Session I

“Black Music Theories”

Session Chair: Michael Smith, The Ohio State University

Paul Nicholas Roth, University of California, San Diego 

“Sounds that Swing”: Don Cherry’s Sonic Philosophy

In 1988, the adventurous U.S. jazz trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist Don Cherry (1936-1995) made an educational video that challenged conventional notions of “swing.” Typically a rhythmic domain of triplet subdivisions, irregular syncopation, buoyant blues/jazz phrasing, and danceable grooves, Cherry’s “swing” was firstly sonic. “It’s the sounds that swing, the swing is in the sound,” he explained. Cherry’s video presentation featured discussion, performance, and a self-drawn visual diagram that demonstrated how swing reflected timbral variations in sound prior to its rhythmic components. In other words, his theory located “swing” in sound itself, an interventionist perspective with expansive possibilities for musical expression.

This presentation synthesizes the ideas, genealogies, and speculative threads that frame Cherry’s sonic perspectives. I engage in close readings of his educational video to, on one hand, demonstrate how his “swing” refracts lineages of Afro-diasporic studies by championing heterogeneity in instrumental and vocal music practice. On another hand, Cherry’s ideas go beyond normative Afro-diasporic purviews. I detail how his incorporations of southeast Asian and Middle Eastern influences make generative links between Black sound and other non-West geographies. 

By displacing “swing” from rhythm to sound, Cherry frames a provocative rubric for aestheticizing sonic production that is often overlooked in academic studies. His visual diagram in particular amplifies the ways Afro-diasporic sounds intervene upon European/Western norms as they resonate with other non-European traditions. Offered as a pedagogical framework, Cherry’s theory holds productive implications for exploring music history, education, theory, and practice.

Anna Gawboy, The Ohio State University

Sun Ra's Tone Science

In a 1981 interview with the Detroit Black Journal, the jazz bandleader Sun Ra described how his ensemble, the Arkestra, performed “a superior type of music” that served a special spiritual function. This paper draws upon interviews and archival material to better understand Sun Ra’s “tone science,” which blended sensory and spiritual understandings of music with experimental techniques of collective sound production. I focus on Sun Ra’s descriptions of sound vibration as a spiritual catalyst, a translinguistic conveyor of feeling, and a transformational force. The Arkestra frequently opened their live performances with a “space chord,” a complex mass of sound comprised of percussion, diverse instrumental timbres produced through extended techniques, and keyboard clusters. While these episodes sounded like dissonant free improvisation, Sun Ra insisted that they were crafted, an extension of his compositional control. However, they also allowed Arkestra members to exert their collective agency over the magical properties of sound.

Marc Hannaford, University of Michigan 

Transcription and Gesture in Wadada Leo Smith's Analysis of Anthony Braxton's Composition 113

Trumpeter, composer, and visual artist Wadada Leo Smith makes a striking contribution to a 1995 festschrift honoring his friend and colleague Anthony Braxton: he transcribes and analyzes Braxton’s Composition 113 (recorded by Braxton in 1984). Smith’s analysis is strikingly non-traditional, however, because he utilizes an original musical language he calls “Ankhrasmation.” This work, I argue, positions Smith’s chapter in a larger network of music theory that engages equally in questions of musical structure, personal creativity, and racial politics.

This paper explores the novel theoretical framework, notational system, historical context, analytical claims, and contemporary resonances in Smith’s analysis. I argue that his analysis synthesizes formalist, historical, and metaphysical concerns to creatively signify on Braxton’s music and philosophy, as well as he and Smith’s friendship.

Featured Speaker

"Digging in the Crates: How to Listen to Music with the Ear of a Hip Hop Producer"

Jason Rawls, The Ohio State University

At the heart of Hip Hop culture lies the practice of "digging in the crates," a term that refers to the art of exploring old vinyl records to uncover hidden melodies, rhythms, and sounds that can be sampled to create new compositions. This process has been integral to Hip Hop since its inception, as it connects past musical traditions with contemporary innovation. As a beat maker with over 25 years of experience, I’ve spent countless hours sifting through records from a wide variety of genres, discovering rare and often overlooked samples that form the foundation of my beats. Each crate dig is an opportunity to find a new sound or piece of history that can inform and elevate a composition. 

