South Central Music Bulletin IX/1-2 (Fall 2010-Spring 2011) • A Refereed Journal • ISSN 1545-2271 • http://www.scmb.us _________________________________________________________________________________________ South Central Music Bulletin A Refereed, Open-Access Journal ISSN 1545-2271 Volume IX, Issues 1-2 (Fall 2010 – Spring 2011) __________________________________________________________________________________________ Editor: Dr. Nico Schüler, Texas State University Music Graphics Editor: Richard D. Hall, Texas State University Editorial Review Board: Dr. Paula Conlon, University of Oklahoma Dr. Stacey Davis, University of Texas – San Antonio Dr. Lynn Job, North Central Texas College Dr. Kevin Mooney, Texas State University Dr. Dimitar Ninov, Texas State University Ms. Sunnie Oh, Independent Scholar & Musician Dr. Robin Stein, Texas State University Dr. Leon Stefanija, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) Dr. Paolo Susanni, Yaşar University (Turkey) Dr. Lori Wooden, University of Central Oklahoma Subscription: Free This Open Access Journal can be downloaded from http://www.scmb.us. Publisher: South Central Music Bulletin http://www.scmb.us © Copyright 2011 by the Authors. All Rights Reserved. 1 South Central Music Bulletin IX/1-2 (Fall 2010-Spring 2011) • A Refereed Journal • ISSN 1545-2271 • http://www.scmb.us _________________________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents Message from the Editor by Nico Schüler … Page 3 Research Articles: Understanding Songs from Mother Goose by Kenneth (Ken) Metz by Aaron Carter-Cohn … Page 4 About Letter Symbols in Music Theory and Practice by Plamen Arabov … Page 23 Book Review: Teaching Music in Higher Education by David Sawtelle … Page 29 2 South Central Music Bulletin IX/1-2 (Fall 2010-Spring 2011) • A Refereed Journal • ISSN 1545-2271 • http://www.scmb.us _________________________________________________________________________________________ Message from the Editor Nico Schüler, Texas State University, E-Mail: [email protected] As always, I would like to sincerely thank all mem- - short responses to articles published in previ- bers of our peer-review board for their hard work ous issues; and excellent suggestions for improving each arti- - bibliographies on any music-related topic, cle. which may or may not be annotated); All issues may contain articles and an- - reviews of books, printed music, CDs, and nouncements in the following categories: software; and - articles with a special focus on local music - reports on recent symposia, conferences, and traditions (any region in the world); music events. - research articles – generally, all music-related I would like to call for submissions that fit any of topics are being considered; these categories. Submissions by students are, as - opinion articles that are part of, or provide the always, very welcome. All submissions are ex- basis for, discussions on important music topics; pected via e-mail with attachments in Word format - composer portraits that may or may not in- or in Rich Text Format. For detailed submission clude an interview; guidelines visit http://www.scmb.us. 3 South Central Music Bulletin IX/1-2 (Fall 2010-Spring 2011) • A Refereed Journal • ISSN 1545-2271 • http://www.scmb.us _________________________________________________________________________________________ Research Articles Understanding Songs from Mother Goose by a great composer and orchestrator by serious com- Kenneth (Ken) Metz1 posers; composer-conductors Leonard Bernstein and Gunther Schuller are known for their incorpora- by Aaron Carter-Cohn tion of jazz as a stylistic idiom; and more recently, The Ohio State University younger composers such as those of the post- E-Mail: [email protected] minimalist movement have incorporated jazz as well as pop sounds into concert music; yet, Ken Introductory Remarks Metz and I have both met with some consternation Kenneth Robert Metz (b. 1954) has been drawn to when blurring the boundary between jazz and art music his entire life. He began to compose shortly music.3 While discussion of this subject did not ul- after beginning piano lessons. While earning a timately become a major part of this research pro- Bachelors of Science in Chemistry at Emory Uni- ject, the interview with Ken Metz helped me to bet- versity, he frequently participated in improvisation ter understand that there are more nuanced ways of sessions as a flutist. After college, he decided to incorporating jazz into art music than simply writ- pursue graduate studies in music, culminating in a ing a jazz flavored piece for a jazz instrumentation Ph.D. in Fine Arts with an Emphasis in Composi- and throwing in a section for improvisation as I had tion from Texas Tech University in 1997. Since done as an undergraduate student. Two of Ken then he has served as an Assistant and Associate Metz’s major works, Reflections on Monk for con- Professor and now is an Professor of Music at the cert band (1997) and A Mingus Fantasy for wind University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) in San An- ensemble (2005), use