AMS Newsletter February 2013
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AMS NEWSLETTER THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY CONSTITUENT MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES VOLUME XLIII, NUMBER 1 February 2013 ISSN 0402-012X AMS Pittsburgh 2013: Music n’at 2012 Annual Meeting: in the Steel City New Orleans AMS Pittsburgh 2013 when lights outline these features and sparkle The seventy-eighth Annual Meeting of the off the water. American Musicological Society in New Or- 7–10 November A century ago, the night would have been leans, 1–4 November, fell just days after Hur- www.ams-net.org/pittsburgh lit by the flames of massive steel furnaces. The ricane Sandy struck. Some members were thick smoke from coal-burning plants had badly affected by the storm, while many others suffered indirectly with flight delays Those of us who grew up watching Mister long hung over the city; an Atlantic writer and cancellations. Absent friends were never Rogers’ Neighborhood likely recall the pleasure dubbed it “Hell with the Lid Off ” in 1868. far from the thoughts of those who made it, of seeing the trolley emerge from the tun- In the 1940s streetlights came on during the while tales of the travel-worn were a theme nel into the Neighborhood of Make Believe. day, and businessmen took two white shirts of many lobby reunions. What more under- According to Deane Root, Rogers acknowl- to work, because the first would be smudged standing and gracious host for the assembled edged that the trolley’s journey was inspired by noon. For years Pittsburghers didn’t com- than New Orleans? In the days that followed, by the city in which he produced his show for plain; the smoke signaled employment and the city was a generous backdrop to the con- thirty-five years. Driving in from the airport, wages for immigrant workers, and huge prof- ference program as delegates continued con- Pittsburgh looks like a hillier version of any its for Carnegie, Frick, Mellon, and Heinz. versations over beignets, coffee, and a stroll Midwestern metro area until one climbs over Local activism cleared the smoke by the mid- through the French Quarter, or ventured out Green Tree Hill and makes the steep descent 1960s, but in the 1980s a changing economy to enjoy samplings of the city’s vibrant and into the Fort Pitt Tunnel. It’s a longish tun- snuffed out most of the fires. Only one of diverse musical life. nel with a low ceiling, but the exit vista is the major steel mills remains, with far fewer The meeting was joint with the Society workers. Much of the population left, as evi- magical: rivers, bridges, trains, skyscrapers, for Ethnomusicology and Society for Music denced by the legions of Steeler fans that now knots of roadway, stadiums, riverboats—a Theory, and it was agreed as early as 2010 that invade rival stadiums. In the last twenty-five city dreamed up by a model railroad build- the three societies would allocate program years, however, Pittsburgh has experienced er. The scene is equally impressive at night, space for collaborations between the societies, another Renaissance, with banking, educa- as well as plan their regular individual society In This Issue… tion, and medicine creating a stable and di- programs. The Joint Sessions on this year’s verse economy. President’s Message ...............2 program were thus a new departure, and I am When you exit the Fort Pitt Tunnel, you particularly grateful to Jocelyn Neal and Bon- JAMS News ....................3 won’t be far from the conference hotel. The 5 nie Wade, chairs of the Program Committees What I Do in Musicology .......... Wyndham Grand is the closest commercial 6 for SMT and SEM respectively, for their hard Awards, Prizes, Honors ............ building to the Point, Pittsburgh’s defining 14 work throughout the year as we coordinated Treasurer’s Message .............. geographic feature, where the Monongahela Executive Director’s Message ......14 this aspect of the program. This year’s AMS and the Allegheny flow into the Ohio River 2013 News from the AMS Board .......14 Program Committee (Dana Gooley, (locally, the Mon, the Al, and the O). Con- AMS-Sponsored Lectures ......... 