The Society for Music Theory (SMT) remains a starkly male-identified society. According to the SMT’s 2019 annual report on demographics of its membership, 33% of SMT members self-identified as women—a figure that has not changed significantly over the last five years—in comparison to 51.2% of American Musicological Society members in 2017 and 52.2% of Society for Ethnomusicology members in 2014, the most recent data available. The NORC Survey of Earned Doctorates indicates that in 2018, only 20% of U.S. Ph.D.s in music theory and composition were women, a decrease from 26.4% of the period 2013–16; the previous five-year period was 18.9%. The paucity of women, trans, and non-binary gender music theorists over many decades should be a huge concern to the Society. Demographic diversity is not only an issue of equity, but also yields innovation in research that enriches the field. Drawing on insights about disciplinary constructions of gender and race by women scholars and scholars of color in classics and philosophy, experiences shared by women in music theory, an interview I conducted with composer and theorist Milton Babbitt, and the archive of music theorist and pianist Patricia Carpenter, this article proposes that we rethink what gets to count as music theory, become aware of discriminatory attitudes and behavior towards those who are not men, white, or heterosexual in the field, and take action by reshaping the field into one that supports those who wish to be part of it.
{"title":"Getting to Count","authors":"Ellie M. Hisama","doi":"10.1093/MTS/MTAA033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/MTS/MTAA033","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The Society for Music Theory (SMT) remains a starkly male-identified society. According to the SMT’s 2019 annual report on demographics of its membership, 33% of SMT members self-identified as women—a figure that has not changed significantly over the last five years—in comparison to 51.2% of American Musicological Society members in 2017 and 52.2% of Society for Ethnomusicology members in 2014, the most recent data available. The NORC Survey of Earned Doctorates indicates that in 2018, only 20% of U.S. Ph.D.s in music theory and composition were women, a decrease from 26.4% of the period 2013–16; the previous five-year period was 18.9%. The paucity of women, trans, and non-binary gender music theorists over many decades should be a huge concern to the Society. Demographic diversity is not only an issue of equity, but also yields innovation in research that enriches the field. Drawing on insights about disciplinary constructions of gender and race by women scholars and scholars of color in classics and philosophy, experiences shared by women in music theory, an interview I conducted with composer and theorist Milton Babbitt, and the archive of music theorist and pianist Patricia Carpenter, this article proposes that we rethink what gets to count as music theory, become aware of discriminatory attitudes and behavior towards those who are not men, white, or heterosexual in the field, and take action by reshaping the field into one that supports those who wish to be part of it.","PeriodicalId":44994,"journal":{"name":"MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/MTS/MTAA033","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43345163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
For centuries, theorists have debated whether musical phrases are normatively beginning-accented or end-accented. The last two decades of the twentieth century gave beginning-accented rhythm the upper hand; yet, recent work on end-accented phrases has reinvigorated the debate. I contribute to this discussion in two ways. First, I aim to rehabilitate a central position of end-accented rhythm by drawing attention to phrase-rhythmic tendencies in classical sentence structure. My analyses show that end-accented sentential schemas are well-established compositional options in various action spaces—including Primary and Secondary Themes—in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century instrumental music. Moreover, integral roles of end-accented sentential themes are substantiated by their production—in tandem with their beginning-accented counterparts—of large-scale progressions analogous to tonal and formal ones. Awareness of these sentential themes re-energizes the century-old debate and deepens our understanding of phrase rhythm as a source of musical meaning. Second, in order to achieve the first goal, I develop a theory of phrase-rhythmic progression for categorizing phrase-rhythmic types and mapping their trajectories. This theory fills a gap in current spatial representations of rhythm and meter, which focus on metric dissonances and hierarchies without considerations of phrase–meter interaction.
