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]

A little addition to the CFP: some of you expressed interest in holding a seminar-style music-analytical discussion in place of paper presentations. This is a great idea, but I thought it might be good to postpone this to a later year, since the 2020 SMT meting might be completely online, and a discussion on Zoom might involve technical and other problems.

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]

The deadline for proposals has been extended until 11:59 EST on Sunday, June 14.

Please note – There has not been a decision on whether or not SMT will convene in person in Minneapolis this year. Regardless, this panel discussion WILL happen, either in person, via Zoom, or a hybrid of the two. Please don’t let uncertainties regarding travel stop…[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]