In this demonstration, participants will have the chance to observe firsthand how a beat maker listens to, chooses, and samples recorded material from vinyl records. They will see the process of identifying the most fitting and unique elements of a track that can be repurposed into something entirely new. Afterward, the audience will witness a condensed version of how these samples are layered, manipulated, and transformed to create a complete Hip Hop beat. By sharing both the music and the deeper insights behind the creative journey of the dig, I hope to provide the audience with a deeper understanding of how a Hip Hop producer listens to and engages with music, emphasizing the artistic value of this distinctive perspective.

Session 2 | Option 1

“Instrument-Specific Theories”

Session Chair: Nick Shea, Arizona State University

Lisa Yoshida, University of California, Irvine  

Reimagining the Violinist: Analyzing the Expressive Possibilities of the Bow Hand for Storytelling Performances

How can the violinist become a storyteller? My research takes narrative theory as its central lens and reframes violin performance and composition as acts of storytelling, informed by my background as a Japanese-American immigrant. Treating bow arm gestures as visual and kinetic narrative elements generates new possibilities for creation, interpretation, and perception. The integration of visual elements and motion sensors such as MUGIC® helps to create an engaging and real-time unfolding of performative storytelling. By bringing Japanese storytelling art-forms methods such as haiku kigo (a poetic device), and kamishibai (“paper-theatre”) into my musical practice, a deeper level of intimacy is presented on stage, allowing for connection on an emotional level that exposes shared values between the performer and a diversity of listeners. By tapping into personal memories and reinterpreting performance as narrative, new and unique practices for composer-performers emerge. 

McKenna Sheeley-Jennings, University of Western Ontario  

Pedal Schemas: A Harp-Centric Mode of Analysis

Pedals exert an invisible influence on chromatic harp repertoire, their physical layout shaping harmony and pitch collections in distinctive ways. Drawing on schema theory, transformational theory, and musical affordances, this article explores pedal motion in harp music. It analyzes a corpus of pedagogical works by Carlos Salzedo, the most influential harp pedagogue and composer of the twentieth century. 

The corpus study reveals syntactic patterns of pedal transformations called pedal schemas: formulations of horizontal and vertical pedal motions on the left and right sides of the harp. Pedal transformations and their composite schemas are a crucial step in understanding harmonic and pitch-related phenomena in harp music. 

The unique geometry and affordances of the pedal space engender embodied patterns of harmony that often operate independently from voice-leading patterns in traditional Western harmony. Through this catalogue of pedal transformations and the schemas they form, the corpus study reveals how certain pedal motions become schematically conflated with types of harmonic motions and musical contexts. 

This article demonstrates the strength of analyzing from the embodied perspective of the practitioner. Understanding the physical affordances and idiomacy of the pedal system can offer new insights into chromatic harp repertoire, highlighting the efficacy of the pedal schema as an analytical framework. 

Juan Rivera, University of Chicago

“Keys to the Lamborghini”: Picking Transformations and Embodiment in Rock Guitar Instructional Videos of the early 1990s 

This paper develops a performance-centered analytical model for rock guitar by examining early 1990s instructional videos, which foreground the embodied knowledge central to virtuosic playing. Traditional music analysis often overlooks physical technique, but guitarists like Paul Gilbert, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Michael Angelo Batio emphasize fretboard spatiality, picking mechanics, and movement strategies that are vital to understanding their style. Focusing on techniques such as alternate picking, three-notes-per-string (3NPS) patterns, downward pick slanting (DWPS), and two-way pick slanting, the study explores how these methods enable players to navigate complex passages efficiently. Drawing on the work of Jonathan De Souza, Joti Rockwell, and Timothy Koozin, this paper argues that these videos function as epistemic tools, presenting an implicit theory of rock guitar performance. By attending to gesture, pick trajectory, and physical negotiation with the instrument, this analysis expands the scope of music theory to include embodied and visual dimensions often absent from traditional notation.

Session 2 | Option 2

“Groove and Entrainment”

Session Chair:  Jeremy W. Smith, The Ohio State University

Zachary Lookenbill, University of Arkansas

Groove on the Field: The Practice and Theory of Microtiming “Feels” in Marching Percussion

At the highest levels of competition in the Marching Arts, judges expect near-perfect ensemble synchronization of music and movement. Drumlines in particular are closely scrutinized, as this group of twenty drummers attempt to synchronize extremely dense and complex rhythms. It is then surprising to learn that microtiming and groove play an important role in coordinating the drumline’s rhythmic performance. Placing theories of groove in dialogue with interviews I conducted with the 2023 Bluecoats drumline, I will illustrate how aspects of microtiming, groove, and timing “feels” are integral to rhythmic synchronization in this unique practice. Finally, I argue the drummer’s awareness and use of microtiming and groove as a pedagogical tool demonstrates the role embodied rhythm and meter play in coordinating ensemble performance of complex rhythms. 