{"title":"End-Accented Sentences: Towards a Theory of Phrase-Rhythmic Progression","authors":"Samuel Ng","doi":"10.1093/MTS/MTAA018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/MTS/MTAA018","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 For centuries, theorists have debated whether musical phrases are normatively beginning-accented or end-accented. The last two decades of the twentieth century gave beginning-accented rhythm the upper hand; yet, recent work on end-accented phrases has reinvigorated the debate. I contribute to this discussion in two ways. First, I aim to rehabilitate a central position of end-accented rhythm by drawing attention to phrase-rhythmic tendencies in classical sentence structure. My analyses show that end-accented sentential schemas are well-established compositional options in various action spaces—including Primary and Secondary Themes—in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century instrumental music. Moreover, integral roles of end-accented sentential themes are substantiated by their production—in tandem with their beginning-accented counterparts—of large-scale progressions analogous to tonal and formal ones. Awareness of these sentential themes re-energizes the century-old debate and deepens our understanding of phrase rhythm as a source of musical meaning. Second, in order to achieve the first goal, I develop a theory of phrase-rhythmic progression for categorizing phrase-rhythmic types and mapping their trajectories. This theory fills a gap in current spatial representations of rhythm and meter, which focus on metric dissonances and hierarchies without considerations of phrase–meter interaction.","PeriodicalId":44994,"journal":{"name":"MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/MTS/MTAA018","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44930457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article explores the continued use of eighteenth-century metric manipulations by composers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These manipulations, called imbroglio, close imitation, and imitative imbroglio, are motive-driven and involve the perceptual interaction of meter, motivic parallelism, and perceptual streaming. Their defining features and local perceptual effects, which primarily involve metrical dissonance, are demonstrated in short passages by Schoenberg, Penderecki, Britten, Debussy, Webern, Barber, and Adès. Their larger form-functional and text-expressive potential is demonstrated in analyses of longer passages by Schoenberg, Webern, and Barber.
{"title":"Metric Manipulations in Post-Tonal Music","authors":"J. Sullivan","doi":"10.1093/MTS/MTAA020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/MTS/MTAA020","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article explores the continued use of eighteenth-century metric manipulations by composers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These manipulations, called imbroglio, close imitation, and imitative imbroglio, are motive-driven and involve the perceptual interaction of meter, motivic parallelism, and perceptual streaming. Their defining features and local perceptual effects, which primarily involve metrical dissonance, are demonstrated in short passages by Schoenberg, Penderecki, Britten, Debussy, Webern, Barber, and Adès. Their larger form-functional and text-expressive potential is demonstrated in analyses of longer passages by Schoenberg, Webern, and Barber.","PeriodicalId":44994,"journal":{"name":"MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44029852","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The rhythm of Steve Reich’s Clapping Music (1972) features in so many of his pieces that it can be understood as a rhythmic signature. A theory of rhythmic qualities allows us to identify the signature rhythm’s significant features and relate it to other cyclic rhythms like the Central/West African “standard pattern,” from which it probably originates. Rhythmic qualities derive from the discrete Fourier transform, whose mathematical properties make the theory particularly robust. One property, described by the convolution theorem, predicts the effects of Reich’s diverse rhythmic canons. I apply the theory to Music for Pieces of Wood (1973) and Nagoya Marimbas (1994).
Steve Reich的《拍手音乐》（1972）的节奏在他的许多作品中都有体现，可以理解为一种节奏特征。节奏品质理论使我们能够识别标志性节奏的显著特征，并将其与其他循环节奏联系起来，如中/西非的“标准模式”，它可能起源于此。节奏性来源于离散傅立叶变换，其数学特性使该理论特别稳健。卷积定理描述的一个性质预测了赖希各种节奏准则的影响。我将这一理论应用于《木头碎片的音乐》（1973年）和《名古屋·马里姆巴斯》（1994年）。
{"title":"Steve Reich’s Signature Rhythm and an Introduction to Rhythmic Qualities","authors":"Jason Yust","doi":"10.1093/MTS/MTAA017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/MTS/MTAA017","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The rhythm of Steve Reich’s Clapping Music (1972) features in so many of his pieces that it can be understood as a rhythmic signature. A theory of rhythmic qualities allows us to identify the signature rhythm’s significant features and relate it to other cyclic rhythms like the Central/West African “standard pattern,” from which it probably originates. Rhythmic qualities derive from the discrete Fourier transform, whose mathematical properties make the theory particularly robust. One property, described by the convolution theorem, predicts the effects of Reich’s diverse rhythmic canons. I apply the theory to Music for Pieces of Wood (1973) and Nagoya Marimbas (1994).","PeriodicalId":44994,"journal":{"name":"MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48705754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Heitor Villa-Lobos’s Tres poêmas indigenas (1926, published 1929) provide an unusual image of Brazilian indigeneity: in three short songs, he creates a narrative of progress, one that ends with redefining himself and modernist colleague Mário de Andrade as Amerindian. The first two songs set melodies collected in 1557 and 1912, the third a new poem by Andrade (1926). The set begins with a narrow pitch collection, thin textures, and ostinatos and ends with a lied-like approach to text–music relations. In this way, Villa-Lobos creates an evolving image of Amerindian music-making that capitalizes on Indianist fantasies while redefining indigeneity as encompassing even the most modern and urbane Brazilians.
