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Rewriting Translation: Interpreting Ortiz
By Susan Thomas“Translation is not an innocent, transparent activity but is highly charged with significance at every stage; it rarely, if ever, involves a relationship of equality between texts,...
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Inside, Outside, and Between: On Translation and the Study of Afro-Cuban Music
By David Font-NavarreteLinking Africa with the Americas involves translation. So it is useful to recall the perspective of Benjamin on this art: only when you love and respect another language as much...
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Global Perspectives—Global New Music: From Avant-Garde to Rock, Korea to Estonia
By Gavin LeeIn the past few years, the Society for Music Theory (SMT) has seen the emergence of a global consciousness as evidenced in special panels organized by the Committee on Diversity (“Asian...
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Global Perspectives—Significance of the Parts in Music of Tōru Takemitsu
By Tomoko DeguchiThis essay contemplates one of the underlying Japanese cultural tendencies, an emphasis on the significance of individual parts (as opposed to the whole), and its manifestation in the...
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Quick Take — Motives, Modulations, and “The March of the Resistance” in The...
By Frank LehmanIf there is a thematic through-line in the score for Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi, it is "The March of the Resistance." Introduced in The Force Awakens as a stern counterpart to...
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Quick Takes - Democratizing Star Wars
By James BuhlerA general interpretive maxim for Star Wars is that, with the exception of the Ewok Victory Celebration, John Williams can do no wrong. (This hagiographic attitude toward Williams is well...
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Quick Take — Voice, Laughter, and Letting Go in The Last Jedi
By Brooke McCorkleWhen it comes to sound and Star Wars, most people immediately think of the triumphant opening fanfare, the plaintive horn leitmotif for the Force, or of Darth Vader’s Imperial March....
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Quick Take — A Rose by Any Other Theme
By Naomi GraberLike it or not, one facet of the Star Wars universe is absolutely clear: girls run the galaxy. Or at least they should. Women have been at the center of the rebellion since Princess Leia...
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An Appropriately Late, Musicological Reaction to the Super Bowl Halftime Show
By Nathan LandesAs a longtime football fan, I am increasingly sure that history will not look kindly upon America’s favorite sport. The prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy among former...
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Dissertation Digest: Parisian Music Journalism and the Politics of the Piano
By Shaena WeitzIf you lived in France in September 1833, and you wanted to read a journal about music, you had one option: the erudite, expensive, and sometimes stodgy Revue musicale (Musical Review)....
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Musical Labor and Machine-Age Imperialism
By Sergio Ospina-Romero, Fritz Schenker, and Allison WenteThe discussions about music, labor, and value that have long accompanied the history of popular music have recently seemed to bubble to the...
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Mechanical Instruments and Taylorized Musical Labor
By Allison WenteIn this cartoon from John Philip Sousa’s 1906 article, “The Menace of Mechanical Music,” two anthropomorphized phonographs and a push-up piano player with its large-toothed mouth agape...
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Dissertation Digest: Interpretive Labor in Experimental Music
By Kirsten Speyer CarithersMy high school had strong band and choir programs, but no orchestra. Consequently, my first experience playing symphonic music came not with Haydn or Mozart, as might be...
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Talent Scouts, Drunk Musicians, and other Recording Adventures in the...
By Sergio Ospina-RomeroBetween 1905 and 1926, recording scouts of the Victor Talking Machine Company established temporary recording studios across Latin America. After setting up their equipment,...
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The Politics of “Oriental Syncopation”
By Fritz SchenkerIn this final post exploring issues of musical labor in the age of machine-age imperialism (the subject of a panel Allison Wente, Sergio Ospina-Romero, and I organized for the Society...
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Global Perspectives—Akemi Naito (Japan/NY): The Woman in the Dunes for Solo...
By Barry WienerThe substance of sound is central to Japanese composer Akemi Naito’s compositional thinking. She asserts that the structure of a work “follows the sound,” which has “energy of...
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Global Perspectives—Rock under the Red Flag: “A Piece of Red Cloth” by Cui Jian
By Ya-Hui ChengCui Jian, Chinese writer and musician, has long been an iconic symbol representing the voice of Chinese youth in the 1980s.<1> In particular, he is remembered for his performances...
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Voice and Silence in Student Protests Against Gun Violence
By Katherine MeizelPhoto credit: Alex Brandon, Associated Presshttps://www.denverpost.com/2018/03/24/survivor-marks-6-minutes-of-strength-and-silence-at-rally/In Park City, Utah on March 24, 2018, a...
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Global Perspectives—The Music of Helena Tulve
By Amy BauerThe only student of Erkki Sven-Tüür, Estonian composer Helena Tulve shares her former teacher’s eclecticism and love for nature. Yet Tulve’s music eschews expressionist drama, reflecting...
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The Urban Busker and the Virtual Realm
By Nicole VilknerAnyone who has ever inhabited, visited, or commuted to a city has probably witnessed some variant of street performance, or busking. This inherently simple transaction – free, public...
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