Florian Walch, West Virginia University

Grooving until you can’t: formal process and embodiment in early British Grindcore

Grindcore is an extreme fusion of metal and punk music, infamous for short, noisy songs. However, the form of longer early British grindcore songs challenges our understanding of form and embodiment in metal music. In contrast to authors who emphasize how movement helps listeners make sense of rhythmic complexity, this presentation argues that grindcore’s formal process invites movement by establishing a groove before systematically sabotaging the possibility for coordinated movement.

This presentation demonstrates two key findings. First, grindcore’s name clarifies its formal process and historical evolution. Bands added “grinding” metal grooves to sped-up “hardcore” punk blast beat sections. However, the disorienting blast beat tempo renders the verse-chorus structure of the punk sections unrecognizable. Analysis that focuses on repetition, as opposed to movability, misses the disruptive function of this form. Second, this disruption depended on raw production. When Grindcore bands assimilated to refined production, they rewrote blast sections into movable rhythms.

Calder Hannan, Indiana University

Aperiodic Entrainment, Precise Aural Mimesis, and Mathcore

Some music by the pioneering mathcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan involves precise synchronization between multiple musicians in the absence of a steady pulse, a possibility that is not accounted for in prevailing models of entrainment. This paper examines such aperiodic entrainment through the lens of an interview I conducted with Liam Wilson, the band’s bassist. I use his answers alongside other metal musician discourse to argue that elite metal musicianship is built on highly developed aural/motor mimetic capabilities. As metal guitarist and producer John Mor puts it, it means getting very good at “playing like a parrot,” which can both open the door to unique feats of musicianship by obviating the need for relying on traditional concepts such as pulse. Metal musicians are typically antagonistic toward (institutional) music theory, and I close by arguing that this is because their embodied, pre-conceptual, executable knowledge is invisible to typical ways of doing music theory.

Session 3

Dance Workshops

Session Chair: Irvin Gonzalez, The Ohio State University

Rachel Gain, Yale University

Stefanie Bilidas, The University of Texas at Austin

Embodied Theory, Performed Lineage: Finding Music Theory in Rhythm Tap Dance Choreography and Pedagogy

In rhythm tap dance, theoretical knowledge is transmitted during instruction and demonstrated in performance. This music theory is oral, animate, and embodied, with theoretical understanding coming from embodying steps and practitioners deciding what counts as theoretical knowledge.

In this workshop, attendees will gain experience with tap dance pedagogies of embodied music theory and insight into how choreographies and improvisations demonstrate dancers’ understandings of theoretical concepts. We will begin with scatted call and response patterns and structured improvisations so that participants attain an emic, embodied understanding of tap’s basic, standardized structures. Afterwards, we will examine performances by practitioners that demonstrate intergenerational circulation of localized theorizations (contingent on individual practitioners’ lineage, style, and personal rationalizations) via embodied transmission. Building on Thomas Christensen’s “hidden music theory” (2014) and Janet Schroeder’s “dancestry” (2021), we discuss how dancers perform their theoretical lineages by choreographically quoting their forebears, including “remixing” musical and choreographic vocabularies and structures.

Andrea Tinajero-Perez and Alfonso Cervera, The Ohio State University

Rhythm and form in zapateado in “Las amarillas”: A Choreomusical Workshop as Practice in Research

Zapateado (footwork) is one of the defining features of many vernacular Mexican dance- music genres (Brill 2010). Fields like anthropology (González 2004) and ethnomusicology (Paraíso 2007) have helped document these music-dance forms that live through oral tradition. However, scholarship often describes zapateado as complex dance steps (Brill 2010) without acknowledging its rhythmical quality and independence. Given that practitioners are crucial in the preservation of Mexican dance-music traditions, how can scholars study these practitioner- centered music theories? In this workshop, we argue that the body becomes a musical instrument in genres like son calentano, a dance-music genre from southwest Mexico. Kosstrin (2020) developed “a dynamic research modality integrating somatic knowledge” called practice-in- research (PiR) where embodiment is used for dance analysis. Learning from practitioners and incorporating PiR can reveal the rhythmic intricacies of zapateado in son calentano.