Heitor Villa Lobos的《土著人》（1926年，1929年出版）提供了一个不同寻常的巴西土著形象：在三首短歌中，他创造了一个关于进步的叙事，最后将自己和现代主义同事Mário de Andrade重新定义为美洲印第安人。前两首歌设定了1557年和1912年收集的旋律，第三首是安德拉德（1926）的新诗。这套作品以一个狭窄的音高集合、薄薄的纹理和ostinatos开始，以一种谎言般的文本-音乐关系方式结束。通过这种方式，Villa Lobos创造了一个不断发展的美洲印第安人音乐制作形象，利用了印度人的幻想，同时将土著重新定义为包括最现代、最有礼貌的巴西人。
{"title":"“Musique cannibale”: The Evolving Sound of Indigeneity in Heitor Villa-Lobos’s Tres poêmas indigenas","authors":"Chelsea Burns","doi":"10.1093/MTS/MTAA019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/MTS/MTAA019","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Heitor Villa-Lobos’s Tres poêmas indigenas (1926, published 1929) provide an unusual image of Brazilian indigeneity: in three short songs, he creates a narrative of progress, one that ends with redefining himself and modernist colleague Mário de Andrade as Amerindian. The first two songs set melodies collected in 1557 and 1912, the third a new poem by Andrade (1926). The set begins with a narrow pitch collection, thin textures, and ostinatos and ends with a lied-like approach to text–music relations. In this way, Villa-Lobos creates an evolving image of Amerindian music-making that capitalizes on Indianist fantasies while redefining indigeneity as encompassing even the most modern and urbane Brazilians.","PeriodicalId":44994,"journal":{"name":"MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/MTS/MTAA019","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42928327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Musical Illusions and Phantom Words: How Music and Speech Unlock Mysteries of the Brain. By Diana Deutsch","authors":"D. Shanahan","doi":"10.1093/MTS/MTAA026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/MTS/MTAA026","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44994,"journal":{"name":"MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/MTS/MTAA026","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41727945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article considers music that stages the decline of the tonal system through “entropy”—the process conceived in the domain of thermodynamics by which energy is wasted through randomized dispersal or decrease in organization. Tonal organization faced challenges at the turn of the twentieth century, much of the music possessing a sense of tonal drive but with an increased array of outlets for this drive’s tension to be released. This article regards the dominant-seventh complex and its variant configurations as paradigms of this tonal drive and attempts to understand their new ambiguities and the increased richness of possibility they enjoy. In order to achieve this, the study engages in probability theory to create a unique profile for each tonal drive in a given piece, effectively measuring its strength. The fluctuating strengths can be mapped and the process of entropy tracked through a single piece, potentially even across repertoires. Using a new method of visually laying out the patterns of these dominant drives, combined with concepts from information theory that allow us to measure and compare levels of entropy mathematically, I attempt to combine qualitative and quantitative data to model the entropic processes that inhere in early twentieth-century music.
