Report on the 2008 Mannes Institute for Advanced Studies in Music Theory

Abstract

Henry Martin - Introduction[1] The 2008 Mannes Institute for Advanced Studies in Music Theory: Jazz Meets Pop took place at the Eastman School of Music, June 15 to June 18, 2008, in Rochester, New York. The brainchild of founder and director Wayne Alpern (Mannes College of Music), the Mannes Institute is best described as a high-level think tank for professional music scholars. It provides participants with the opportunity to study selected topics in depth in an intimate collegial setting more like a classroom than a conventional academic conference. In addition to plenary sessions and roundtable discussions, a rotating faculty of internationally renowned music scholars offers intensive workshops, each limited to fifteen Fellows who prepare for them diligently in advance. Lively discussions proceed from reading and listening assignments, enabling participants to learn from each other in a sustained and interactive way. Offered annually, on a different topic each spring, the Mannes Institute has been supported by private benefactors since its creation in 2001. (Further information on the Mannes Institute and its programs can be found at the Mannes Institute home page, http://216.71.55.88/mi/.)[2] This edition of the Mannes Institute celebrated the emergence of music scholarship in two overlapping genres of vernacular Western music-genres that over the last thirty years or so have undergone significant growth both in number of publications and in diversity of scholarly approaches. The Institute drew its 45 Fellows from universities and music schools across the United States and Canada as well as England, France, and Holland. The geographical and scholarly breadth of the Institute's Fellows and the resulting theoretical and historical approaches helped instill the workshops with energizing give-and-take, camaraderie, and the genuine pleasure of interacting with other established and emerging scholars dedicated to the music and its investigation.[3] At the opening plenary session, Institute co-chairs Walter Everett and Henry Martin gave brief introductory talks that focused on the growth of scholarship in Western popular music and jazz. Particularly satisfying was the presence at the Institute of many of the scholars who had made seminal contributions to the fields. Walter and Henry's enumeration of important publications, dissertations, new scholarly journals, and upcoming events helped frame the growth of scholarship in vernacular Western music and set the tone for the workshops to begin.[4] The three jazz workshops:The Rhythms of Jazz, led by Cynthia Folio (Temple University)Pitch-Based Models of Jazz Analysis, led by Steve Larson (University of Oregon)Charlie Parker's Bebop Style, led by Henry Martin (Rutgers University-Newark)The three pop workshops:Popular Music, Text, and Gender, led by Lori Burns (University of Ottawa)Textural Stratification in Rock Music, led by John Covach (University of Rochester)Rock Music of the 1960s, led by Walter Everett (University of Michigan)[5] Among the special guests for plenary sessions were Lewis Porter (Rutgers University-Newark), whose entertaining presentation featured rare and important jazz films; Albin Zak (University of Albany), who used one of his own compositions to discuss recording-studio production techniques and their analysis; and Joyce McDonough (University of Rochester) and Harold Danko (Eastman School of Music), who spoke on their research relating spoken language to musical style. Christopher Doll (Rutgers University) read his amusing and enlightening "A Tale of Two Louies: The Jazz and Blues Origins of Rock's Greatest Riff" after being presented with the 2008 Miles Levin Musical Essay Award by Wayne Alpern.[6] Fellows attending the Mannes Institute this year also had the opportunity to check out the Rochester International Jazz Festival. The Jazz Festival lent an exciting atmosphere to downtown Rochester and provided a late-night hang for many of the Institute's fellows. …