MUSI

The seminar explores musical embodiments of a scriptural book, which has stood in the midst of rich theological and philosophical debates, within and between two religious universes. The seminar’s title paraphrases a major moment in the book: when God reveals himself to Job the sufferer, from the whirlwind. That was a powerful, boisterous moment. Combined with other audible articulations strewn throughout the book, it has opened itself up to a plethora of sonic imaginaries, suggested and elaborated in the course of its long durée. Inspired by the book, the seminar aims to probe the aesthetic theology of sound, noise and silence. We will study its manifestations in poetic, oratorical, pictorial, choreographic and cinematic embodiments of the book, from early times to the present day. We will focus mainly on modern expressions, which, while referring to ancient and medieval legacies, respond to contemporary plights and aporias. The figure of the suffering Job, at times the patron saint of music, will shed new light on the cultural connections among music, heresy, compassion, and consolation. Methodological considerations will be highlighted in each class, crossing disciplinary borders, periods and media.

We will focus on the status and analysis of music documentaries concerning, for example, musicians/groups, styles, instruments, historical periods, recording labels. One of our primary aims will be to determine how such films stand both in relation to other films (including so-called biopics) and in relation to other representations of musicians in images and words. Relatedly, we will be concerned with the technical and narrative strategies of directors, editors and script writers: e.g., the relative merits of location recording vis-à-vis studio environments; the use of confessional and “talking head” interviews; approaches for including performance footage; editing strategies; choice of film stock; and the like. In the end, our brief will be to understand how such filmic portraits reinforce and complicate notions of authorship/creativity, labor, economy, identity and value.

During the five three-hour sessions of the Dissertation Chapter Seminar each quarter, Ph.D. students in their fourth and fifth years will have the opportunity to share strategies for writing up their dissertations during the years of most intensive research. We shall work collectively to develop these strategies, investigating the on-the-ground research work that students bring to the DCS from the early stages of research to the completion of chapters in preparation for the dissertation-completion year. Each session will begin with a discussion of research-to-writing strategies, and it will conclude with discussion in the seminar of one or two pre-circulated chapters by students in the DCS. Ph.D. students who are not in residence during their fourth and fifth years, because they are conducting research or no longer in residence in Chicago, will participate remotely. During the Autumn Quarter of 2020/2021, the DCS will be entirely remote. The DCS provides students an opportunity for a sustained and supportive dissertation-writing workshop for Ph.D. students in Music.

The purpose of this seminar is to assist students (typically in their third year) in crafting a dissertation proposal, gaining critical feedback from their peers, and honing compelling research projects. The meeting schedule of the seminar will be flexible: beginning in the fourth week of Autumn term, we will meet about once every two weeks; it may be, however, that we pick up the tempo a bit during Winter term, such that during Spring term we can slow it down a bit to allow students more time to work with their advisors on the formulation of their research projects. Once I know the schedule of the Department workshops I will schedule the meetings of the DPS to avoid conflicts with classes, workshops and other events, and distribute an initial assignment for reading and discussion.

The Colloquium is a series of lectures followed by discussion and normally given by speakers from other institutions who are specially invited by the Music Department to share their recent research or compositions with students and faculty. All lectures take place on Friday afternoons.

The composition seminar is a weekly session designed for graduate students in composition. It is an open forum for composers to listen to recent music, including their own, and to discuss issues connected with trends, esthetics, and compositional techniques. The entire composition faculty takes part in these sessions. The composition seminar often hosts well-known visiting composers whose works are performed in the city by various groups or ensembles, as well as performers specializing in new music and contemporary techniques.

The topic of this seminar varies per faculty member. This proseminar is designed to equip graduate students with methodological and epistemological tools for doing ethnographic fieldwork in expressive cultural contexts.

This course is a continuation of Music 31100, a study of advanced techniques in tonal analysis. Much of our work will center on Schenkerian theory, but we will also place Schenkerian approaches in dialogue with other methods, including recent approaches to Formenlebre, schema theory, and neo-Riemannian theory. We will be interested in exploring the intersections (and frictions) between these diverse analytical methods, seeking at once to develop analytical fluency in each of them and to heighten our sensitivity to the methodological issues involved in a pluralist approach to tonal analysis.