[Keith Salley]

Good questions, Tara.

I’ve been including transcriptions of jazz and pop tunes, and though we do at times run into the limitations of notation, those just become interesting points of discussion for our students. Then there are simply scoreless listening assignments where students are expected to locate by ear the WT or OCT passage in a certain pop tune. I’ll also add that it can be difficult to find ‘art music’ scores of works by non-male or non-white composers, and scoreless listening works there, too, with guidance and perhaps a transcribed snippet. On the other side of it, I have some pretty neat scores for which there are no available recordings. I’ve begun to enlist undergraduates to make recordings of the do-able tunes (not for sale or distribution, naturally). Their studio teachers are happy to comply. It’s important (I think) that students realize 1) what we’re doing to rectify these inequities, and 2) what we’re coming up against in our quests to do so.

My class is called ‘Music after 1900,’ and its content is generally centered around ideas that are not related to/dependent on tonal music (which is covered in the first three semesters). I’m pulling from jazz, pop, and art music, but also music that draws from other folk traditions. The idea in creating the course was to not simply ‘pepper in’ jazz and pop around a curriculum that had already been designed around post-tonal music. So, I said goodbye to serialism (which I really used to enjoy—so much about aesthetics in that unit!) and even set theory. We do, however, have a great unit on Developing Variation, where I’ve found an abundance of examples from all kinds of styles. Once I started to really listen for it, I began to find teachable examples everywhere.

 

 

[Keith Salley]

I agree with Sara. This looks really interesting. Regrettably. I’ll be attending a workshop at that time.

 

[Keith Salley]

Oh geez, yes. That’s on me. My apologies. The IG I attend most often is
still working out it’s 2021 activities . . .

[Keith Salley]

(Right, Chris—had meant that the Xenakis celebration could wait for 2022.)

[Keith Salley]

Hi everyone,

long-time listener, first-time ‘caller’ . . .

I like Antares’s ideas about pedagogy, and think that a session on that
would be timely—whether it’s carefully limited to post-1945 or not. So,
I’ll second that.

Maybe Xenakis waits until next year, where he hits that nice, round number?

[Keith Salley]

Thanks, Walt!

[Keith Salley]

Hi Mark

The first thing that comes to mind is Steve Larson’s article “What Makes a Good Bridge,” from the Dutch Journal of Music Theory (8: 1–15). If memory serves, it explores ‘bridge’ as a metaphor, and uses Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” as an example. Perhaps this isn’t the repertoire you’re really looking for, but it’s worth reading.

Best of luck.

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