Music Academy Research Articles

Higher education audiometric research: HEAR—Onsite Assessment of Conservatoire Students

Through analysis of the ISO 1999 dataset it was found that half of noise induced hearing damage occurs in the first three years of adult life. As a result the Higher Education Audiometric Research project was founded in the UK with the ambition of minimizing this damage through educational awareness and on-site testing and assessment. In the UK, 50% of this age group are in higher education. Through the newly established UK Hearing Conversation Association awareness was raised through the “Love Sound – Listen with Care” campaign. Using long-term links with the Royal Academy of Music two on-site hearing screening methodologies were compared in a pilot study involving 23 students. The obvious advantage of onsite testing and assessment being convenience. The two methodologies were audiometry using Kudawave Prime based on active noise canceling headphones, and otoacoustic emissions using Hearing Coach software and Path Medical instrumentation. Presented are the results in terms of consistency, test-retest, and ease of use/practical application.

Book Review: From the Tanjore Court to the Madras Music Academy: A Social History of Music in South India by Lakshmi Subramanian

Book Review: From the Tanjore Court to the Madras Music Academy: A Social History of Music in South India by Lakshmi Subramanian

The Earl of Manchester and opera in London

Abstract Charles Montagu (c.1662–1722), Earl (later Duke) of Manchester, played an important role in furthering the establishment of Italian-style opera in London. He gained knowledge of opera and continental singers and musicians on his Grand Tour and three diplomatic missions abroad. This article prints relevant portions (some for the first time) from his correspondence and other printed and manuscript sources to expand our knowledge of his involvement with opera in London, Vienna, France and Italy. The correspondence suggests why his advice and assistance were sought by John Vanbrugh and later by the Royal Academy of Music and adds to our knowledge of the history of opera in London in its so-called ‘critical decade’. Most important was his mission to Venice in 1707–8. Although no evidence has emerged that Manchester met Handel in Venice or extended to him an invitation, he was responsible for the recruitment of Nicola Grimaldi (called ‘Nicolini’), painters and other singers to London. Even at this early stage, opera in London was part of an operatic system that extended across Europe, involving not only musicians and impresarios but also ministers of state and foreign diplomats.

Die GfM als gesamtdeutsche Gesellschaft


 
 
 The “Gesellschaft für Musikforschung” (GfM) was, from its foundation until 1968, the professional representation of musicologists in all German occupation zones and of both German states. Since the establishment of the branch office in Leipzig (1954), the GfM was politically instrumentalized by the GDR party and state apparatus as well as by musicologists loyal to the SED. The most important goal was the creation of two sections representing East and West Germany respectively; alternatively, the foundation of a separate musicological society in the GDR was prepared. These efforts were intensified after the construction of the Berlin Wall (1961). A central role was played by Karl Laux, the director of the Dresden Music Academy, and a personal friend of GfM president Friedrich Blume. Following a decision of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the SED on April 5, 1967, the GfM finally had to end its activities in the GDR in September 1968, and East-German musicologists joined the “Verband Deutscher Komponisten”.
 
 

ART AND RIGOUR: CREATING METHODOLOGIES FOR ARTISTIC RESEARCH IN MUSIC

This paper focuses on the construction of a methodology for artistic researchers, in particular practising musicians. Artistic research is a steadily growing field, gaining increasing relevance in academic discourse and flourishing in universities and music academies. Due to its relatively recent history there is still a lack of standardized widespread research methods, and the advice to be creative and borrow from other disciplines, though reasonable, can be confusing for young researchers. The adaptation process can be problematic, with the need to mediate between the rigour of academic research and the openness and creativity of the artistic side. How can methods from different disciplines be adapted to the needs of artistic research, without hindering creative practice? In this paper I will present, in meta-research terms, the personal adaptation of three qualitative methods: autobiographical design, borrowed from human computer interaction; thematic analysis, borrowed from psychology; and autoethnography, borrowed from social sciences. These were used to design an accountable research process to investigate differences and similarities in the musical affordances of the 13-keyed period clarinet and the modern clarinet. The three methods intertwine to form a complete methodology that could be applied by other researchers investigating similar topics. Adapting methods proved to be a fruitful process, bearing in mind that the goal is not objectivity, unreachable in the arts, but accountability and organization.

