Hi all,

Thanks to Walt and Brad for getting the conversation started.

1.I think in a course on African American music, it is important to include the voices of Black scholars. Here are a few, keeping analysis in mind:

Shelley, Braxton D. 2019. “Analyzing Gospel.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 72 (1): 181–243. https://doi.org/10.1…[Read more]

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]

Hi Everybody. I replied to Walt privately with some readings from my own version of this class, but it’s too important not to share here as well:

Attas, Robin. 2019. “Music Theory as Social Justice: Pedagogical Applications of Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly.” Music Theory Online 25/1
< http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.19.25.1/mto.19.25.1.attas.h&hellip;[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]