This dissertation examines aspects of the creative practice of Muhal Richard Abrams, composer, improviser, pianist, and cofounder of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Abrams’s work intersects with various facets of creative music. I focus on free improvisation, both as a stand-alone performance and in conjunction w…[Read more]

ABSTRACT
What is musical time? Where is it manifested? How does it show up in our experience, and how do we capture it in our analyses? “Enacting Musical Time” offers several answers to these questions by considering musical time as the form of the listener’s interaction with music. Building on evidence from music theory, phenomenology, c…[Read more]

The proliferation of online news and general interest websites (such as FiveThirtyEight, Slate, Vox, and others) over the past decade has centered around a particular genre of short-form expository writing, sometimes referred to as the “thinkpiece,” “explainer,” or “blessay” (blog + essay). These essays analyze and comment upon current events,…[Read more]

Based on ethnographic research that is part of a larger project on the role of music and sound among migrant Moroccan men in Italy, this article focuses
on ‘L-ḥərraga’, a song that narrates the voyage and the experience of undocumented migration that ends with the tragic death of a young
Moroccan man crossing the Mediterranean. Through ‘L-ḥər…[Read more]

Short biographies, with score and recordings information, of composers of concert spirituals for solo voice. Supplemental content accompanying the book, So You Want to Sing Spirituals.

Resources specifically about Negro spirituals or that reference performers, composers or other information related to spirituals. Supplemental content accompanying the book, So You Want to Sing Spirituals.

Sample of singers, arranged by voice type, and their recordings of concert spirituals. Supplemental content accompanying the book, So You Want to Sing Spirituals.

Concert spirituals classified by category with scriptural reference(s) and entry in musical anthologies. Supplemental content accompanying the book, So You Want to Sing Spirituals.

Availability of Spiritual Music Scores: print publishers, online databases and publishers, self-publishing composers, online resellers, selected musical scores: compilations containing concert spirituals for solo voice. Supplemental content accompanying the book, So You Want to Sing Spirituals.

Selection of recordings recommended for those beginning a collection of concert spirituals for solo voice. Supplemental content accompanying the book, So You Want to Sing Spirituals.

‘L-ʿalwa’, a sung poem whose text recounts the pilgrimage to a saint’s shrine in Morocco, is celebrated for its ability to convey images and emotions stirred up by the sacred journey. As part of the repertory of ʿaita—a genre of sung poetry from the Moroccan plains and plateaus traditionally performed by professional female singer-danc…[Read more]

ʿAiṭa–a genre of sung poetry from the Moroccan Atlantic Plains and its adjacent territories—is regarded as the quintessential expression of the identity of the region. If it is possible to analyse the poetic language of ʿaiṭa in order to understand its significance among these populations, it is also critical to examine how the affective power of…[Read more]

Panorama of scholarly work on women and music in Morocco

The article explores why a particular group of Moroccan musicians conceives of different performances of a sung poem titled “Kharbusha” as unchanging despite variables arising from the dynamics of performance practices. To this end, I explore the seeming discrepancy between discourses about “Kharbusha” and its performance, and what this discrep…[Read more]

The article examines Moroccan professional female singer-dancers (shikhat) in relation to other professional female performers . An analysis of the role that women have as entertainers, and in particular of their behavior in the course of performance, will show how they affect the status of each class of performers. Sketching a panorama of the…[Read more]