Holistic and ecologically valid aural training within culturally diverse music education contexts

This is a transcript of a trial lecture held at the Norwegian Academy of Music on December 14th, 2022, as part of Ville Langfeldt’s public PhD defense. The subject given by the committee was: “Holistic and ecologically valid aural training within culturally diverse music education contexts”. The lecture examined the concepts of holism and ecological validity in aural training in light of research, different teaching traditions, recent pedagogical developments, and the professional requirements of contemporary musicianship. Implications for aural training teaching methods were discussed.

Performance Review: The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window

Dave Peterson reviews the Brooklyn Academy of Music's (BAM) production of The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. This play was written by Lorraine Hansberry. The revival was directed by Anne Kauffman. The production dates were February 23, 2023 - March 24, 2023. Peterson examines how Kauffman visually teased out the major themes in the play. He highlights how the performances contributed to a nuanced current sociopolitical and culturally relevant understanding of one of Hansberry's less-produced works.

Design and Evaluation of a Multisensory Concert for Cochlear Implant Users

This article describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of vibrotactile concert furniture, aiming to improve the live music experience of people with hearing loss using hearing technology such as cochlear implants (CI). The system was the result of a series of participatory design sessions involving CI users with different hearing assistive setups (bi-implant, bimodal, and monoimplant), and it was evaluated in a concert scenario (drums, bass, and female vocals) at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. The project aimed to improve the music appreciation for CI users by providing a multisensory concert designed with CI challenges in mind, but not excluding normal-hearing individuals or individuals with other forms of hearing aids from participating in the event. The evaluation was based on (video-recorded) observations and postexperience semistructured interviews; the data were analyzed using event analysis and meaning condensation. The results indicate that tactile augmentation provides a pleasant experience for CI users. However, concertgoers with residual hearing reported being overwhelmed if the tactile stimulation amplitude exceeds a certain threshold. Furthermore, devices that highlight instrument segregation are preferred over ones that present a tactile mixdown of multiple auditory streams.

RAZVOJ MUZIČKOG TEATRA NA UNIVERZITETU U SARAJEVU / DEVELOPMENT OF MUSICAL THEATRE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SARAJEVO

The paper presents a historical overview of the development of musical theatre at the University of Sarajevo through the education of students at the Music Academy and the Academy of Performing Arts, whom participated in music and stage projects in the period from 2013 to 2021, produced by the Sarajevo Institute for music, theatre and multimedia. Research includes detailed review and comparison of theatre projects through quantitative analysis, that shows their importance for the development of the field and through the teaching process on the subject Voice, on the I and II cycle of studies at the Department of Acting of the Academy of Performing Arts. The aim of this paper is to point out the need to start the first regional interdisciplinary specialist master study for music theatre modeled on world higher education institutions, for which there is student interest, and which as such can be offered as part of internationalization projects at the University of Sarajevo. Finally, through the first art research project "Voice as an actor tool in musical theatre" of the Academy of Performing Arts, which will, in 2022, result in a theoretical template for this study, the author draws attention to the contextualization of artistic research processes as scientific research in education for the performing arts.

A collective form of art: an interview with Yana Ross

In this interview with Bryce Lease, Yana Ross explores her background as a director and her approach to teaching directing at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius. Ross discusses her training at GITIS and the Yale School of Drama, highlighting the importance of life experience, interdisciplinary knowledge, and leadership skills in the development of a director. She emphasizes the value of understanding the theatre canon and expanding it through alternative perspectives, while also recognising the need for rigour and critical thinking in theatre training. Ross reflects on her experiences as a professor and the challenges faced by directing students, including effective communication with actors and the wider creative team. Advocating for a collaborative and inclusive approach to theatre-making, she draws on her experiences at Yale, where different disciplines interacted and collaborated.

