Time's Arrow

The Time's Arrow student new music ensemble at BU will be performing on April 12 at 8 p.m. in the Concert Hall (855 Commonwealth Avenue).

Our program includes chamber works by BU faculty and friends: Lukas Foss, Theodore Antoniou, Richard Cornell, Martin Amlin, Samuel Headrick, Ketty Nez, Shulamit Ran, James Radford, and David Liptak.

Visiting from Eastman, David Liptak will also present his works at the Composer's Forum on April 11 (12:30 - 2 p.m., Concert Hall). His trio "Commedia" (violin, clarinet, and piano) will be performed on both days.

For more information, please see http://www.bu.edu/cfa/music

Please join us!

Call for Papers - Music Library Association

MUSIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
CALL FOR PAPERS
PITTSBURGH, 2007

The Music Library Association 2007 Program Committee announces its call for papers and presentations for the 2007 annual conference, to be held in Pittsburgh, Penn., February 25-March 3, 2007. This will be a joint meeting with the Society for American Music.

The deadline for programmatic papers and presentations: April 30, 2006.

The Committee is coordinating closely with the SAM Program Committee to develop a conference that will include a rich variety of sessions dealing with issues relevant and of interest to both groups. We will be encouraging, as much as possible, joint presentations, especially among roundtables and interest groups of the two organizations, as well as papers from individuals.

Following procedures established with the 2006 program, proposals will be submitted via an online form, now posted on the MLA Web site (link from the home page under News). If you have any questions please contact me at mmcknigh@library.unt.edu

Here is a direct link to the form:

www.lib.lsu.edu/cgi-bin/dbman/mla2006/db.cgi?db=default&uid=default&add_form=1

Program chair is Mark McKnight, University of North Texas (mmcknigh@library.unt.edu). Voting members of the committee include Linda Solow Blotner, University of Hartford (blotner@hartford.edu); Richard Boursy, Yale University (richard.boursy@yale.edu); D.J. Hoek, Northwestern University (djhoek@northwestern.edu); and Eunice Schroeder, University of California, Santa Barbara (schroeder@library.ucsb.edu). George Boziwick, New York Public Library (gboziwick@nypl.org), is the program chair for SAM. If you have questions, please contact any of these members.

Thanks.

Mark McKnight
University of North Texas
Music Library
P.O. Box 305190
Denton, TX 76203
Phone: 940/565-2859
FAX: 940/565-2599
E-mail: mmcknigh@library.unt.edu

Aldo Abreu - Lecture Recital

Aldo Abreu of our faculty will give a lecture-recital on the Telemann Fantasias for recorder on Monday, April 3 at 7 PM in room 219 as part of the Boston Baroque residency presentation series.

(Email from P. Sykes to Historical Performance department, CFA.)

Harvard Conference: Music, Poetry, and Patronage

Friday April 7 (all day) and Saturday April 8 (morning only)
John Knowles Paine Concert Hall

The Department of Music in collaboration with the Lauro De Bosis Lectureship in the History of the Italian Civilization presents an international conference on:

Music, Poetry, and Patronage in Late Renaissance Italy:Luca Marenzio and the Madrigal

Friday, April 7
8:45-12:30 "Music and Poetry." Speakers: Franco Piperno, James Haar, Giuseppe Gerbino, Seth Coluzzi. 2:15: Lecture: Jessie Ann Owens on Marenzio's Eighth Book (see evening concert).3:00-5:30: Round Table "Music and Patronage." Position paper: Claudio Annibaldi; Respondents: Mario Biagioli, Jonathan Glixon, Arnaldo Morelli, Stefano Lorenzetti
8:00: CONCERT. Marenzio's Eighth Book of Madrigals. Ensemble "Blue Heron," Scott Metcalfe

Saturday, April 8
8:30-12:30: "Luca Marenzio, compositor moderno et vago". Chair: Sean Gallagher. Speakers: Paolo Fabbri, Paolo Cecchi, Ruth De Ford, Etienne Darbellay, Laurent Pugin.

More info: http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k4810
Contact person: Mauro Calcagno, calcagno@fas.harvard.edu

Susan McClary in Cambridge

Ideological pressures often exert control over narrative endings, where plot tensions are resolved and an ideal world re-established. Of all seventeenth-century cultural environments, the court of Louis XIV would seem the most concerned with dictating the details of artistic media. Yet some of the most notable instances of the French tragédie lyrique (Lully’s Armide, Charpentier’s Médée) end with sorceresses taking to the air on dragon carts, thus breaking through the frame we would expect to contain them. This talk will examine the conditions that made these extraordinary gestures viable.

