The GSWP offers educational workshops for graduate students, emphasizing instruction, participation, and discussion. It was founded by Wayne Alpern, who acted as Administrative Director of the Program from 2006–2011, and whose efforts, innovative ideas, and financial contributions supported the Program during its initial years. The workshops, each of which is led by a prominent scholar in the field, take place during the SMT Annual Meeting. So as to encourage interaction, each workshop is limited to 10–12 participants. Since its inception, 180 graduate students have participated in the GSWP Program.
Eligibility
All full-time students registered in a graduate program in music theory, or in a graduate program in musicology or composition with a substantial theory component, and who have not received their Ph.D. as of April 1, 2013, are eligible to apply. Participants are selected by a random draw from the pool of eligible applicants. The GSWP is designed to provide students with the opportunity to study with a professor not at their home institution; therefore, students affiliated with the institution of the instructor are ineligible for that instructor’s workshop. Prior GSWP participants are permitted to apply, but preference will be given to first-time applicants.
Application
To apply for the 2013 workshop program, please send your name, e-mail, and school affiliation to John Roeder at j.roeder@ubc.ca. Please be sure to indicate for which workshop(s) you are applying—you may apply for one or more. Also, you must have a professor at your institution send to the same address a short e-mail message (one sentence will suffice), confirming that you meet the requirements for participation, stated above.
Be aware that these workshops require many hours of preparation in advance, including both reading and writing assignments. You are not expected to be an expert in the subject matter of the workshop(s) for which you apply, but you should have a serious interest in and commitment to it.
Applications are due by April 1, 2013; the selected participants will be notified by May 1, 2013 and must accept or decline by May 15, 2013.
Fee
There is no fee to participate in the program. Participants are responsible, however, for the cost of SMT membership and conference registration (but not at the time of application), as well as for other expenses of attendance, including transportation, housing, and meals. The GSWP provides a reception on the evening before the workshops, a coffee break during the workshops, and a modest brown-bag lunch after the workshops.
2013 Workshops
- Janet Schmalfeldt: The Idea of Musical Form as Process, from Analytic and Performance Perspectives
With their insistence that form is a dialectical process in the music of Beethoven, Theodor Adorno and Carl Dahlhaus emerge as the guardians of a long-standing critical tradition in which Hegelian concepts have been brought to bear on the question of musical form. My account of this “Beethoven-Hegelian” tradition has served as my point of departure for developing new approaches to the perception of form in music of the Romantic generation—techniques that draw upon the Hegelian notion of “becoming” (das Werden). This workshop will explore cases within the nineteenth-century repertoire whereby, as we listen to or perform the music in time, we are encouraged to perceive that the formal function initially suggested by a passage undergoes a process of “becoming”: it invites retrospective reinterpretation within the larger formal context. Performers especially tend to be sensitive to such transformations, whether or not they describe these in words. Thus this workshop might particularly appeal to students who have had some performance experience, or whose scholarly work intersects with performance concerns. A discography and a short list of writings about time and process in music, essays about the analysis/performance dialogue, and excerpts for analysis will serve as preparation for a lively discussion about perceived tensions between synoptic and experiential approaches to musical form.
- Justin London: What is Metric Well Formedness?
In this workshop we will explore the notion and nature of metric well-formedness—on what basis would one claim that a particular musical passage educes a well-formed meter (or not). Topics discussed include well-formedness in language and linguistics, characterizations of well-formed rhythmic and metric structures in 18th, 19th, and 20th century music theory, current models for metrical well-formedness (including the relationship between well-formedness vs. preference rules), and interdisciplinary perspectives on meter. In so doing, we will not only examine the foundations of metric theory; we will necessarily confront the question of what it is that we are building a theory of—that is, just what is musical meter, anyway(?). Teams of workshop participants will research and prepare posters on specific topics (working in consultation with JML and sharing their bibliographies with other teams), and the workshop itself will involve an interactive series of poster presentations and discussions.
Previous Workshops
- 2012: Harmony and Voice Leading in Rock and Pop Music Instructor: Walt Everett (University of Michigan); A Corpus-Based Approach to Tonal Theory Instructor: Ian Quinn (Yale University)
- 2011: Exploring Musical Spaces Instructor: Julian Hook (Indiana University)
- 2010: Stravinsky Instructor: Gretchen Horlacher (Indiana University); Musical Narrative Instructor: Michael Klein (Temple University)
- 2009: Music Pedagogy Instructor: Brian Alegant (Oberlin College); Schenkerian Analysis Instructor: Poundie Burstein (City University of New York)
- 2008: Musical Meaning in Beethoven Instructor: Robert Hatten (Indiana University); Analyzing Contemporary Music Instructor: John Roeder (University of British Columbia)
- 2007: Sonata Theory Instructors: James Hepokoski (Yale University) and Warren Darcy (Oberlin College); Analyzing Early Music Instructor: Cristle Collins Judd (Bowdoin College)
- 2006: Voice Leading in Atonal Music Instructor: Joseph Straus (City University of New York)
Contact
For additional information, please contact John Roeder, Chair of the Committee on Workshop Programs, at j.roeder@ubc.ca. The 2013 Committee on Workshop Programs consists of John Roeder (UBC), Chair; Elizabeth West Marvin (Eastman); and Samuel Ng (Oberlin).
Workshop opportunities are also available to those who have completed a Ph.D.