Robert Heller’s Magical Mystery Tours

Robert Heller, a virtually unknown figure in music-historical accounts, trained in the 1840s at the Royal Academy of Music in London and gave the American premieres of Beethoven’s Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos with the Germania Musical Society. But he also pursued a parallel career in theatrical magic, using his musical virtuosity to elevate his social and artistic stature as a conjurer. Between 1852 and 1878, his magic act was seen by millions in Europe, East Asia, and the United States, including states and territories in the American West never visited by contemporary piano virtuosos like Thalberg and De Meyer. While magicians routinely incorporated music in their acts, Heller’s virtuosity set him apart from his conjuring peers, including those who were themselves musicians. Using his musical expertise, he blended the magic show with other popular forms of spectacle, including minstrelsy, burlesque, and the piano recital, framing the latter as an extraordinary attraction. Advertisements and accounts of his performances reveal the marketing strategies Heller employed to negotiate the crowded landscape of consumer culture and American popular entertainment, especially during the tumultuous years of the Civil War. These strategies included co-branding, altering the titles and descriptions of musical compositions (particularly “Dixie”), and joining forces with “Blind Tom” (Thomas Greene) Wiggins, the Black, enslaved musical prodigy whom Heller had briefly tutored; they performed together in Louisville during one of the magician’s last appearances in the South. Throughout the 1860s, Heller was influenced by gendered musical practices and regional attitudes toward race and politics, leading him to market his act specifically toward middle-class women, music lovers, Unionists, and those seeking postwar reconciliation.

THE ROLE OF THE DARMSTADT CONCERTINO IN THE COMPOSITIONAL OUTPUT OF ZDZISAW SZOSTAK

Both in academic publications and in the music press, little attention has been paid to the figure of Zdzisaw Szostak a conductor and a composer, who spent most of his professional life at the d Philharmonic and the Academy of Music in d. Prof. Szostak was seen by the musical community mainly through the prism of his great achievements in the field of film music. The artists later autonomous works had to contend against the success and recognition of his previous compositions. In the article, however, the author focuses on a specific autonomous work by Szostak the Darmstadt Concertino for violin, piano and orchestra, with the title clearly associated with the important 20th century centre of European avant-garde. The resulting connotation seemed particularly interesting due to Szostaks reluctance to radical compositional means used by artists associated with the famous Internationale Ferienkurse fr Neue Musik. The intriguing contradiction encoded in the title and the rudimentary knowledge of the work led the author to investigate its history based on the collected sources. These were limited to a piano reduction assembled in parts, some orchestral voices and completely amateur, poor quality recording. The only possible way to obtain information about the genesis of the piece was interviewing soloists, the violinist ukasz Baszczyk and the pianist Mariusz Drzewicki. The musicians participated in the premiere performance, which was conducted in Darmstadt in November 1998 by Zdzisaw Szostak himself. The concert crowned the celebration of the sixth edition of the Polish Music and Culture Week in Darmstadt organised by the German Chopin Society.

CHAPEL “BESKYD” (IVANO-FRANKIVSK CITY) – POPULARIZER OF LEMKO SONGS

The article deals with the importance of Lemko folklore for the collective conducted by P. Cholovsky, the Honored Art Worker of Ukraine, Associate Professor of the Department of Folk Instruments and Musical Folklore at the Institute of Arts of the V. Stefanyk Precarpathian National University. The place of Lemko folklore in the Ukrainian musical and ethno-cultural space was described and multi-genre models of the choral repertoire, which is a vivid expression of the Lemko “soul”, were analyzed. The creative figure of P. Cholovsky as an arranger of Lemko songs and his creative work was investigated. The cultural heritage of the Lemko subethnos, widely presented in Ivano-Frankivsk, remains a “blank spot” in Ukrainian music regionalistics, Ukrainian musicology, as the merciless deportations of this group of the Ukrainian people have negatively impacted the elevation of their spiritual life. And although, such phenomena usually lead to the loss of roots or creative achievements, it is not the case with Lemkos who from the beginning have developed and cultivated their songs, dances, national costumes, etc. F. Kolessa, O. Rоzdolsky, O. Kolberg, V. Hnatyuk, Ya. Golovatsky resorted to the study of Lemko folklore. However, not so many scholars investigate this topic nowadays, in particular, there is no thorough research on the place of the Lemko song in the repertoire of Ivano-Frankivsk choir collectives. The first written mention of Lemko roots dates back to the 16th century. Lemkos are one of the multinational minorities of the Carpathian Region, who lived and worked on the hillsides of the Low, Middle and Western Beskyds. Today this territory belongs not only to Ukraine, but also to Poland and Slovakia. The Lemko culture is a sub-ethnic part of the Ukrainian folklore. Lemkos’ musical art synthesizes Polish, Slovak, Hungarian and Ukrainian cultures. To preserve the original artifacts of the Lemko culture and unite the scattered families, Lemko public organizations were founded in Galicia in the late 20th century. This process was facilitated by the positive changes in the political and cultural life of Ukraine, achieving the state’s independence in particular. In 1990, the center of the society “Lemkivshchyna” was created in Ivano-Frankivsk thanks to the support of the ardent patriot, pedagogue, linguist P. Pyrtei, and, in 1991, Lemkos of Kalush, Rozhnyativ, and Ivano-Frankivsk united into the regional social and cultural society “Lemkivshchyna”. The All-Ukrainian Society “Lemkivshchyna” appeared in Lviv in 2001. These societies became the centers of Lemkos’ cultural life on the territory of Carpathian region, and primarily artists gathered there, they contributed to the organization of creative groups – ensembles, choirs, music and choreographic groups. The “Beskyd” choir, founded in 1991 on the initiative of Ivanna Senko, the graduate of Petro Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine, teacher of Denys Sichynsky Music College of Ivano-Frankivsk, was among such artistic organizations. Orest Turko, who was also a Lemko descendant, became the conductor of the choir. Later on, “Beskyd” was given the title of “amateur folk choir” (1995) due to the persistent and hard work of the collective and its conductor and owing to their high performing level. At present, the “Beskyd” choir of Ivano-Frankivsk Region Society “Lemkivshchyna” is an active promoter of the Lemko song in the Carpathian region. Its creative and concert palette is quite extensive, it is well-known in Europe, it actively concerts in Ukraine and neighboring states. Thanks to the great creative potential and professionalism of Maestro P. Cholovsky, the Lemko song in the activity of the choir, became the light for the restoration of the Lemko culture, language and songs in the Carpathian region. The collective firmly states that the Lemko song is one of the greatest and most interesting strata of the Ukrainian folklore, which should occupy an honorary place in the folklore hierarchy.