Thursday, April 20, 2006 at 4:30 p.m.
Cronkhite Living Room
6 Ash Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Free and open to the public
For more information, call 617-495-8600

Susan McClary, professor of musicology at the University of California, Los Angeles, has taught at the University of Minnesota and McGill University. Recognized as a significant figure in the “New Musicology,” McClary specializes in the cultural criticism of music, both the European canon and contemporary popular genres, and her work is noted for combining musicology and feminism. She is best known for her book Feminine Endings: Music, Gender, and Sexuality, which examines cultural constructions of gender, sexuality, and the body in various musical repertories, ranging from early seventeenth-century opera to the songs of Madonna. In her recent publications, McClary explores the ways in which subjectivities—cultural notions of selfhood, of how emotions “feel,” and so on—have been construed in music from the sixteenth-century onward. She is the author of Georges Bizet: Carmen, Conventional Wisdom: The Content of Musical Form, and Modal Subjectivities: Renaissance Self-Fashioning in the Italian Madrigal. She is now working on Power and Desire in Seventeenth-Century Music (forthcoming from Princeton University Press). In 1995, McClary received a “genius” grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

This is the fourth and final event in the 2005–2006 Dean’s Lecture Series.

Call For Papers - National Opera Association

CALL FOR PAPERS

Scholarly investigation is indispensable to the field of opera, especially as a basis for production and performance.

The National Opera Association is pleased to announce its Twenty-Second Scholarly Papers Competition, 2006, for outstanding scholarly papers on operatic subjects.

Deadline for the submission of scholarly papers: June 1, 2006.

Author notification: after September 1, 2006.

____________________________________

Eligibility

The competition is open to any interested author. Membership in NOA is not required.

No registration fee is required. Deadline for submission: June 1, 2006.

Author notification: after September 1, 2006.

Previous winners of this competition may not re-apply, but are strongly encouraged to submit articles for consideration to "The Opera Journal," a NOA publication.
____________________________________

Guidelines

The scholarly paper should explore an operatic subject, present significant research and conclusions, and include an extensive bibliography citing primary, secondary and, if applicable, tertiary sources.

Authors should follow these guidelines:

· The paper must be typewritten, double-spaced, no more than 3000 words in length.
· The paper's title and the name of its author should be provided on a detachable title page. The author's name should NOT appear on subsequent pages.
· Only one submission per person is admissible and must be by any party other than the author and that it has not been previously published.
· Papers previously presented orally are eligible as long as they have not or will not be published in any proceedings.
· Papers will be judged particularly for significant advances in research and conclusions that shed new light on an operatic topic dealing with music drama, the libretto, the history of the genre, etc.
· Topics may be as broad as the field of opera itself, which includes historical and theoretical analysis of the music and libretto (along lines of current and past critical theory and translation thereof), singing, acting, costuming, stagecraft, theater, etc.
· The jury will consider the clarity and quality of the writing, judge the acceptability of the paper for publication in "The Opera Journal," and will also rate papers on their overall suitability to be read in
an abridged version of no more than twenty minutes length at the convention's Scholarly Papers Session.
____________________________________

Awards

The winner will be invited to read her/his paper during the Scholarly Papers Session at the annual convention, early January, 2007, at New York City.

The Leland Fox Scholarly Paper Stipend of $500 will be awarded to the reader of a winning paper at the annual convention.

The winning paper will be published in "The Opera Journal." Copies of papers not selected, accompanied by the committee's critiques, will be forwarded to the editor of the journal for possible consideration for publication.
____________________________________

Submission Procedure

There is no application fee for the competition.

Submission may be by mail or email attachment.

Papers will not be returned.

Submit entries and any inquiries about the competition to:

Dr. Robert Hansen
National Opera Association
PO Box 60869
Canyon, TX 79016-0001
email: rhansen@mail.wtamu.edu

Deadline for the submission of scholarly papers: June 1, 2006.
Author notification: after September 1, 2006.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Cordially,

Paul-Andre Bempechat
Scholarly Papers and Dissertation Awards Committee
National Opera Association
pabempec@fas.harvard.edu

Call For Participants - Staging the Feminine

Call for Participants

Symposium: "Staging the Feminine: The Arts of the Prima Donna, 1720-1920," 14-16 July 2006

This event will assemble a group of scholars from Great Britain, Europe, and North America whose scholarship focuses on issues concerning divas and the myriad cultures in which they circulate.

