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NECMT Annual Meeting hosted by McGill University this month

Published: 11 April 2019

This month McGill University is hosting the 34th Annual Meeting of the New England Conference of Music Theorists (NECMT) – the first time the event has ever been held in Montreal. NECMT’s main purpose is to foster the development of music theory, and provide a forum for exchanging ideas between music theorists. The scholarly organization is primarily aimed at those living or teaching in the New England region, but this year’s Annual Meeting has a particularly large scope, with scholars visiting from four American states and three Canadian provinces to present their work here at McGill University.

The Schulich School of Music has a notable involvement in the event: in addition to hosting the conference, a number of current students and alumni will present their research during the two-day meeting. Three Associate Professors of Music Theory have organizational roles in the conference. Nicole Biamonte (pictured, left) is currently the chair of the NECMT program committee, and has also presented a keynote address at a previous NECMT annual meeting. Jonathan Wild is the chair of the local arrangements committee, and Christoph Neidhöfer will chair the opening session of papers.

Four current graduate students will present papers during the meeting later this month:

Benjamin Duinker is a PhD candidate in music theory, and will present “Segmentation and Phrasing in Hip-Hop Flow” in a session covering various topics relating to phrase structure and rhythm. This same session also includes a presentation by new PhD student in music theory Alexandrea Jonker, on “The Expectancy/Infinity Trope in ‘Molasses’ by Hiatus Kaiyote.”

A session themed around and the analysis of timbre involves presentations by two other current McGill students. PhD candidate in music theory Landon Morrison will showcase his paper “From Bell-Boy Chimeras to Speaking Orchestras: Spectral Modeling Techniques in the Music of Jonathan Harvey,” along with current MA candidate in music theory Reid Issak with “Structural Oppositions in the Orchestration of Boulez's Notations for Orchestra.”

The program also includes presentations by two McGill alumni: Nathan Martin (McGill theory PhD graduate, who is now Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan) will present “David Lewin and the History of Music Theory in America,” and Ellen Bakulina (McGill theory MA graduate, CUNY PhD graduate, and now Assistant Professor at the University of North Texas) will present “Tonal Pairing in Two of Rachmaninoff's Songs.”

Prof. Nicole Biamonte, Associate Professor of Music Theory at the Schulich School of Music and chair of the NECMT program committee for the current academic year, is thrilled that McGill University is hosting the meeting: “I’m thrilled to have a regional theory conference here at McGill. We don’t have regional chapters in Canada, but some McGill theory faculty have been involved with both the New York and New England societies. These conferences are much smaller and more intimate than the national theory conference, so it represents an excellent opportunity not only to hear about new research but also to make new scholarly connections within our field.”

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