyzed into main themes. A narrative model of the experiences of composing, which expands on previous models in the literature, was constructed. It was observed that the compositional process is non-linear in many ways, and that there was a pervasive interrelatedness of the identified themes. The themes include: (a) composers' thoughts during composition, including thoughts about music, and inner critical as well as self- confident thoughts; (b) flow, involving intense concentration, altered awareness, loss of sense of self, and a rush of ideas; (c) motivation, including both external encouragement and internal urgency; (d) influences, including score analysis and listening to other musical works; (e) technique-the development of ideas, personal vocabulary, craft, and intuition; (f) conception-the envisioning of structures, and the incubation and clarification of musical forms; (g) generation-the creation of musical ideas by improvisation, intuition, exploration, and sketching; (h) choices, including consideration of various possibilities, aesthetics, and editing; (i) composers' voice-nonverbal vocabulary, style, and self-expression; (j) play-letting go, improvisation, and discovery; and (k) artistic development, including both technical and personal dimensions. Intuition emerged as a pervasive secondary theme. The model of compositional experience was then discussed in the context of metatheoretical considerations, particularly noting the absence of Cartesian elements in the artistic experience, theoretical models of consciousness, and the Zen notion of interbeing. The model was used to expand upon and dialogue with the broad areas of literature surveyed. Questions concerning the validity, coherence, and practical applications of this research were raised and addressed. KEYWORDS: musical, composition, composers, interviews, qualitative methodology, model, compositional process, creativity, TOC: Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Metatheoretical Considerations Chapter 3. Literature Review, Part 1: Overview Chapter 4. Literature Review, Part 2: Eminent Composers' Writings on Compositional Practice and Experience Chapter 5. Research Methods Chapter 6. Summary of Interviews Chapter 7. Results of Data Analysis Chapter 8. A Narrative Model of Compositional Experience Chapter 9. Discussion of the Narrative Model: Validation and Summary References Appendix A. Consent to Participate in Research Appendix B. Data Sheet for Interview Subjects Appendix C. First Interview: Questionnaire and Interview Guide for Researcher Appendix D. Interview Protocol (for Interview 2) Appendix E. Second Interview Guide (for the Data-gathering Interview) Appendix F. "Probe" Questions Appendix G. Third Interview Guide (for Researcher-Interviewer) List of Figures CONTACT: Gordon Nicholson 10545 Saskatchewan Drive #703 Edmonton, Alberta T6E 6C6 Canada tel: +1 780-433-9126 or +1 780-497-4468 fax: +1 780-497-4330 =============== AUTHOR: Rifkin, Deborah TITLE: "Tonal Coherence in Prokofiev's Music: A Study of the Interrelationships of Structure, Motives, and Design" INSTITUTION: Eastman School of Music COMPLETED: April, 2000 ABSTRACT: Prokofiev has written some of the most widely-admired music in the twentieth- century, including _Peter and the Wolf_, _The Love for Three Oranges_, and _Lieutenant Kije_. His distinctive compositional style can be recognized easily by its quirky turns of phrases and unexpected harmonies, which have been called "wrong notes" by many scholars. Integrating "wrong notes" into a theory of musical coherence has been problematic for scholars. Using the term "wrong" seems to imply that these chromatic excursions are incorrect substitutes for the "right notes," which would be notes that conform to conventional tonal expectations. Most studies interpret Prokofiev's music as tonal, yet they relegate the "wrong notes" to an insignificant structural status. Other analyses consider "wrong notes" integral elements of an atonal structure and approach wrong-note music using pitch-class set analysis. This dissertation proposes a third analytic perspective. It demonstrates how Prokofiev's supposedly "wrong- note" passages, rather than being anomalous to a tonal structure, instead actively participate in tonal coherence. One reason "wrong notes" challenge tonal theories of coherence is because they cannot be represented within a hierarchical system. The dissertation explores an alternative means of representation, a network model, which can accommodate non-hierarchical musical associations. Using a network model not only accommodates wrong notes, but it also better represents Schenkerian analytic practice. In addition to non-hierarchical prolongation techniques and wrong-note harmonic functions, networks can also represent relationships created by motives and design. Chapter Two discusses motives, differentiating between strongly and weakly tonal ones. Whether dependent or independent of their tonal context, however, motives help create relationships that make a supposedly "wrong note" belong in the music. While Chapters One and Two concentrate on pitch aspects of wrong-note music, the third chapter prioritizes non-pitch attributes. Chapter Three discusses formal and surface designs and their impact on the perception of a note as wrong. Overall, Prokofiev's music can be best described using tonal networks that can represent corroborating and conflicting relationships between structure, motives, and design. KEYWORDS: coherence, Prokofiev, structure, motive, design, hierarchy, network, Schenker, wrong notes TOC: Chapter 1: Wrong-Note Structures Chapter 2: Pitch Motives, Networks, and Wrong Notes Chapter 3: Design and Wrong-Note Music Chapter 4: The Range of Coherence: Analytic Studies CONTACT: Deborah Rifkin tel: +1 831-689-9260 =============== AUTHOR: Samplaski, Arthur G. TITLE: "A Comparison of Perceived Chord Similarity with Predictions of Selected Twentieth-Century Chord- Classification Systems, using Multidimensional Scaling and Cluster Analysis" INSTITUTION: Indiana University BEGUN: November, 1998 COMPLETED: April, 2000 ABSTRACT: There seems to be an implicit consensus among adherents of several classification systems for the chord-types of twentieth-century Western art music that in some sense they reflect listeners' perceptions. This dissertation undertook one perceptual study to test whether there is empirical support for such a view of these theories. Seventy trained musicians rated the similarities of pairs of tetrachords, played in random order by a computer program, under several different experimental conditions. A set of stringent criteria for the retention of listener data was used to ensure greater reliability and predictive power of the results. Listeners' responses were analyzed using two quantitative visualization techniques, multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis. The derived configurations were compared to the (qualitative) clustering predictions of four chord-classification systems: Forte's (1998) pcset genera, Hindemith's (1937/1942) system, and two recent proposals by Simon Harris (1989) and Ian Quinn (1997). In all cases except a few with significant ambiguities, none of the classification schemes' predictions matched the perceived similarity groupings of listeners. Instead, a number of potential factors involving chord spacing and ordering of adjacent notes in chords were identified as contributing to listeners' similarity ratings. These factors appear to interact or compete with each other in various domains, leading in some cases to complex or seemingly chaotic structure. An additional experiment was conducted to assess the relative salience of the pcset operations Tn and TnI in judging similarity; no evidence was seen that TnI played a role in listeners' judgments, while Tn played a significant role. No difference in strategies for judging similarity was observed based upon listeners' experience or inexperience with nontonal music. Pedagogical implications of thess findings are discussed. KEYWORDS: music perception, music cognition, multidimensional scaling, cluster analysis, pcset genera, pcset theory, Paul Hindemith, Simon Harris, Ian Quinn, atonal analysis TOC: I. Introduction and Overview II. Background and Methods of Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) and Cluster Analysis (CA) III. Review of Music-Theoretic Literature and Related Empirical Studies IV. Methodology V. Results VI. Discussion Bibliography Glossary of Statistical Terms/Concepts Appendices CONTACT: (After 29 May 2000) 218 Tareyton Dr., #3 Ithaca, NY 14850 tel: +1 607-257-0944 (tentative) ================================================================= 7. New Books Elaine Barkin & Lydia Hamessley, eds. _Audible Traces: Gender, Identity, and Music_. Zurich: Carciofoli. =============== _Audible Traces: Gender, Identity, and Music_ Edited by Elaine Barkin & Lydia Hamessley Carciofoli Verlagshaus, Zurich, Switzerland In recent years, new fields of inquiry in music have blossomed, some more controversial and inflammatory than others, some overtly veering from the traditional affairs of the Academy. Among the variety of questions raised are those that explore the differences between "who we are," "what we do,"and "how/what we experience." Such inquiry reflects our desire to discover the ways in which we identify with our music and the ways in which the music we make, listen to, and talk about identifies us. Going beyond singular investigations of history, theory, gender, race, or culture, the contributors to _Audible Traces_ complicate matters. They examine the ways that our supposed self-identity--gender, race, sexuality, sexual orientation, and ethnicity--intersects with our activities and our experiences. Their concerns also include dance, technology, societal forces, cognitive studies, poetry, fashion, sensory inputs, and politics. In a mosaic of approaches and viewpoints composers, musicologists, performers, ethnomusicologists, theorists of music and of literature, suggest and reveal traces of the ways that these complex matrices of identity affect us during the compositional, listening, or performing experience. The range of composers, performers, and genres includes: Joan Armatrading, Alban Berg, George Bizet, Blues, Francesca Caccini, Irene Castle, Chinese Opera, Rebecca Clarke, John Coltrane, Dance, Disco, Jimi Hendrix, Indigo Girls, Candye Kane, Gustav Mahler, Opera, Pauline Oliveros, Punk, Riot Grrls, Eddie Vedder, Richard Wagner, The Weather Girls; and a group of active composers talk about their work. In the forum Composing Women: Mara Helmuth, Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner, Susan Parenti, Mary Lee Roberts, Anna Rubin, Vivian Adelberg Rudow, Carla Scaletti, Catherine Schieve. Contributors: Suzanne G. Cusick, Martha Mockus, Marianne Kielian-Gilbert, Ellie Hisama, Peter Rabinowitz, Su Zheng, Susan Cook, Mitchell Morris, Judy Lochhead, Renee Coulombe, Elaine Barkin, Benjamin Boretz. 388 pp. (acid-free paper), 13 illus., 20 music exs. Includes a CD of a performance of Benjamin Boretz's "music/consciousness/gender." Price: US$59, Hbk: ISBN 3-905323-00-1 US$39, Pbk: ISBN 3-905323-01-X Contact information United States of America and Canada: Theodore Front Musical Literature, Inc. 16122 Cohasset St. Van Nuys, CA 91406 U.S.A. tel: +1 818-994-1902 fax: +1 818-994-0419 United Kingdom: Rosemary Dooley Crag House, Witherslack, Grange-over-Sands Cumbria LA116RW England tel: +44 015395 52286 fax: +44 015395 52013 Elsewhere: Carciofoli Verlagshaus P. O. Box 3176 8049 Zurich Switzerland fax: +33 388 23 68 51