The format for this symposium is distinct from the paper presentation / Q&A sessions that are typical of most conferences. The event will consist of round-table sessions in which panelists and audience members participate in discussions focusing on varied topics concerning the present state of research on the diva and diva culture. For each session, we envisage four panelists will deliver short, ten-minute position papers geared toward generating conversation among all participants at the symposium. Presentations on work-in-progress are welcome. We hope to achieve two important goals from these sessions: first, to create and nurture the community of scholars conducting research on singers, both within and outside the discipline of musicology; and second, to establish a plan for a larger conference (of the more typical format) to occur in the summer or fall of 2007.

Although participation in the symposium is by invitation, five places have been made available for interested scholars by application. If you would like to attend, please send a curriculum vitae, with details of your diva-related research interests and publications (as appropriate), and an outline of what you would like to contribute to the symposium. Postgraduate students (graduate students in the US) are particularly encouraged to apply. Applications should be sent electronically to r.e.cowgill@leeds.ac.uk and porisshr@ucmail.uc.edu, to arrive no later than 31 March 2006. Applicants will be notified of the result by 7 April.

For more information, see the web page: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/diva/

Hilary Poriss
hilary.poriss@uc.edu

Call For Papers - Performance Practice

Call for Papers and Performances
Performance Practice: Issues and Approaches

The Department of Music of Rhodes College invites proposals for papers and performances for a conference on “Performance Practice: Issues and Approaches,” to be held 4-6 March 2007. The conference will feature scholarly papers and roundtables on issues related to performance practice as well as performances and lecture recitals illustrating approaches to historically informed performance. Proposals on a wide range of topics are encouraged, including, but not limited to, issues relating to specific composers, geographic areas, and periods of music history from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, performance practice of repertoires outside the traditional canon of Western music, and the impact of technology on performance practice. It is expected that papers selected for the conference will be published.

A highlight of the conference will be the keynote address by Christopher Hogwood, one of the leading figures in historically informed performance. This address will constitute the Rhodes College 2007 Springfield Lecture in Music. A performance of Mendelssohn’s St. Paul by the Rhodes Singers, Rhodes MasterSingers, soloists, and members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra will also be featured as part of the conference.

Abstracts of papers appropriate for the conference should be sent by mail or (preferably) e-mail to:

Dr. Tim Watkins
(watkinst@rhodes.edu)
Department of Music
Rhodes College
2000 North Parkway
Memphis, TN 38112

Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words and should indicate clearly the scope of research, methodology, and conclusions of the paper, as well as the significance of the conclusions. Paper presentations should last no longer than twenty minutes.

Proposals for performances should be sent by mail or (preferably) e-mail to:

Dr. Carole Blankenship
(blankenship@rhodes.edu)
Department of Music
Rhodes College
2000 North Parkway
Memphis, TN 38112

Proposals should include information on the performing forces (including a brief biographical sketch), special performance requirements, and the pieces to be performed. Proposals should be no longer than 300 words. No recordings at this time, please.

The deadline for receipt of abstracts and performance proposals is 1 September 2006.

Timothy D. Watkins
Rhodes College
Phone: 901-843-3774
watkinst@rhodes.edu

Sitting Alone In A Room

“You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room.”

-Dr. Seuss (1904-1991) American writer and cartoonist for his collection of children's books

Online databases seminar

The GSO (Graduate Student Organization for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at BU) is holding a seminar on online databases.

The seminar will be held on Tuesday, April 18, at 3pm in the eClassroom of the Pickering Educational Resources Library which is located in the basement of the School of Education at 2 Sherborn Street. The seminar will be a demonstration of the Web of Science (WOS) database, one of the premier databases available to BU graduate students. This database covers journal articles in the sciences, the social sciences, as well as in the arts and humanities. The seminar/demonstration will be given by Don Sechler, a representative of the publisher of WOS. Any BU graduate student interested in attending should send an email to Bill Mullally (mullally@bu.edu).

Only He Who Is Running Knows

Suggested Listening:

P.D.Q. Bach
Iphigenia in Brooklyn
S. 53162

Hey, guys. I'm showing the "non-serious" side of my personality a bit by mentioning how much I LOVE this piece. You should really give it a whirl...

Volunteer

Below I've copied an email regarding volunteer work as part of a gift for BU's new president. I think this is a fantastic idea (as opposed to the common call for money!), and wanted to know if anyone would like to partake in the gift with me- I am free on Saturday, the Day of Service, or we can work out another time if that does not work for you all.
Let me know what you think!



