SMT endorses several platforms for dialogue amongst members.

Smt-Announce email list

SMT-Announce is a moderated email list intended for the distribution of announcements of interest to the professional music theory community. SMT-Announce is not intended as a forum for discussion.

Visit the SMT-Announce information page to:

  • Subscribe, unsubscribe, or pause delivery
  • Choose individual message delivery or digest format
  • Update the email address or password associated with your SMT-Announce subscription
  • Access further settings
SMT-Announce guidelines (click to expand)

1. Only subscribers to SMT-Announce may submit messages for posting to the list. Though individuals may submit messages, most appropriate announcements are submitted on behalf of an organization (a society, a journal, a publisher, or a school, for example).

2. Messages are restricted to announcements likely to be of general interest to many members of the professional music theory community. Examples of such announcements may include:

  • an official communication from the Executive Director, an SMT officer, committee chair, or editor
  • an announcement from an SMT Interest Group
  • news from a regional society
  • an announcement of a conference or workshop (you may also wish to submit this as an event)
  • a call for papers an announcement of a new journal issue
  • an announcement of a new book
  • an announcement of a new website or substantial new web materials in music theory and analysis
  • a call for nominations or applications for an award or scholarship
  • an announcement of award winners
  • a job posting
  • an advertisement for a commercial product (subject to restrictions outlined below)

3. Advertisements for commercial products, including software, may be submitted to SMT-Announce as long as they are informational in tone and relevant to the list membership. Marketing hype and references to competing products must be avoided. The Networking Ombuds Subcommittee will review all advertisements before distribution. Advertisements for a commercial product are limited to one announcement in any six-month period.

4. Every message submitted to SMT-Announce must conclude with a signature containing the poster’s name, email address, and institutional affiliation (if any) or geographic location.

5. Messages not conforming to the above guidelines will be rejected. In particular, messages of the kinds listed below are not appropriate for SMT-Announce:

  • an announcement of a single new published article or blog post, or personal profile (book and online materials announcements are permitted as noted above)
  • more than one announcement of personal work in a month
  • a query about musical examples, textbooks, teaching strategies, or other topics
  • a request for volunteers for a research study
  • any other message intended to stimulate discussion or to elicit personal replies

All such messages will be rejected by the moderator. In many cases, messages like these may more appropriately be posted on the SMT Humanities Commons page rather than submitted to SMT-Announce.

6. If a message is rejected, the person who submitted the message may appeal to the SMT Networking Ombuds Subcommittee. The subcommittee’s decision may be appealed to the SMT Executive Board, whose decision is final.

7. Announcements are distributed to the list as soon as they are approved by the moderator.

Humanities Commons

The SMT Humanities Commons page serves as a professional and academic social networking platform.

Humanities Commons groups are useful for file sharing (e.g., for distributing open-access scholarship) and establishing individual academic profiles. Many are already familiar with the for-profit entity Academia.edu; Humanities Commons is an open-access and not-for-profit alternative run by the Modern Language Association. Scholars are encouraged to join the SMT Group and upload any scholarship in this forum.

Humanities Commons also provides shared platform with other professional societies, such as the American Musicological Society. Some interest groups have also made their own Humanities Commons pages.

Social Media

The SMT has a presence on Facebook and Twitter (@SMT_musictheory).

Interest Groups

Various Interest Groups associated with SMT also maintain special interest online discussion lists. Browse the interest group pages to find out more.

Smt-talk and SMT Discuss

SMT-Talk was an email-based communication platform that was active for many years before being replaced by SMT Discuss. View the archives of the discussions (from February 2009-January 2015) on SMT-Talk.

The SMT Executive Board decided to retire SMT Discuss on November 9, 2021. Posts are preserved for archival purposes, but new posts and replies are no longer permitted. View the archived forum.