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Musicology, Performance Studies, and Performing Antiquity

Book Review of Samuel N. Dorf, Performing Antiquity: Ancient Greek Music and Dance from Paris to Delphi, 1890-1930 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018) Performance studies is unsettled, open, discursive, and multiple in its methods, themes, objects of study, and persons. It is a field without fences. It is “inter” […]. Being “inter” is exploring…
The Theater of the Listener’s Imagination in Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture

Program Notes for Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 As Scott Burnham writes in his book Beethoven Hero, what makes Beethoven’s music so exciting to listen to is that the listener identifies with the emotions and can project his or her own experiences onto it. In other words, the music does not describe just one story.…
Dramaturgy of Sound: Bauhaus, Music, Technology

(This blog post is an introduction to the music and sound of the Bauhaus, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Please refer to the accompanying playlist on Apple Music and Spotify.) Mladen Ovadija describes the dramaturgy of sound as theatrical performances that incorporate sound “not only as supporting music or incidental noise but also…
A Music Cognition Experiment Revisited Ten Years Later

Handshape and Orientation in the Expressive Gestures of the Conductor’s Left Hand It’s been nearly ten years since I submitted my senior thesis for the Music Cognition major at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. At the time, I was interested in becoming a conductor. From my training as a conductor with Fred Ockwell and…

Musicology, Performance Studies, and Performing Antiquity

The Theater of the Listener’s Imagination in Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture

Dramaturgy of Sound: Bauhaus, Music, Technology

A Music Cognition Experiment Revisited Ten Years Later