Subject: Boston University: In the Heart of the City, in the Service of the City
Hello Dean Elmore! The Student Union believes that President Brown’s upcoming inauguration is a very special event at BU and we would like to present him with a gift on behalf of the Student Body on April 27, when he officially becomes BU’s tenth President.
One message President Brown emphasizes strongly is Boston University’s connection with our community, the city of Boston. In light of this message, we thought it would be appropriate to contribute community service in his honor. If each BU Student does one hour of community service this semester it will change our community and show what a difference a small group of people can make.
At http://www.bu.edu/union/presidentbrown we have posted a list of over 90 volunteer sites throughout the city. We have provided this information in the hope that students will contact these sites themselves and volunteer with a group of friends at a site that interests them.
On Saturday, March 25, we are also organizing a Day of Service, where students can volunteer with a group of friends or as individuals at several different sites. We are even providing food for them! The Student Union will have tables in the GSU Link the week before the event (March 20 - 24) so students can register to volunteer and learn more about this service opportunity.
This is an opportunity for everyone to help change something they care about, and help contribute to the legacy of BU. As The Lorax says: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better, its not.”
We would like to record all of the volunteer hours we have done and present it in a book that will be given to President Brown on April 27 at his inauguration. To do this, we only ask students to fill out the form at http://www.bu.edu/union/presidentbrown/mystory telling us how many hours they completed and where; then we will include their story in the book. We will be able to include service submitted to the website by April 9 in the book, but service hours can still be submitted and posted on the website after that date.
We hope you will share in our gift to our President and our community; this is our story to tell.
If anyone has questions, or additional ideas for service locations, please send them to union@bu.edu, I look forward to seeing how we can change our community when we put our minds to it.
Jon Marker

Dead Fish

“Never forget that only a dead fish swims with the stream.”

-Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990) English author and journalist
Senior editor of the British satirical magazine,"Punch" (1953-57)
(taken from the DR-L list, 3/20/06)

(And let us also never forget that dead fish smell terribly.)

D minor

It's part of a trilogy, a musical trilogy I'm working on in D minor which is the saddest of all keys, I find. People weep instantly when they hear it, and I don't know why.

--Nigel Tufnel, Spinal Tap

MATCH School

MATCH, a 6th year, small, rigorous, open admission college prep public charterhigh school in Boston, is hiring:

1) One year service fellowship "MATCH Corps"

We're looking for 45 fellows for the MATCH Corps, a year-long full-time tutoringprogram at our school (featured in NY Times 12/21/05). It's an elite group. Most Corps members are in the top 2% on GRE exams and come from top colleges. Most candidates are about to graduate from college (or recently finished). None majored in education; instead they studied chemistry, history, politicalscience, English - whatever. We provide a stipend; provide housing; pay healthinsurance...and a year that will change the lives of 4 urban teens and theCorps' member's life as well. The typical candidate fits one of three profiles:

1. Some want a year to give back before attending medical school, law school, orgetting an MBA; for example, Elaine Lin, a current MATCH Corps member, will be attending University of Chicago Medical School this coming September.

2. Some have considered Teach For America and other urban teaching programs, but are not sure they want to jump directly into the classroom; Jill Colley, from last year's Corps, now teaches at Excel Charter School in East Boston.

3. Another group is interested in public policy more broadly, and want careers which somehow help disadvantaged populations; Kenny Wang, from last year's Corps, is a grad student at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

To learn more, visit www.matchschool.org/GetInvolved/urban.php, and apply by email to recruiting@matchschool.org

2) Full time teachers--English; science; math. Candidates should only apply if they have at least two years full time urban or high poverty public school teaching experience (h.s. or middle); a relentless work ethic grounded on strong content knowledge and a commitment to build relationships with kids in order topush them to complete homework and perform to higher levels; a sense of humor.

Email cover letter and resume to me, Alan Safran, Exec Director, MATCH, alan.safran@matchschool.org. Thanks.

Alan Safran

*Posted on the Cambridge Vineyard RANDOM list, 3/16/06.

AMS New England Chapter Spring Meeting

April 22 at UMASS-Amherst

Interesting article

For an interesting article discussing American art, read:
New Yorker Article
Doesn't take too long!

Things like this remind me that there are other fields out there, dealing with the same sorts of issues that bother musicologists!

Sally

This could be you

Some might envy the size of this musicologist's pointer or that he gets to make shadow figures during class, but I'm personally frightened of a future like this.

I'll buy someone a coffee if they can identify the piece.

RILM Survey

"Dear colleagues,

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature invites you to participate in a brief survey that will help us to refine our database's coverage and search tools, and to better understand the diverse needs of the wide range of people who use it. The survey will take only five to ten minutes to complete, and your input will result in an improved RILM for everyone.

Please click on the following link, and many thanks for your valuable input.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=363031793018

Barbara Dobbs Mackenzie Editor-in-Chief, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature" Submitted to the AMS-L on 3/13/06

It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp

There's nothing like a class with Shev to open your eyes to the reality of popular music in Western culture.

