Professor Georg Friedrich Haas' new opera, Morgen und Abend, premiered at Covent Garden on Friday, November 13. Professor Haas' new work received a very positive review from the New York Times. Read the review here.
Congratulations to Prof. Haas!
Prof. George Lewis (Case Professor of American Music) gave the President's Endowed Plenary Address at the 2015 meeting of the American Musicological Society (AMS) to a capacity crowd. The lecture, entitled “Putting Scholarship into (Art) Practice: Four Cases," was described in the AMS program as follows:
“This talk troubles the bright line separating creative work from academic research, through an examination of four cases from my own work as a composer and interactive artist. The works themselves are diverse in content and affect, and range from computer music performance and interactive installations to opera. Each of these works, however, was developed through a combination of ethnographic method, historical and archival work, analysis of musical practice, and critical examination. The results are serving in turn as the impetus for my musicological writing—on the works themselves, on histories of larger networks of musical practice that these works draw upon, and on still larger socio-technological networks and practices that all of us encounter every day. Thus, the talk affirms the fact that the world continues to draw critically important lessons from music—often cryptically, and despite an ongoing and deleterious trope that portrays music as peripheral to American intellectual life. In staunch opposition to this trope, musicologist Jann Pasler has proposed that ‘music can serve as a critical tool, activating and developing multiple layers of awareness... I invite the reader to listen for music’s resonance in the world and, through music, to help us imagine our future.’ My talk makes common cause with Professor Pasler’s view, echoing philosopher Pierre Hadot’s understanding that ‘in philosophy, we are not dealing with the mere creation of a work of art: the goal is rather to transform ourselves.’”
Congratulations to Prof. Lewis!
The Columbia Music Scholarship Conference invites graduate students and recent Ph.D. recipients to submit abstracts to be selected for presentation at our eleventh annual meeting on February 27, 2016 at Columbia University in New York. The theme of the 2016 meeting will be Listening. We are pleased to announce that the conference will feature a keynote address by Alexander Rehding (Harvard University).
CFP Deadline: January 5, 2016.
We seek papers that engage with topics including, but not limited to, the following:
--Mediated Listening: How have technologies shaped listening practices and how have practices of listening shaped technologies?
--Sound: Toxic or Curative?: How have medical, physiological, and psychological discoveries affected the way listening is understood? How have practitioners in these fields studied listening and hearing?
--(In)Active Listening: How might states of mind affect listening? How does space influence listening practice and musical performance?
--Listening In: How can listening be used as a mode of surveillance and control? How does ethics factor into listening?
--Constructed Listeners: Who are the assumed listeners in music scholarship? Whose identities are excluded? How are these exclusions perpetuated by different types of music, sound, or noise?
--Pedagogy: In what ways have educational institutions impacted the practices of listening? How do pedagogical approaches “cultivate” listeners?
We are soliciting proposals for twenty-minute presentations from scholars active in all music disciplines as well as from scholars in related fields, aiming to maximize the theoretical and methodological breadth of the discussion.
Please submit abstracts of 200 to 250 words to 2016cmsc [at] gmail.com by January 5, 2016. Please include your name and contact information in your e-mail only, and attach the abstract as a Word, text, or .pdf file. The committee will select papers anonymously. All scholars who submit abstracts will be notified of the committee's decision by January 20th. For more information on the conference, please visit the conference website.
Featured Music Performance Program Student: OLACHI OLERU (CC'16)
I am a senior in SEAS majoring in biomedical engineering with minors in mechanical engineering and music.
I have been in the Music Performance Program since my freshman year.
The MPP is amazing because it allows students to study with world renowned musicians with whom we would never otherwise have the chance to study.
Professor Ana María Ochoa delivered four public lectures from November 2 to November 6 for the Cátedra Jesús C. Romero 2015 in Mexico's CENIDIM (Centro Nacional de Investigación, Documentación e Información Musical "Carlos Chávez"). The lecture series was entitled "Figuraciones de lo sonoro en América Latina y el Caribe." More information can be found here.
Featured Music Performance Program Student: JAKE CHAPMAN (CC'17)
Senior
Music major, computer science concentration
Since first semester of freshman year.