Session 4 | Option 1

“Musical Identity”

Session Chair: Arved Ashby, The Ohio State University

Katie Graber, The Ohio State University

Singing Femininity in a Mennonite Voice

The Mennonite hymnal Voices Together, published in 2020, intentionally incorporates diverse representations of femininity. Other research has analyzed textual representations and the gender of text writers and tune composers in Voices Together, and this paper will examine how (or whether) the music conveys gendered stereotypes. By listening, participating, and studying transcriptions, my research collaborators and I have noticed that (while there are some outliers), many of these songs musically and lyrically emphasize stereotypical feminine traits of softness, nurture, and motherliness. In surveys and interviews with participants, I have found much more diversity in understandings of musical representations of gender. I will compare Mennonite singers’ responses to musical styles including Southern Harmony, traditional and contemporary hymnody, and folk styles in order to explore their experience of singing femininity. This study on a small population and bounded repertoire could have larger implications for understanding how other traditions explicitly and implicitly represent gender musically. 

CJ Smyth-Small, The Ohio State University

Composing Queer Identity: Co-Creation and the Queering of Contemporary Musical Practice

Composing Queer Identity is a research and performance project exploring how queer identity manifests in compositional practice. The project commissioned six new works by queer composers and conducted in-depth interviews investigating how composers embed their identities into sound, form, and storytelling. Drawing from music theory, anthropology, and performance studies, this paper examines themes including nomenclature, embodiment, and resistance to heteronormative structures in contemporary music. Through thematic coding and score analysis, the project situates queerness as an epistemological lens in composition, not merely a demographic marker. By presenting excerpts from composer interviews alongside musical analysis, this presentation offers insights into how queerness shapes sonic aesthetics and collaborative processes. Ultimately, Composing Queer Identity advocates for practitioner-centered music theory grounded in lived experience, queerness, and co-creative performance research. 

Juan Rivera, University of Chicago

“Keys to the Lamborghini”: Picking Transformations and Embodiment in Rock Guitar Instructional Videos of the early 1990s 

This paper develops a performance-centered analytical model for rock guitar by examining early 1990s instructional videos, which foreground the embodied knowledge central to virtuosic playing. Traditional music analysis often overlooks physical technique, but guitarists like Paul Gilbert, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Michael Angelo Batio emphasize fretboard spatiality, picking mechanics, and movement strategies that are vital to understanding their style. Focusing on techniques such as alternate picking, three-notes-per-string (3NPS) patterns, downward pick slanting (DWPS), and two-way pick slanting, the study explores how these methods enable players to navigate complex passages efficiently. Drawing on the work of Jonathan De Souza, Joti Rockwell, and Timothy Koozin, this paper argues that these videos function as epistemic tools, presenting an implicit theory of rock guitar performance. By attending to gesture, pick trajectory, and physical negotiation with the instrument, this analysis expands the scope of music theory to include embodied and visual dimensions often absent from traditional notation.

Session 4 | Option 2

“20th Century Analytic Methods”

Session Chair:  Aleksandra (Sasha) Drozzina, The Ohio State University

Jessica Stearns, East Texas A&M University

Practitioner-Centered Approaches to Researching and Analyzing Indeterminate Music

Indeterminate music poses unique challenges to scholars because of the numerous ways composers can create these scores, often incorporating unconventional notation, and the vast possibilities for realizations. Because performance is at the core of such music, I argue that practitioner-centered approaches are the most fruitful way to examine indeterminate scores.

This paper gives an overview of methodologies I have used when researching and analyzing Christian Wolff’s indeterminate music. These approaches include archival research, personal interviews of Wolff, autoethnography based on my own performance experiences, and analyzing scores using Gestalt psychology’s Principles of Organization. Applying these methods reveal numerous aspects of Wolff’s indeterminate pieces, including performers’ experiences when realizing scores and challenges they encounter, Wolff’s compositional processes, and connections between performances and the historical context in which he created them. This case study also demonstrates practitioner-center ways music scholars can research indeterminate music more broadly.