15 chair, Nadine Hubbs, Mary Hunter, Gayle tested during the French and Indian War, the Vancouver Int’l Song Institute .....16 Sherwood Magee, Giulio Ongaro, and Jeffrey Point saw the French Fort Duquesne give Ecomusicology Listening Room ....18 Sposato) thus had the added task of evaluat- way to the British Fort Pitt; a reconstructed AMS Elections 2013 .............19 ing AMS-related Joint Session proposals and bastion is now a museum. After World War Committee & Study Group News ..22 did so with great care and insight. That same Post-Conference Survey Report ....27 II the area became Point State Park, with its attitude characterized their contributions Conferences, CFPs ..............27 iconic fountain that will reopen this summer. when we met in Louisville in April to evaluate News Briefs ...................28 The Three Rivers Heritage Trail provides an the AMS proposals. The group worked har- Papers Read at Chapter Meetings ...29 easy path through the park and over the Al moniously and with admirable care for due Financial Summary 2012 ..........36 to the North Side, where you can visit Heinz process, bringing different perspectives and Obituaries ....................37 continued on page continued on page President’s Message: Teaching, Research, and the Object of the AMS Our meeting in New Orleans brought to a introduced in this space a year ago when she Ethnomusicology, and the Society for Amer- close my year as President-elect, my year of asked “How can we do ‘public musicology’ ican Music (the current and incoming presi- learning about the workings of the society. better?” A month later, the AMS Board met dents of SAM were present because both are Of the various activities, one that was both in New Orleans and had a retreat devoted in AMS members). This was possibly the first inspiring and onerous was serving as chair of part to this topic (see her report in the Au- such dinner ever, although our knowledge the Committee on Committees. Armed with gust 2012 AMS Newsletter). Although there of who socialized with whom when only ex- several Excel files of current and past com- are no statistics on this matter, from my tends so far. The best illustration of how im- mittee rosters, I and the other four members own friends and acquaintances, it seems to portant we all felt this gathering to be is that of CommComm (Graeme Boone, Wendy me that the broad range of activities that we it took us nearly sixty emails to slog our way Heller, Melanie Lowe, and Hilary Poriss) set call “teaching” engage as many people in the through our busy schedules to find a time about replacing eighty-five of the 340 people AMS as does research. Pre-concert-lecturers that worked for us all. who serve on one of the Society’s thirty-nine teach, bloggers teach, librarians teach, mu- While one of the goals was simply to get committees. sic-editors and publishers teach. Members acquainted, we also discussed a variety of I find that to be an astonishing set of num- who perform know that there is as much concerns we all share. Among these were bers. They signal how important our mission teaching in performance as there is perfor- various versions of what we are calling “pub- is to so many of us. Hours and hours—in- mance in teaching. lic musicology,” plenary lectures (we are the deed, days and weeks—went into shaping To riff on an orange juice and breakfast odd ones out here, something I hope we can the committees to the best of our abilities, jingle from several decades ago: musicol- address), developments in technology as they balancing areas of specialization, gender, ge- ogy isn’t just for college professors anymore affect our journals and annual meetings, as ography, degrees of seniority, and the wishes (nor was it ever). A broader view of teach- well as the possibility of reduced-rate mem- of volunteers with the available slots. Once ing inevitably requires a broader view of berships in each others’ societies (please con- our work was done, we sent our recommen- why one might pursue graduate studies in tact me if you can think of a way to make dations to President Anne Walters Robert- this happen without reducing the revenue we son, who made the final selections and then Musicology isn’t just for all get from dues). began extending the invitations to serve. I college professors anymore The extent to which the sessions in New later asked her which percentage of people Orleans achieved successful mixes of papers said yes. “Virtually all,” she said (or words read by members of our various societies was to that effect), “and with enthusiasm.” When musicology—which is itself a conversation truly remarkable. Permutations of AMS/ I describe this to colleagues in other disci- that has long simmered. Here in Davis we SEM, AMS/SMT, SMT/SEM (such as that plines I get various expressions of disbelief. A just today received news of a joint initiative on “Rhythm and Dance”), and even AMS/ spirit of altruism is alive and unusually vigor- of the University of California Humanities SEM/SMT (such as “Popular Music and ous in the AMS. Network and the Andrew J. Mellon Foun- Power”) made up a significant portion of the The New Orleans meeting featured a dation on “The Humanities and Changing sessions. I was able to attend a few of these relatively uncommon event for our society: Conceptions of Work.” Clearly the Society that were packed (for example, that on Sgt.