[Historyoftheory] Virtual Study Day, "Future Histories of Music Theory: Problems & Possibilities, " June 17, 2021

[Raz, Carmel]

Dear Colleagues,

The "Future Histories of Music Theory" working group at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (Frankfurt, Germany) will be organizing a virtual study day<https://www.aesthetics.mpg.de/forschung/researchgroupcarmelraz/events/veranstaltungen-rg-hmmb-detail/article/future-histories-of-music-theory-problems-and-possibilities.html> on June 17, 2021 devoted to  reimagining  the canon of texts and materials studied and taught by historians of music theory. We are particularly interested in approaches that contest the subdiscipline’s traditional concentration on Western European sources. The meeting, which will consist primarily of discussions in breakout sessions, is open to any interested students and scholars working on the history of music theory or in adjacent areas. An abstract and additional details are below. To register, please fill out the form at the following link before May 1, 2021:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1nfDsRzjsm5dhTwKmGhqYOqp4TRqtu9gZ968Am3jW3Zw/viewform?edit_requested=true&gxids=7628

Sincerely,

Thomas Christensen, Lester Hu, Nathan Martin, and Carmel Raz



Future Histories of Music Theory: Problems and Possibilities

Our workshop aims to embrace a multitude of world perspectives on the discipline of music theory, its conception, and its practice. We hope to provoke conversation and reflection among historians of music theory and interested scholars in adjacent fields, with the concrete goal of envisioning what a volume akin to Strunk’s Source Readings in Music History with an emphasis on what a more “global” history of theory might comprise.

The history of music theory, as practiced in the North American and European academy,  has traditionally concentrated on texts written in Latin, Italian, French, German, and to some extent Greek. It is well time to ask if such a narrow canon does not perpetuate Eurocentrism and risk aligning the field with colonial and white-supremacist discourses. Broadening and diversifying the history of music theory is thus a project of moral and political urgency.

Such broadening and diversifying poses a range of formidable challenges, yet at the same time is a stimulant for rethinking just what constitutes “music theory.” This workshop will seek to identify these challenges forthrightly as we seek to make new sources and narratives available  for the history of music theory.

Some of the questions we are keen to ask include:


  *   What would it take to provincialize European music theory, as opposed to simply exporting it on a global scale?
  *   How would a “global” history of music theory differ from (but also connect to) a “decolonial” one?
  *   In what ways can texts be reconceptualized, both in relation to embodied knowledge and to “alternative literacies,” so as to decenter classical literary traditions of music theory (Perso-Arabic, Indian, Chinese, etc., as well as European)?
  *   Can translation be approached as creative, experimental, and performative work, in addition to transferring information across cultural and linguistic spheres?
  *   What are the expediencies and pitfalls of studying the”global” history of music theory in English, as opposed to creating multilingual spaces of scholarship?

 To register, please fill out the form at the following link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1nfDsRzjsm5dhTwKmGhqYOqp4TRqtu9gZ968Am3jW3Zw/viewform?edit_requested=true&gxids=7628



Carmel Raz
Research Group Leader, "Histories of Music, Mind and Body"
Max-Planck-Institut für empirische Ästhetik
Grüneburgweg 14  60322 Frankfurt
www.carmelraz.com


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.societymusictheory.org/pipermail/historyoftheory-societymusictheory.org/attachments/20210421/c2fca4d6/attachment.html>