Clarinet Pedagogy in Times of Change and Advancement: The Evolution of Amand Vanderhagen’s Méthode Nouvelle et Raisonnée pour La Clarinette

Name: Noa Meshulam Main Subject: Historical Clarinet Research Supervisor: Wouter Verschuren Research Title: Clarinet Pedagogy in Times of Change and Advancement: The Evolution of Amand Vanderhagen’s Méthode Nouvelle et Raisonnée pour La Clarinette Research Questions: • How are the changes in the clarinet’s design and playing techniques, musical aesthetics, and taste being manifested in Amand Vanderhagen’s method from the first to last edition (1785-1819)? • Has Vanderhagen changed his pedagogical model in the 34 years that passed between his first book and his last? If any changes occurred, what were the factors that contributed to that? Summary: During the last decades of the eighteenth century, the field of clarinet pedagogy started to blossom and rapidly developed alongside the publishing of the first comprehensive methods for the instrument. The earliest amongst these important treatises, Méthode Nouvelle et Raisonnée pour La Clarinette, by Belgian-French clarinetist Amand Vanderhagen, was published in 1785. Throughout his lifetime, Vanderhagen edited and republished his method twice after the initial edition; In 1799, the Nouvelle Méthode de Clarinette, and in 1819, the Nouvelle Méthode de Clarinette Moderne à Douze Clés. In this research, I demonstrate the ways in which the development of the clarinet and the changes in the musical culture in Paris affected, contributed to, and inspired Vanderhagen to modify his pedagogical model. In addition, I examine the ways changing musical aesthetics and styles are manifested throughout the three methods. During the process, I got the impression that Vanderhagen was extremely sensitive and attentive to the changes in the musical scene, as well as the advancements in the clarinet culture in Paris. Hence, between his three methods, I could spot several interesting changes in his approach, particularly in topics like embouchure, exercises, embellishments, etc. With this comparison, I aimed to draw attention to a different thread that focuses on Vanderhagen’s approach to clarinet pedagogy in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, and appreciate the ways in which the instrument’s evolution contributed to the development of the method and practice of teaching. Biography: Noa Meshulam is an Israeli-Portuguese clarinetist specializing in historically informed performance. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. During her bachelor studies, she participated in the Nazarian Excellence in Chamber Music Program and played with The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra on several occasions. After graduating she moved to the USA to pursue her master’s degree at Indiana University and was awarded scholarship and fellowship grants. There, she also started studying historical clarinet with Eric Hoeprich, with whom she continued her second master’s studies at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

