GRADUATE STUDENT WORKSHOP PROGRAM (GSWP)

The GSWP 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 GSWP offers educational workshops for graduate students, emphasizing instruction, participation, and discussion. 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, 150 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 2012, 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 2012 workshop, please send your name, e-mail, and school affiliation to Joseph Straus at jstraus@gc.cuny.edu. 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 above requirements for participation. 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 were due by April 1, 2012; the selected participants will be notified by May 1, 2012 and must accept or decline by May 15, 2012.

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

2012 Workshops

• Walt Everett: Harmony and Voice Leading in Rock and Pop Music

        Harmonic and voice-leading events function tonally at multiple structural levels in rock and pop music as they do in prior tonal repertories, but sometimes through elements and in languages not heard in music of the common-practice period. A growing number of recent publications in this area suggests that some inherently pop-rock constructions make sense when considered through combinations of approaches originally devised for other repertoires, whereas some rock music is more resistant, requiring more “out-of-the-box” thinking for fruitful comparison to more recognizable tonal functions. Participants in this workshop will read essays and analyze individual songs in preparation for discussions that will review findings and propose new ideas in the analysis of tonal relations in examples drawn from the entire history of pop-rock music. Current plans (subject to change) call for readings from Nicole Biamonte, Lori Burns, Guy Capuzzo, Christopher Doll, Walter Everett, David Temperley and Naphtali Wagner, and listening from Fiona Apple, the Beatles, Radiohead, Paul Simon, the Supremes, Wilco, and Amy Winehouse.

• Ian Quinn: A Corpus-Based Approach to Tonal Theory

        Participants in this workshop will be provided in advance with software tools and a corpus of tonal music, and will prepare for the workshop by using the software tools to investigate the harmonic properties of the corpus. In the workshop the results of this investigation will be used to open important questions about whether standard tonal theory can be formulated in terms of testable hypotheses, and about the extent to which tonal theory can be self-evidently derived from a corpus.

Previous Workshops

• 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 Joseph Straus, Chair of the GSWP Committee, at jstraus@gc.cuny.edu.
The 2012 GSWP Committee consists of Joseph Straus (CUNY), Chair; John Roeder (UBC); and Rebecca Simpson-Litke (Dalhousie University).