Peer Learning Program workshops are three-hour seminars led by prominent scholars. They provide the opportunity to learn—from the workshop leader as well as from peers—new perspectives on fundamental issues in music theory, and to apply that learning to research and teaching. The topics range widely across music-theoretical research and teaching interests.
History
The program is intended to encourage “thinking together,” in the spirit of the Mannes Institute founded by Wayne Alpern and organized by him during the years 2001–11.
Eligibility and selection
- The workshops are open to all members of the Society who have completed a doctoral degree. (Separate workshop opportunities are also available to those who have not completed a Ph.D.)
- Participants are selected by a random draw from the pool of eligible applicants.
- Prior PLP participants are permitted to apply, but preference will be given to first-time applicants.
- To encourage interaction, each workshop is limited to approximately 10–12 participants.
Application
Deadline to apply is June 15, 2024.
Commitments
- Please note that PLP workshops will take place the morning of Thursday, November 7; by applying you are committing to arrive at the conference in time to participate in the workshop.
- Some reading and mental preparation are required, but not extensive written assignments, in consideration of the professional responsibilities of the participants.
Cost
There is no fee to participate in the program. Participants are responsible, however, for the cost of SMT membership and conference registration (but not at the time of application), as well as for other expenses of attendance, including transportation, housing, and meals.
2024 Workshops
A Toolkit for Analyzing Late Sixteenth-Century Polyphony
Megan Long (Oberlin College & Conservatory)
Are you intrigued by Renaissance polyphony, but unfamiliar with the terminology, notation, and analytical methods that underpin the style? Are you interested in teaching a favorite mass or motet, but you’re not sure where to begin? In this workshop we will develop basic analytical tools for the study of sacred imitative polyphony composed in the second half of the sixteenth century. Analytical topics will include cadence formation, imitative techniques for two voices, imitative techniques for four or more voices, and basic considerations involving pitch structure (including musica ficta, solmization, and mode). We will collaboratively analyze touchstone works drawn from the masses and motets of Palestrina, Lasso, Victoria, and Byrd. Participants will leave with a basic slate of tools for teaching Renaissance polyphony in the undergraduate classroom, a selection of excellent teaching pieces organized by difficulty, and a concise bibliography for further study. No experience with sixteenth-century counterpoint or analytical tools is expected.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to IMTE (Intergalactic Music Theory of Everything)
Daniel K.L. Chua (The University of Hong Kong) & Alex Rehding (Harvard University)
In our book Alien Listening (2021) we sketched out a model for music theory that is not limited to human ears, occasioned by the Voyager Golden Record—a compilation of world music that NASA assembled in 1977, pressed into an LP, put on a spacecraft and shot into outer space, with the express hope that an alien intelligent species might find it someday. The intergalactic music theory of everything (IMTE) that Alien Listening proposes has raised as many questions as it has answered. This workshop is an opportunity to dig deeper, and to discuss the much more modest question of what opportunities IMTE affords for us here on planet Earth.
Contact
For additional information, please contact the Chair of the Committee on Workshop Programs.