Accountability and music: accounting, emotions and responses to the 1913 concert for Giuseppe Verdi

PurposeThis study aims to explore the engagement between accounting and music in the social and relational construction of accountability. The authors conceive this construction as a dynamic and recursive interplay between the giving of different accounts and the responses that these accounts provoke. The authors investigate the emotional dimension of this interplay, as it is also triggered by music, feeding back into how accountability is constructed and evolves over time.Design/methodology/approachThis study relies upon a historical analysis of archival and secondary sources about the main music concert organized in 1913 by the founder of “Accademia Chigiana”, one of the leading music academies in Italy. The concert celebrated the first centenary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi, a worldwide famous Italian music composer, and icon of Italian national sentiment.FindingsThis study shows that music and accounting were profoundly intertwined in the social and relational construction of accountability for the 1913 concert. Accountability evolved through different accounts, also linked to music, and the complex emotional reactions these accounts provoked in the audiences, citizens, media and institutions, leading to always further responses and accounts in the ongoing construction of accountability.Originality/valueThis study extends prior literature on the chameleonic nature of accountability, as well as on its relational and emotional dimensions. The study shows that accountability is relationally constructed and evolves over time through the giving of accounts and the emotional reaction they provoke from others, feeding into further responses and accounts of the accountable subject. The authors show how the chameleonic nature of accountability permeates not only the accounts and the relations of accountability but also the subjects giving and demanding the accounts: these subjects change as chameleons through their interactions and emotions, feeding into the dynamic construction of accountability. The authors also show how arts, like music, can participate in the chameleonic nature of accountability and of its subjects, precisely by engaging with their emotional reactions and responses.

Online learning: advantages and disadvantages

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced all areas of human activity, including the training process. We urgently resorted to forms of training that exclude direct contact between individuals. Thus, higher institutions switched to online training. In this article, we try to identify the advantages and disadvantages of this form of training within the Academy of Music, Theater and Fine Arts.

Unesco Department "Music, Education, Science — for Peace" at P. I. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine: The Strategic Dimension

Unesco Department "Music, Education, Science — for Peace" at P. I. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine: The Strategic Dimension

The Janáček Compendium by Nigel Simeone

Reviewed by: The Janáček Compendium by Nigel Simeone James Michael Floyd The Janáček Compendium. By Nigel Simeone. (Boydell Composer Compendium Series.) Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell, 2019. [xvi, 284 p. ISBN 9781783273379 (hardcover), $29.95; ISBN 9781787445086 (e-book), price varies.] Photographs, facsimiles, illustrations, works list, bibliography. "One of the greatest and most original composers of the early twentieth century," reads the back cover of this book, "Leoš Janáček (1854–1928) occupied a pre-eminent position in Moravian culture, not only as a composer but also as a folksong collector, journalist, educator and nationalist." The Janáček Compendium is the work of Nigel Simeone, musicologist and conductor formerly at Bangor University and Sheffield University in the UK, who presently might be described as an independent music professional. Simeone's interest in Czech music, specifically the works of Janáček, began at a young age. "My own discovery of Janáček," Simeone explains, "began when I was a teenager, not only with recordings but also with three live performances that made a lasting impression" (p. xv)—namely, Glagolitic Mass in 1970, The Cunning Little Vixen in 1972, and Kát'a Kabanová in 1973. "Once I got to university," he continues, "adolescent enthusiasm for Janáček developed into scholarly curiosity as well" (p. xv). Indeed, Simeone's previous publications—The First Editions of Leoš Janáček: A Bibliographical Catalogue with Reproductions of Title Pages (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1991), Janáček's Works: A Catalogue of the Music and Writings of Leoš Janáček (with John Tyrrell and Alena Němcová [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997]), as well as a collection of essays devoted to a conductor who advocated for the performance of Janáček's music in England and the United States (Nigel Simeone and John Tyrrell, eds., Charles Mackerras [Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell, 2015])—are carefully placed within the world of the published Janáček literature outlined in the introduction. "This Compendium," notes Jiří Zahrádka, curator of the Janáček Archive in Brno, Czech Republic, "represents a book that has been conspicuously absent from the Janáček literature" (back cover). The Janáček Compendium, well researched and relatively free of errors, is organized into four sections: biography, dictionary, list of works, and bibliography. The biography is introductory in nature and spans six pages, briefly discussing Janáček's music education, his interest in folk music, and some of his major compositions. The largest section is the dictionary. It comprises 238 pages with more than 275 subject entries. Entries include composers, conductors, musicologists, musicians, performing groups, writers, publishers, students, friends and family, and many other individuals important to Janáček's life and career. Also included are a few modern scholars "whose work has enriched our knowledge of Janáček and shed new light on his life and work" (p. xv). One of these is Tyrrell, with whom Simeone cowrote and coedited two books, and to whom the compendium is dedicated in memoriam. Tyrrell, a renowned musicologist, was awarded honorary doctorates for his work on Janáček by the Masaryk University (2002) and the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (2012), both located in Janáček's hometown of Brno. Before publication, as Simeone explains, Tyrrell was available to read "all of the entries in the Dictionary and his comments were, as always, illuminating and exceptionally helpful" (p. xv). Some of the dictionary's lengthier entries are for Janáček's musical works, including "all his major works and [End Page 415] many of the lesser ones" (p. xiv). For example, the author generously provides pertinent information about each of Janáček's operas as well as a detailed synopsis of each scene. Works that are not listed in the dictionary are often Janáček's early works composed before 1900. When revising the compendium, if space allows, perhaps compositions can be added to further the research on lesser-known works of the composer. The dictionary also includes entries for aspects of Janáček's life and career, examples of which include "Conducting, Janáček's," "Correspondence," "Editions, Critical and Scholarly," "Facsimiles," "Folksong Editions," "London Visit," and "Unfinished Works." The entries, along with the introductory biography, reveal many facets...

