Study Day: Mainstreams and Exceptions

The Society for Music Analysis is pleased to announce an in-person study day on “Mainstreams and Exceptions”, organised by the Formal Theory Study Group. Hosted at the University of Cambridge, on Thursday November 12, the study day interrogates the current vogue for corpus studies by considering the interplay of mainstream and exceptions. Corpus studies often attempt to distill and characterise the mainstream, but on the way, they have the capacity to reveal outliers - those works that simply do not categorise in any way, and therefore reveal the limitations of the corpus-based method. In this respect, these cases are often even more information-rich than standard cases, and can provide us with different ways of reflecting on the mainstream. Convened by Rajan Lal and Benedict Taylor, the study day will be led by Yoel Greenberg, as part of his European Research Council project “Toward a Diachronic Music Theory.” It will feature a mix of presentations, roundtable discussion, and analytical workshop on select pieces. 

 

Attending the study day is free, but registration is essential. Participants should be SMA members (standard membership £45, student membership £20) and may be eligible to apply for an SMA bursary to support their costs. Students are particularly invited to attend. 

 

10: Arrival and Introduction 

10:30: Presentation by Yoel Greenberg

11:30: Lunch (self-catered)

1:30: Roundtable discussion with Julian Horton, Jane Hines, Sarah Moynihan, and Paul Wingfield, chaired by Benedict Taylor

3: Break

3:30: Analytical Workshop 

5: End

 

Please register for the study day by November 1 using the following form https://forms.gle/rXTuVUmWQ73kYLny8. If you have any questions, please contact ftsg@sma.ac.uk.