SMT Interest Group on Improvisation
Inaugural Meeting @ SMT Minneapolis 2011
Saturday 29 October // 5:30-7:30 p.m. // Crystal Room
MINUTES
I. call to order
A. welcome
B. 20 in attendance: Mike Callahan, Aaron Harcus, August Sheehy, Corey Stevens, Chris Wahlmark, Amy Fleming, Nancy Rogers, Janna Saslaw, Uri Rom, Deborah Stein, Melissa Murphy, Chris Stover, Mark Janello, Gerry Zaritzky, Richard Pellegrin, Vincent Benitez, David Mosher, Mark Butler, Paul Steinbeck, and Scott Currie (the chair of SEM Improvisation)
II. short-form presentations
A. Vincent Benitez on Messiaen
B. Paul Steinbeck on improvisation studies and music theory
III. introduction to SMT Improvisation
A. purpose of the interest group
1. to foster collaboration
2. to develop new (possibly multi-disciplinary) approaches to the study of improvisation
3. to promote theory-oriented research on improvisation, and to rethink the practice of musical analysis
4. unofficially: “collective action”
B. personal introductions
IV. proposals for activities and events at AMS-SEM-SMT New Orleans 2012
A. joint meeting with our affiliate group SEM Improvisation
B. special sessions
1. joint session(s) to be co-produced with SEM Improvisation
2. other special sessions and/or joint sessions
3. target date for proposals: mid-December 2011
C. alternative-format events: workshops, panel discussions, performances
V. future plans
A. further collaboration with SEM Improvisation
B. outreach to other organizations
1. AMS, CMS, SAM, etc.
2. Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice research project
3. International Society for Improvised Music
C. publication opportunities
1. special issue of Music Theory Online
2. Critical Studies in Improvisation
D. conference opportunities
1. Perspectives on Musical Improvisation conference, Oxford 2012 (CFP here)
2. Analytical Approaches to World Music, Vancouver 2012 (CFP here)
VI. intra-group dialogues
A. Google discussion group (http://groups.google.com/group/smt-improvisation)
B. exchanging position papers
VII. web presence
A. creation and maintenance of a new website (complementary to the Google discussion group)
B. creation and maintenance of a database of research sources (to be hosted at said new website)
VIII. election of officers
A. chair: Paul Steinbeck, Syracuse University
B. vice-chair: Vincent Benitez, Penn State University
C. communications officer: Chris Stover, New School University
D. webmaster: Corey Stevens, McGill University
IX. brainstorming session: possibilities for AMS-SEM-SMT New Orleans 2012
A. workshop on pedagogy, improvisation, and music theory (co-produced with SMT Pedagogy?)
B. joint AMS-SEM-SMT panel discussion on improvisation studies (George Lewis as respondent?)
C. roundtable and/or performance involving New Orleans musicians (Kidd Jordan, et al.)
D. other topics for special sessions and/or joint sessions
1. improvisation and spiritual expression (in multiple musical/religious cultures)
2. improvisation in North and South Indian music (and musical analysis?)
E. other topics for (coordinated) submission to the program committee
1. the composer as improviser (from Bach to the French organ tradition and beyond)
2. rock music, improvisation, and virtuosity
3. improvisation and rhetoric in the Stylus Phantasticus
X. adjournment