Augusta Browne: Composer and Woman of Letters in Nineteenth-Century America by Bonny H. Miller

Reviewed by: Augusta Browne: Composer and Woman of Letters in Nineteenth-Century America by Bonny H. Miller Elissa Stroman Augusta Browne: Composer and Woman of Letters in Nineteenth-Century America. By Bonny H. Miller. (Eastman Studies in Music.) Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2020. [xiii, 457 p. ISBN 9781580469722 (hardcover), $135; ISBN 9781787448834 (e-book), price varies.] Music examples, illustrations, tables, bibliography, index, works list. "Augusta Browne's outsider status and self-agency," author Bonny H. Miller explains in the introduction, "offer a potent narrative that transcends antebellum and Victorian-era norms in America. She constructed a substantial legacy in American music and journalism through talent, craft, persistence, outreach, and nineteenth-century equivalents of modern marketing strategies" (p. 1). Indeed, upon reading Miller's biography, one might call Augusta Browne (1820–1882) a nineteenth-century "multihyphenate," to invoke an au courant term. Browne taught, performed, composed, and wrote, melding all of those activities into a career spanning over fifty years. This impressive biography asks us to question what is canonic music (or who is a canonic composer), what makes a woman's work feminist, and the ways in which society and family impact one's career trajectory. Miller's remarkable tome, amassing over two decades of research, is a deep dive into the life history of Browne, piecing together her story from extant primary sources: government records, newly scanned periodicals and newspapers, scant correspondence scattered across many archives, and surviving sheet music. In the first nine chapters, Miller traces Browne's life year by year in meticulous detail, recreating the entire musical society in which Browne worked. Throughout her life, family obligations required frequent moves, including stints in Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. Despite the seeming instability, Browne made her concert debut at age six and was a published composer as a teenager. Miller shows how at all times Browne was an entrepreneur, finding work wherever she could and marketing her writing, sheet music, teaching, and performing (as a church organist). Each chapter spans typically between five and ten years of her life and is delineated by major activities or milestones: her family origins, the start of [End Page 404] her father's music academy in Boston, her early compositions in Philadelphia, being a music teacher in New York, her literary debut, marriage, the Civil War and family struggles, and moving to Washington, D.C. This chronological structure allows readers to see how Browne was a woman of her age who grappled with major issues and ideologies of the nineteenth century. One of the overarching themes of the book is the impact Browne's family had on her career trajectory, especially considering the immense losses she faced. Early on, Miller calls Browne's childhood a "traumatic odyssey" (p. 40), but that was before we learned she was the third of nine siblings, seven of whom she outlived. Writing was a cathartic outlet for Browne, producing, for example, a tribute to her brother, Hamilton, the Young Artist (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1852), which Miller situates in nineteenth-century condolence literature. Further, after only three years of marriage (and having married later in life, at age thirty-five), Browne suddenly lost her husband. As a new widow, she published a popular devotional work; Browne's faith was an outlet that sustained her throughout her life's tragedies and offers another common thread in this biography. Miller admits that while Browne's "story emerges as both old fashioned and strikingly modern" (p. 1), she also was definitively a woman of her time. Though we may wish to see her as a boundary-breaking feminist, "that is not the primary narrative of her life that has emerged from the abundance of her recently digitized prose" (p. xii). Miller argues Browne worked from within the expected spaces of her age. Browne had to tread carefully, navigating expectations for female decorum and avoiding implications of impropriety while also being a successful working musician, composer, and writer. "Gender was the elephant in the room" (p. 101), and throughout the book Miller effectively addresses gender issues. Of note is the discussion regarding the opportunities (or lack thereof) available to Browne as an unmarried...

