Volume 14, Number 4, December 2008
Copyright © 2008 Society for Music Theory

Editor’s Message

In this fourth volume of 2008 we officially say goodbye to Tim Koozin, who has acted as a tireless, exceedingly gracious, and impressively efficient editor since 2002. It is the work of Tim and his predecessors in conjunction with the generous efforts of the editorial boards over the past 14 volumes that have allowed MTO to grow into one of the most respected online journals in academia. We would also like to extend our thanks to Jeff Perry, our outgoing reviews editor, who has devoted many, many hours to ensure that music-theoretical books receive their due in the (web) pages of our society’s online journal. Finally, enormous gratitude is owed to Norman Carey and Michael Buchler, who are now rotating off the editorial board. With an impressive number of submissions coming in each year, they have had their hands full.

We are fortunate to be able to welcome a new reviews editor, Gretchen Foley (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), and two new editorial board members: Nicole Biamonte (University of Iowa) and Guy Capuzzo (UNC Greensboro). I am confident that they will make an excellent contribution to the work of MTO over the next several years.

Finally, I wish to thank our crew of Assistant Editors, who, as always, have worked with Brent Yorgason in preparing this volume: Sean Atkinson (Florida State University), William Guerin (Indiana University), Mitch Ohriner (Indiana University), and Jennie Smith (Florida State University).

Before introducing the current volume, I would like to take a moment to remind potential authors that we are always looking for new submissions. We are uniquely suited for the publication of articles that incorporate recordings, videos, and other media, and we hope that you will take advantage of these aspects of MTO. We welcome submissions in a number of different formats, including full-length articles, shorter commentaries, innovative electronic formats, and entire special volumes. Comments in response to this issue’s articles may be submitted to the Editor for publication in the next issue.

Volume 14.4 features two wonderful articles that deal with important and current topics, as well as two book reviews.

Lori Burns, Marc Lafrance, and Laura Hawley engage the contemporary music of PJ Harvey and Björk, outlining a music-analytic approach to embodied female subjectivity in musical and textual expression. The multifaceted approach taken in their article, “Embodied Subjectivities in the Lyrical and Musical Expression of PJ Harvey and Björk,” is both timely and fascinating.

Nicolas Donin and Jonathan Goldman take a fresh look at the methodology of paradigmatic analysis, focusing first on past practice, and then presenting a new software tool that holds considerable potential for future music analytical pursuits. Their concise article, “Charting the Score in a Multimedia Context: the Case of Paradigmatic Analysis,” includes interactive examples that utilize a prototype of their software.

Also in this volume are two reviews: Bruce Quaglia examines Ethan Haimo’s intriguing book, Schoenberg’s Transformation of Musical Language; Elizabeth Smith gives us a first look at Edward Latham’s innovative Tonality as Drama: Closure and Interruption in Four Twentieth-Century American Operas, which is hot off the presses.

Our dynamic listings for job announcements, upcoming conferences, calls for papers, new dissertations, and new books are updated automatically as soon as we receive and approve any new listing. Readers can check the MTO listings at any time to find current information on recent announcements. We also have links for submitting announcements online.

All MTO volumes dating back to our first issue in 1993 can be accessed from the contents page at http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/issues.html.

Thank you for your support of MTO!



Matthew Shaftel      
Music Theory Online
Florida State University
College of Music
Tallahassee, FL 32306
U.S.A.

and       Timothy Koozin, Co-Editors
Music Theory Online
Moores School of Music
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204
U.S.A.

mto-editor@societymusictheory.org

prepared by
Sean Atkinson, Editorial Assitant
Updated 15 December 2008