Jiaqi Sun, University of North Texas

Notation as Negotiation: Harry Partch’s 17 Lyrics by Li Po and the Performer’s Role in Theoretical Revision

This presentation investigates the evolving notational practices in Harry Partch’s 17 Lyrics by Li Po (1930–33) through a practitioner-centered theoretical lens. Partch’s adaptation of his ratio-based notation, particularly in response to performer difficulty, reveals a philosophical negotiation between theoretical purity and performative practicality. Drawing on archival manuscripts and Bob Gilmore’s transcriptions, I trace “The Long-Departed Lover” from its original ratio notation to the 1962 “hybrid system” using Chromelodeon. Rather than viewing these changes as concessions, I argue they reflect Partch’s theory of corporealism, where theory is shaped by embodied performance. Using transcription comparisons, manuscript analysis, and pitch visualizations, I show how notational shifts, such as removing vocal ratios, enhanced accessibility without undermining theoretical perspective. I further compare Gilmore’s cent-deviation approach with Ben Johnston’s just intonation notation to highlight trade-offs in clarity and accuracy. Ultimately, this case study exemplifies how notation evolves through performance, deepening dialogue between theory and practice in experimental music.

Session 5 | Option 1

“Ensemble and Performance Analysis”

Session Chair: Andrea Tinajero-Perez, The Ohio State University

Irén Hangen Vázquez, McGill University

'¡Conversa, Conversa!’: A Parametric Analysis of Participant Interaction in Salsa Dura

This presentation focuses on participant interaction in live performances of salsa dura. I analyze three songs from performances by established salsa bands––Don Perignon Y La Puertorriqueña, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, and the Fania All Stars––and consider how performers and audience members create music and interact within a framework of musical conversation. My examples show a range of musical and social interactions: how ensemble musicians dance and move in relation to a song’s form; how the ensemble responds sonically to support the narrative arc of a flute solo; and how the identities of participants can subtly disrupt a groove, reinforcing elements of cultural and musical fusion that are key to salsa. I supplement this original analysis with interviews conducted in the spring of 2025 with professional salsa musicians. Through my analyses, I provide a theoretical framework for salsa as a participatory genre that creates communal musical experiences through the process of performance. 

Marina Rossi, Università di Trento

The Embodied Chorus: Rehearsing and Performing Ligeti's Early Works With An Amateur Ensemble

This paper is situated within the field of Music Performance Research and focuses on the process of studying and performing György Ligeti’s early choral works by an amateur ensemble. These arrangements of Magyar folk songs are not technically demanding, yet they pose specific challenges related to Hungarian prosody, rhythmic structures, traditional scales, and melodic inflections.

The study investigates how theoretical frameworks — including Béla Bartók’s analyses — can inform rehearsal practices in a non-professional context, while emphasizing the need for a dynamic interplay between conceptual understanding and practical application. A multi-method qualitative approach was adopted, combining participatory observation with semi-structured interviews and a brief questionnaire.

The research highlights the limitations of verbal instruction in conveying stylistic nuances and examines how embodied rehearsal techniques (e.g., movement, spatialization, metaphor) facilitated the internalization of key elements.

The findings suggest that an integrated approach, combining analytical insight with experiential strategies, allows choristers without formal training to engage meaningfully with this repertoire. 

Nathaniel Mitchell, University of Delaware

Mucking It Up Together: Distributed Cognition and the Analysis of Musical Mistakes

Mistakes are more than simply divergent behaviors. They are transgressions that cross socially defined boundaries of acceptability. To analyze a musical mistake is thus to explore how musical acceptability itself is socially negotiated. This paper examines musical mistakes in ensemble improvisation through the lens of distributed cognition (Hutchins 1995), framing them in relation to the common ground that undergirds ensemble performances (Kaastra 2020; Mitchell 2024). Drawing from a corpus of live performances of “Muleskinner Blues” by Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, I analyze moments where coordination breaks down to see the cognitive dynamics behind those divergences. Mistakes, I contend, emerge only in contexts where a shared cognitive framework exists to judge events as correct or incorrect. But when ensemble members instead act on differing beliefs about musical structure, their decisions may emerge not from error, but from individually reasonable, yet mutually incompatible interpretations of the current situation.

Session 5 | Option 2

“Movement in Music”

Session Chair: Samuel Gardner, Oberlin College Conservatory

Jeremy W. Smith, The Ohio State University

How EDM Producers Conceptualize Shape and Movement in their Music

This presentation discusses how producers of electronic dance music (EDM) conceptualize musical shape and movement. Producers frequently reference these concepts when explaining formal structure in their tracks, unique sound qualities, or feelings they want to evoke in listeners. In interviews and production guides they describe various methods for shaping music, such as dragging automation curves and sound envelopes. Each artist uses these tools in distinctive ways, but there are also established conventions within EDM communities.