Little Syria, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

Little Syria, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Aya Nimer (bio) Omar Offendum's musical show Little Syria nods to the rich history of Brooklyn's Syrian community and is part of a vibrant tradition of Syrian performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.1 Offendum highlights this history by centering the rich visual language of shammi (Levantine) design, using mother-of-pearl chairs and gold decor to amplify the narrative style of the show and create a bridge between the audience and the historical titular neighborhood where the show is set. Little Syria, a collaboration with musicians Ronnie Malley, Thanks Joey, and Nano Raies, tells a story of Arabs in American life. By interweaving different narrative and musical techniques, Offendum shines a light on a historic Syrian neighborhood in Manhattan, New York and creates a space for communal healing. Offendum uses multiple cultural touchstones to encapsulate the broader and more intimate histories of Little Syria, creating continuity in the historical narrative of Arabs in the United States. Offendum builds this historical narrative through two concurrent processes. The first is by telling the broader history of Little Syria and Arab immigration in tandem with the intimate histories of people in Little Syria. The second is the use of hakawati, an Arab storytelling tradition that relies on motifs such as allegory, music, and spectacle to tell a story. Offendum uses hakawati as a storytelling practice to interweave our own daily emotional experiences with those of Offendum's historical figures, giving us a parallax view of racism, finding a job, and making money.2 The show begins with a track that outlines the experience of migrating to America through the lyrics "It's time for a new chapter/in this land of opportunity/the promises of rapture and happily ever after/lay behind these golden doors … allow me to explain before you butcher my name/label me unhireable or worse yet undesirable/I'm a man with a heart and a soul on a mission/here to build a better life …" Starting the show with a broad picture of the [End Page 90] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. A snapshot of the stage and setup of Little Syria at the Brooklyn Academy of Music anxieties and emotions associated with immigration creates an aperture for Offendum to take us into the lived experience of a street salesman in Little Syria. The salesman sells his wares near an American soap factory that uses pig lard as a main ingredient. The owner of the factory often ridicules the Syrian salesman by calling him "dirty" and "unhygienic." The salesman thinks the ridicule is ironic considering Syrian soap's reputation as a valuable and potent cleansing agent. This segment animates the daily exchanges that comprised the lives of those living in Little Syria as they encountered racist institutions in their new neighborhood. This intimate history, which visualizes the emotional lives of historical figures, creates a space for us as viewers to reflect on our own experiences with racism. The interweaving of broad and intimate histories through hakawati shows how our emotional lives are intertwined with larger political histories. The musical structure is similarly comprised of two elements interwoven into a distinct style. Thanks Joey began the process of creating the musical soundscape of the show by sampling Arabic songs from the mid-twentieth century, which were then overlaid with Offendum's lyrics and complemented by Ronnie Malley's oud performance. Offendum's [End Page 91] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 2. A backstage shot of Omar Offendum, Thanks Joey, and Ronnie Malley at the Brooklyn Academy of Music [End Page 92] lyrics, combined with Thanks Joey's beats, create a moment that fuses the historic Arab soundscape of the 1900s with Offendum's contemporary hip hop style. This is further developed in Ronnie's live oud performance. The oud is an instrument with strong cultural associations and memories for many Arab listeners. The nostalgic nature of the oud evokes a soundscape reminiscent of home, another way that Little Syria engages with intimate histories. This soundscape simultaneously feels historic and contemporary, transporting listeners into a liminal world that acknowledges and draws...