the techniques of the art com- tonio, Texas. His career as an academic has includ- poser to develop ideas that emphasize the rhythms, ed a number of executive roles, notably chairing timbres and textures (of particular importance to UIW’s music department and serving on regional Metz) of jazz. In addition, these works incorporate boards of the College Music Society and the Society stylistic features unique to Thelonious Monk and of Composers.2 Charles Mingus, respectively. Since the interview in In my quest to better understand the life and February of 2008, I have come to appreciate the work of academic composers in contemporary soci- breed of improvisation that is valued by musical ety, I began looking for a composer who lived in experimentalists of today, including practitioners of my area to use as a subject for a study that would both electro-acoustic music and jazz: improvisation include an analysis. Ken Metz appealed to me be- that is free from conventions. Such an approach to cause his compositions included chamber music for improvisation is removed from the jazz language of a variety of instrumental combinations, as well as the early 20th-century, that of 18th- and 19th-century large ensemble works for wind ensemble and big cadenzas and Baroque realizations and embellish- band. In addition, his experience as a jazz instru- ments, but has a lot in common with the approach to mentalist piqued my interest. Although jazz has en- composition within academia. Composers in train- tered into the Ivory Tower, particularly as a perfor- ing learn the conventions of the past, so they can mance art, there is still an uneasy relationship be- make informed decisions about the future of music, tween jazz and the traditional musics of academia in so that they can compose deliberately and with in- my experience. Duke Ellington is acknowledged as tention. While jazz initially drew me to Ken Metz, it 1 See also the interview with the composer: Aaron Carter- was his diversity as a composer and his wisdom as Cohn, “A Portrait of, and Interview with, Composer Kenneth an educator that inspired me to pursue my research (Ken) Metz,” South Central Music Bulletin XIII/1-2 (2010): 21-44. 3 See the end of the “Language, Style and Idiom” section of 2 Biographical information is taken from the interview (op. the interview (op. cit.) for a discussion of this issue with re- cit.) and Ken Metz’s curriculum vitae. gard to Ken Metz’s compositions. 4 South Central Music Bulletin IX/1-2 (Fall 2010-Spring 2011) • A Refereed Journal • ISSN 1545-2271 • http://www.scmb.us _________________________________________________________________________________________ on him further. Metz is a seasoned educator, in the Mother Goose in a Cultural Context classroom, in applied lessons in composition and Mother Goose nursery rhymes are embedded in the double bass, and in the computer music studio. His consciousness of Euro-centric culture. Picking a insights on music pedagogy, with regard to theory, familiar text provides a beacon of familiarity to a composition and music technology in particular, are general audience that is frequently bewildered by a major subject of the interview. As a music theo- art music. Thus, selecting nursery rhymes provides rist, Ken Metz’s background in the sciences informs some of the same relevance that setting an ac- his understanding of music. Much of the discussion claimed poet does, without the obstacle of having of music as an academic discipline found in the in- the rights to use the text. In addition, nursery terview establishes a connection to acoustics and rhymes are not over-laden with complex meaning numerical systems. A global view of music is cen- and interpretations as much as literature is – instead, tral to Metz’s identity as a composer-professor. they are more like riddles. Discussions of how to Songs from Mother Goose was selected for interpret nursery rhymes offer few definite answers analysis for a number of reasons, many of which and even fewer that have seeped into the shared cul- relate to the manifold accessibility of the work, for tural experience that accompanies these perennial performers, concertgoers and internet-surfers. The favorites (Oring and Jones 1987, 114). Yet, Mother piece is for voice (baritone) and piano and is thus Goose rhymes remain a vital part of literature as an easily performed, and my hope is that this thesis can (partially) innocuous way to teach rhyming, rhythm, serve as a resource for future performances. In addi- and syntax (or lack there of) to young children and tion to it being a work that merits performance, be- provoking the imagination of all ages. cause the performance demands are modest, it has Though many Mother Goose enthusiasts can been performed on multiple occasions including a enjoy the rhymes without a reading of what’s in- public performance under the auspices of the Com- side, a composer using them as a text for a song posers’ Alliance of San Antonio (CASA) that was must have an interpretation, even if the listener is reviewed by the San Antonio Express-News (Win- not aware of it.