"The French opéra comíque is the 18th-century equivalent of
‘It’s Tough Out Here For A Pimp.'"

It's good to know that there will always be a place for escapist entertainment. Cheers, Professor.

Call for Papers - Athena Festival

CALL for PAPERS and LECTURE RECITALS

The 2007 ATHENA Festival is pleased to announce a CALL FOR PAPERS to be presented on March 7, 8 and 9, 2007. The ATHENA Festival, held biennially at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky, is devoted to the study and performance of music written by women.

One of the featured guests for the 2007 festival is Helen Walker-Hill, an acknowledged authority on the music of black women.

GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTATION:
1. Topics must relate to music by women composers.
2. Particular, but not exclusive, attention will be given to topics relating to African-American women composers.
3. Sessions will be 45-50 minutes in length.

The ATHENA Festival encourages not only established scholars and performers, but also students with works-in-progress, are encouraged to submit abstracts.

APPLICATION PROCESS:
1. Send a one-page abstract, including the title, of your proposed paper
to:

ATHENA Festival Call for Papers
Attn: Eleanor Brown, festival director
Department of Music
504 Fine Arts Building
Murray State University
Murray, KY 42071-3342

2. On a separate sheet of paper include the following information with
the abstract:

Your name
Your permanent address
Telephone, fax and e mail numbers
Short biography (include accompanist information if applicable) Equipment needed for your presentation

POSTMARK DEADLINE IS SEPTEMBER 1, 2006

Authors of selected papers will be notified by October 15, 2006. Formal acceptance of the invitation to present a session during the 2007 ATHENA Festival, including a $75 festival registration fee for each participant must be received by January 15, 2007. The expense of travel and housing is the responsibility of the presenter, not the ATHENA Festival.

Only those abstracts accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope will be returned.

Makeup Exams, again

So the silly undergraduates have both canceled on me for tomorrow morning. I will not be giving exams in our office!

I think I might give one on Tuesday morning of this week, and then Monday next week, but I'll let you know for sure when they make up their minds.

Thanks!
Sally

Empty Road

Okay, so I'm sitting in Espresso Royale, working on an absolutely spectacular paper for Shev. Anyway, they always have interesting music on, and this morning, well...here's a quote from the guy they're playing right now:

"I'm walking down an empty road,
but it ain't empty anymore,
'cause I'm on it."

Deep.

Makeup Exams

Just wanted to let you all know I will be making up two exams on Monday morning, so I'll need our office from 9-10:30 and 11-12:30.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Sally

Honda commercial

Received this from a friend...

This was sent on to me by one of my choral directors. Its for real! Turn your speakers up first, then go to http://84.40.3.164/ It's the real deal.

Deke Sharon of CASA (ContemporaryAcappella Society)says:

They actually contacted me after speaking to theBritish folks who ended up doing it, and asked for analternative plan/budget (cheaper). I told 'em that you didn't need an entire choir: give me the right 8 singers and an afternoon in the studio and I can make pretty much any sound you'd like. But, in the end, they went with the more expensive option, and it's obviously worked very well for them (big buzz in acappella circles right now).

Listening to it, I'll bet there was some rather serious post-production work going into the recording: eq, delay, etc., but most people don't consider these things. It's a followup to their Rube Goldberg contraption ad built with car parts.

For a more in depth look....Here's a video series about how that commercial wasmade -http://www.honda.co.uk/civic/ Click on the link, then click on "skip intro" at the bottom. At the next screen, click on "Watch Civic." The rehearsal option includes an interview with the composer, and some fascinating glimpses of the score. (Yes, there was a score.)

3rd Musicology Lecture

The third musicology lecture of the Spring Semester will take place on Tuesday, 14 March at 8 pm in the Concert Hall. Victor Coelho will be giving this talk, which is entitled: 'Arias for a Pope: Singing Petrarch in Early Baroque Rome." It deals generally with how Petrarch's poetry was adapted to both 17th-century musical idioms and to the papal culture of Urban VIII, and specifically with a new CD of his that will be released next month by Toccata Classics, entitled, "Songs of Human and Divine Love: G. G. Kapsberger's Libro secondo d'arie" (Rome, 1623), which he recorded with his group Il Furioso.

Starbucks!

Just discovered this:

Free coffee!

Scroll down for information.

:) Sally

Library website

Check out the library's new website. Long time coming. They added a cool thing called RedLightGreen. It searches catalogues all over the world, but the best part is it will construct a bibliography entry in your favorite format!

pjb

Welcome

The Boston University Musicology Students welcome you to our virtual water cooler.