The presentation will show excerpts from video interviews I conducted, in which producers explained and demonstrated their creative practice. When asked about compositional process, they explained how they shape the music and add movement to the sounds, particularly using gestures such as noise sweeps and risers. For example, while describing a sweep in a buildup section, Sean Tyas told me he puts noise “through some phaser or flanger, to give it that kind of movement.”

Andrew Malilay White, Austin Community College

The Time It Takes to Jump: Battu Sequences as a Determinant of Meter and Tempo

Ballet choreography is often analyzed as a musical line created by a choreographer on the basis of existing music. I build on the choreomusical work of Leaman (2022) and Bell (2021), but I ask: what kinds of music are best suited to an existing tradition of choreography? Two case studies illustrate how composers and conductors choose their tempos and meters carefully when rendering music for classical ballet. My case studies come from Giselle (chor. Nureyev/Petipa) and Sleeping Beauty (chor. Petipa). The variations performed by male lead characters use repeated percussive jumping steps (the entrechat sixeand the brisé volé.)  that afford specific tempos and meters. Tempo, here, is determined largely by the height required to change foot position, while meter is influenced by the number of changes. In all, I show how the ballet dancers themselves have a hand in creating the music that accompanies them.

Featured Speaker

"Phenomenological Reflections on Music Theory and Practice: A Violinist–Theorist’s Perspective"

Jonathan De Souza, University of Western Ontario

Music theory, as an academic discipline, has traditionally focused on abstract musical structures and idealized listeners (i.e., on “the music itself” and “the listener”). Yet in recent years, the field has increasingly considered performance, embodiment, technology, sociality, and related issues. So, current theory engages practice. How can we think about this apparent paradigm shift? And more generally, about the relation between music theory and practice? To examine these questions, I will draw on phenomenology, a philosophical approach that prioritizes lived experience. The phenomenological concept of orientation, in particular, helps to clarify music theory’s emphases and omissions, and I hope to show how theory has always relied on various practices, even when they have been hidden in the background. Orientation also helps to differentiate the perspectives of music theorists, instrumentalists, singers, dancers, composers, and improvisers, among others — all of which can inform theory and analysis. As a lifelong violinist, I will illustrate with violinistic theory, performance-based analysis, corpus studies, and interdisciplinary research. Ultimately, then, I aim to both reflect on and demonstrate some possibilities for practitioner-centered music theory.

Session 6

“Theorizing Everyday Listening”

Session Chair: Tina Tallon, The Ohio State University

Gerardo Lopez, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Examining Corporate and Co-Operative Models of AI in Musical Spaces

This paper uses James Bridle’s concepts of corporate AI (2022) and co-operative AI (2023) to critically assess for what purposes and for whose benefit/detriment AI systems are being utilized in music, from production to performance. The ability for a user to modify how their relationship with an AI system is perceived is important when considering audience reception. While past integrations of technology in music have been met with resistance, this hostility has not always been distributed equally, especially for individuals of historically minoritized identities (Provenzano 2019; Burton 2017; Straus 2015; Weheliye 2002). Though recent psychological studies have demonstrated the existence of a general bias against AI systems in music (Ansani et al. 2025; White et al. 2025; Shank et. al. 2023), individuals are still actively exploring its utility within various musical contexts. It is this tension, attempts to balance positive and negative consequences, that this discussion confronts.

Samuel Gardner, Oberlin College Conservatory

Music Theorists as Practitioners: Expert Listeners or Expert Theorists?

Since the Society for Music Theory's founding in 1978, music cognition has been central to the field. Early work by Meyer (1956) examining how individuals hear music became foundational to music theory practice. However, by 1998, Richard Cohn noted a shift "away from an exclusive focus on the aesthetic experience of the focused expert listener in the sustained presence of the masterwork, and toward a regard for the ordinary cognition of ordinary folks in the perhaps casual presence of perhaps ordinary music." This trend exploded mid-2000s with high-profile cognition publications (Gjerdingen 2007; Huron 2006; London 2004), making "ordinary cognition" a theoretical staple.

Despite this shift, music theory's "expert listener" concept persists problematically. Cook (1987) shows theorists cannot identify wrong-key recapitulations, while Mullensiefen (2014) demonstrates musical sophistication exceeds theoretical knowledge. Given these definitional disparities, I argue music theorists create their own pseudo-cognitive musical practice, making theory a speculative performance practice whose findings resist replication.