{"title":"The Enigma of Entropy in Extended Tonality","authors":"Kenneth M. Smith","doi":"10.1093/MTS/MTAA021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/MTS/MTAA021","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article considers music that stages the decline of the tonal system through “entropy”—the process conceived in the domain of thermodynamics by which energy is wasted through randomized dispersal or decrease in organization. Tonal organization faced challenges at the turn of the twentieth century, much of the music possessing a sense of tonal drive but with an increased array of outlets for this drive’s tension to be released. This article regards the dominant-seventh complex and its variant configurations as paradigms of this tonal drive and attempts to understand their new ambiguities and the increased richness of possibility they enjoy. In order to achieve this, the study engages in probability theory to create a unique profile for each tonal drive in a given piece, effectively measuring its strength. The fluctuating strengths can be mapped and the process of entropy tracked through a single piece, potentially even across repertoires. Using a new method of visually laying out the patterns of these dominant drives, combined with concepts from information theory that allow us to measure and compare levels of entropy mathematically, I attempt to combine qualitative and quantitative data to model the entropic processes that inhere in early twentieth-century music.","PeriodicalId":44994,"journal":{"name":"MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49568181","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
chelsea burns, Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the University of Texas at Austin, studies Latin American modernisms as well as bluegrass and country music. Her research focuses on analysis in context and the ethics of analysis as it relates to marginalized repertories. Recent articles have appeared in Music Theory Online and Journal of Popular Music Studies.
{"title":"Contributors","authors":"","doi":"10.1093/mts/mtaa027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/mts/mtaa027","url":null,"abstract":"<span>chelsea burns, Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the University of Texas at Austin, studies Latin American modernisms as well as bluegrass and country music. Her research focuses on analysis in context and the ethics of analysis as it relates to marginalized repertories. Recent articles have appeared in <span style=\"font-style:italic;\">Music Theory Online</span> and <span style=\"font-style:italic;\">Journal of Popular Music Studies</span>.</span>","PeriodicalId":44994,"journal":{"name":"MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138530613","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
For over twenty years, music theory has tried to diversify with respect to race, yet the field today remains remarkably white, not only in the people who practice music theory but also in the race of the composers and theorists whose work music theory privileges. In this article, I offer a few explanations for why this is so. I posit a music-theoretical “white racial frame” that is structural and institutionalized, and argue that only through a deframing and reframing of this white racial frame will we begin to see positive racial changes in music theory.
{"title":"Music Theory’s White Racial Frame","authors":"Philip A. Ewell","doi":"10.1093/MTS/MTAA031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/MTS/MTAA031","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 For over twenty years, music theory has tried to diversify with respect to race, yet the field today remains remarkably white, not only in the people who practice music theory but also in the race of the composers and theorists whose work music theory privileges. In this article, I offer a few explanations for why this is so. I posit a music-theoretical “white racial frame” that is structural and institutionalized, and argue that only through a deframing and reframing of this white racial frame will we begin to see positive racial changes in music theory.","PeriodicalId":44994,"journal":{"name":"MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47309971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This introduction provides context for the Society for Music Theory’s 2019 plenary session, “Reframing Music Theory.” These four papers together confront the frames of race, ethnicity, nationality, ability, gender, and sexuality that have bounded music theory and music theorists for generations, constraining what our discipline can be. They explore underlying reasons for the lack of diversity in the Society’s demographics and suggest ways that our research can be enriched when we embrace this diversity, to lead to a more equitable future.
{"title":"Naming the Frames that Shape Us","authors":"E. Marvin","doi":"10.1093/MTS/MTAA028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/MTS/MTAA028","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This introduction provides context for the Society for Music Theory’s 2019 plenary session, “Reframing Music Theory.” These four papers together confront the frames of race, ethnicity, nationality, ability, gender, and sexuality that have bounded music theory and music theorists for generations, constraining what our discipline can be. They explore underlying reasons for the lack of diversity in the Society’s demographics and suggest ways that our research can be enriched when we embrace this diversity, to lead to a more equitable future.","PeriodicalId":44994,"journal":{"name":"MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/MTS/MTAA028","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43049502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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