I respect your point of view, Ben, but I want to restate my point that confronting these problems is best done by participating and using one’s privilege and power, rather than ceding it.

Hi Ben,

I’m not quitting the Society for the same reason I’m not quitting society as a whole. This issue of systemic racism is reflected in both societies—it may seem more acute at the SMT level because of the tendency of academics to dress their entrenchments in polished prose and attractive/clever rhetoric, and it may sting more because many o…[Read more]

For me—and this point of view stems from asking mentors who are BIPOC in our field—is that we can help the field by participating in it more than we can through absence. I respect the act of leaving as an act of protest, but at the same time it means that many others particularly contingent, junior, and BIPOC scholars, are left to do the wor…[Read more]

Hi Ben,

Around 700 people have signed this letter. In signing, they don’t indicate whether they’re members of SMT or not, but I recognize loads and loads of names as SMT members. Could you explain why concurring with the statement leads you to quit organization?

I for one am waiting to see what the SMT does next, especially at a time when…[Read more]

Thanks, Dustin. This looks good.

And sure, I’d love any V.J. Iyer transcriptions!

Hi Keith,

I’ve attached a couple of lines from my transcription of Hank Mobley’s solo on “Tribute to Someone” (on Herbie’s first solo record, My Point of View). The phrases appear back to back in his solo…both demonstrate potential to switch collections between melodic minor (over the ii chord) and the octatonic over the V chord. (Although the…[Read more]

Thanks for keeping this conversation going.  I strongly agree with Garrett that it’s up to us white folx to help dismantle white supremacy, which to my mind makes the topic of whiteness all the more crucial in the very-white SMT, particularly sub-disciplines that focus on black music.

If we do decide to invite BIPOC from outside our discipline…[Read more]

Hey Keith,

This makes sense to me. In fact, I was taught to think about the altered scale as half diminished and half whole tone (and thinking about it, Lydian-Dominant would switch the two so it is half whole tone and then half diminished). As for rep, I don’t know how much collection switching you would find, but Kenton’s “City of Glass,” uses…[Read more]

A nice idea, Garrett

I’ll spin my wheels on some readings—perhaps some that aren’t specifically within the realm of jazz theory.

To clarify, my original suggestion admittedly open-ended, and inviting more specific ideas) was really more about the African-American experience of players/composers, rather than from the perspective of jazz theory o…[Read more]

Thanks for your comments, Keith and Marc. I think that they work well together, and perhaps could even be combined with my more modest suggestion of a socialization time. Part of our meeting could be devoted to saying hello and part to the workshop that Marc and Keith suggest. What do you all think?

And to Keith’s question about whether or not it…[Read more]

I’m glad that we’re beginning this discussion and like both suggestions.

I’d like to suggest that we have a session on the critical race concept of “whiteness” and its historical/continuing role jazz studies and jazz theory.  I think it might be a good time to turn the mirror inwards into our sub-discipline.  I’m open to other ideas for our m…[Read more]

Interesting idea, Garrett. Yes, I’m also doubtful that we’ll meet as a society in person this fall. (That’s really too bad, too, as I have some dear friends in St. Paul.)

I have another suggestion, fwiw. It’s not a very specific one, but more of a category within which we could hone something more specific: In the midst of current events and…[Read more]

For jazz analysis, I would think that it would be most appropriate to give them a sound recording rather than a published transcription or composition.
Ben Givan

Thank you Marc and Keith for the excellent concrete ideas. I’ll think on these a bit more and I’m certain I’ll use one of them in this exam.

To respond to some more of your side discussion Keith—I’ve done this discussion with the associate director, the grad director, and the jazz studies director. My understanding is that we have standard r…[Read more]

Sure, thanks Megan.
I have a similar philosophy for constructing comps—but we do not have a DMA
program for jazz. To a considerable extent, I’m just hoping our doctoral
students can make interesting/informed claims and support them with
relatively cogent arguments. My other hope is that the comp leaves the
testee with the sense that there’s a…[Read more]

A couple of quick thoughts (between marking finals):

You could…

• present a complete ensemble transcription of a representative performance from the 1940s/50s (from the back of Berliner’s Thinking in Jazz, for example), and ask them to comment on solos, ensemble roles, and/or interaction.

• ask for an analysis of transcription of  impr…[Read more]

Hi Keith, it’s meant to test their ability to think on their feet, analytically. I want to see them closely analyze a piece of music in some way that is well-informed and intelligent. The point is that they can’t do a lot of background research first, but what can they come up with anyway, just based on their experience as an educated musician?…[Read more]

Please reply here so that we can contribute!