There are very few parts of my musical life that MPP hasn't in some way helped out. I've been able to play in many great chamber music ensembles with wonderfully accomplished coaches, and there always seems to be some performance opportunity available whenever I need it. Even though I take lessons outside of Columbia, MPP has provided me with the funding necessary for me to do so. Columbia doesn't have a conservatory program, but it certainly feels like the offerings are equivalent to one. It is also an immense help that all of the ladies working the MPP office are incredibly warm, supportive, and generous.
Featured Music Performance Program Student: Ben Rosenblum (CC'16)
Columbia College, ’16.
Philosophy.
I have been participating in the MPP since my freshman year here. I began with the MPP in the big band jazz ensemble my first year, and I have been participating in the jazz program ever since. I have also performed in the Columbia-Juilliard showcases since my junior year.
Featured Music Performance Program Student: Joseph Morag (CC'18)
Sophomore
I'm hoping to major in music and physics with a concentration in mathematics.
I've been a part of MPP since the first day I set foot on campus as a student.
Being a member of the CUO and working under Maestro Milarsky has contributed enormously to my growth as a musician.
HTTP://WWW.CAPEVINCENTARTSCOUNCIL.ORG/2015COMPETITIONRESULTS.HTML
We are proud to announce that Dr. Courtney Bryan (2014, DMA Music Composition) has accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Music at Tulane University's Newcomb Department of Music beginning in Fall 2016, after she completes a second appointment as Postdoctorate Research Associate at Princeton University's Department of African-American Studies (2015-16). During this academic year, she will research the music of Alice Coltrane, write a commissioned piece for the ensemble, Duo Noire, and continue working on various compositions and performances. Congratulations, Dr. Bryan! http://www.courtneybryan.com
2015-16 Historical Musicology and Music Theory colloquium Series Announced:Unless otherwise noted, events are held in Dodge Hall, Room 622. All talks are free and open to the public.
Friday, October 2 (4:00 pm): Robert Gjerdingen (Northwestern University), "The Americanization of Harmony: A Decade of Apprenticeship in Two Convenient Credit Hours" (Please note that Gjerdingen's talk, exceptionally, will begin at 4pm rather than 2pm).
Friday, October 9 (2:00 pm): Benjamin Piekut (Cornell University), "Avoiding a Theory of the Vernacular Avant-Garde"
Friday, February 26 (2:00 pm): Carolyn Abbate (Harvard University), title TBA
Friday, April 1 (2:00 pm): Dora Hanninen (University of Maryland-College Park), title TBA
Friday, April 15 (2:00 pm): Jacomien Prins (University of Warwick), title TBA
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Additionally, the departments of Music and Philosophy are co-sponsoring the following event (part of a speaker series on Philosophy and Race):
Friday, March 25 (noon): Robin James (UNC-Charlotte), "Is the 'Post-' In Post-Identity the Same As the 'Post-' In Post-Genre?: Race and Pop Music Aesthetics"
The Columbia University Music Performance Program is pleased to announce a new website!
Learn all about the MPP's performance offerings (lessons, ensembles, and more!), hear audio tracks of Columbia musicians, and much more! Current students can use the site to schedule auditions and learn about performance opportunities. For those considering applying to Columbia or Barnard, the site provides a rich overview of the many opportunities to perform classical music, world music, and jazz at Columbia.
The site was designed and developed by Square Candy Design. Square Candy also created the new website for the Columbia University Orchestra.
2015 Columbia Music Department Newsletter
Congratulations to Columbia ethnomusicology PhD student Kevin Holt, who has been awarded a 2013 Predoctoral Fellowship from the Ford Foundation. This fellowship, which provides three years of full support for doctoral research, is sponsored by the Ford Foundation and administered by the National Research Council of the National Academies. Mr. Holt's selection for this prestigious award reflects Ford Foundation's panelists’ "judgment of scholarly competence as well as the promise of future achievement as a scholar, researcher, and teacher."
The Center for Ethnomusicology holds copies of, and rights to, the Laura Boulton Collection of Traditional Music, consisting of field recordings of folk and traditional musics made around the world by collector Laura Boulton, from the 1930s through the 1960s. In 1933 and again in 1940, Boulton recorded a total of 129 Hopi songs, ranging from secular to spiritual genres. (The 1933 recordings were made at the Chicago Century of Progress Exposition; the 1940 recordings at Hopi.)