Jon Fessenden, Mississippi University for Women

Music in Everyday Life of Autistic Adults: Phenomenological Themes in Music Therapy Practice

This presentation will communicate findings from an in-progress, reflexive Thematic Analysis of interviews of 29 autistic adults on music in everyday life. While similar studies ascribe a range of functions to all musical activities (e.g. social awareness/relatedness, arousal/mood regulation, identity development, etc.), we add the category of “aesthetics” that refers to a non-functional appeal or taste for music based on its sonic features, through embodied perception. 

Our theoretical approach is multi-layered. First, we will consider our results in light of research that seeks to establish autism-specific modes of listening and musical creativity, and address the dangers of any top-down imposition of what autistic experience may be like. Second, we will consider potential blind spots of Thematic Analysis upon considering Max van Manen’s critique of phenomenological psychology. Lastly, we will provide guidance regarding how to interpret these findings practice of music therapy.

Session 7

Improvisatory Methods Workshop

Session chair: Ryan Skinner, The Ohio State University

Nick Shea, Arizona State University

Some Real-Time Pressures of Music Making

Music embodiment models traditionally focus on mapping bodily experiences onto heard musical features, yet such models often assume a highly trained listener familiar with the intricacies of its organization. Additionally, the real-world cognitive basis for these models are tenuous at best, requiring empirical verification to clarify their generalizability, e.g., the ability for listeners to hear performers' movements via empathy. This workshop flips the traditional focus of music embodiment to foreground how real-time embodied cognition shapes musical organization when singing and playing and instrument simultaneously. Participants will first work in groups to compose song elements (voice + accompaniment) and exchange them with others to perform with minimal rehearsal. Afterward, we will reconvene to discuss some of the challenges participants encountered in the context of embodied cognition, including the influence of cognitive load, Fitts's Law, and in the inward/outward automatic/intentional movement paradigm.

Roundtable Discussion

“What is Practitioner-Centered Music Theory?”

Chair: Ryan Skinner, The Ohio State University

• Leslie Tilley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Zachary Lookenbill, University of Arkansas

• Marc Hannaford, University of Michigan

• Anna Gawboy, The Ohio State University

Featured Speaker

“The Bus Driver and the Warm Cardigan: Music Analysis through the Words of Balinese Drummers and Pop Music Listeners” 

Leslie Tilley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

What does it mean to reimagine the priorities of music theory and analysis to include — and take seriously — the voices and epistemologies of music’s embodied participants: its practitioners and its “untrained” listeners? As our field increasingly moves toward a multi-modal, multi-vocal approach to that imagined ideal “the music itself,” what new questions become opened to us? And what new analytical frameworks and approaches will be necessary to answer them? In this talk, I present two analytical vignettes from different corners of my research to reflect on those questions. 

First, through an exploration of the informal discourses and non-verbal communication of Balinese kendang arja improvisers, I examine the ways ethnographic research methods and practitioner theorizing have not only informed but fundamentally shaped my analyses of this improvised interlocking drum tradition. I then turn to an examination of Taylor Swift’s contentious country-pop cover of Earth, Wind & Fire’s 1978 disco-soul hit “September,” exploring the expanded analytical lenses I needed to unravel its polarized reception. By showing the ways that practitioners and listeners have influenced my own analytic questions and approaches, I hope to demonstrate the rich possibilities of practitioner- and listener-centered approaches to music theory and analysis.

Thursday, October 9

Opening Remarks | 12:30–1 p.m.

Timashev Recital Hall 1209:30–11 a.m. — Registration

Friday, October 10

Breakfast | 8–8:45 a.m.

Timashev North Commons

Lunch Break | 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

Tours of Academic Buildings | 4:30–5:30 p.m.

Sullivant Hall

Conference participants are welcome to take some guided tours of nearby academic buildings that house some of the  interdisciplinary programs offered at Ohio State, including the Department of Dance, ACCAD (Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design), and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum.

“Happy Hour” | 6–7 p.m.

High Street

We encourage all conference participants to explore the many offerings on High Street for a casual snack and/or drink before our banquet.

Conference Banquet | 7–8:30 p.m.

Ohio Union

Saturday, October 11

Breakfast | 7:30–8:30 a.m.

Timashev North Commons

Lunch Break | 12–1:30 p.m.