Roundtable Discussion about The Journal of Schenkerian Studies
0 Comments Published by AMSGNY President on Friday, October 9, 2020 at 11:57 PM.
In August, the Greater New York Chapter of the American Musicological Society started a series of roundtable discussions on topics of interest to musicologists and others. The first one dealt with the future of musicology, and the second with sharing thoughts on curriculum revision. At the end of this second roundtable, there was a request to devote a session to the recent controversy over the exchange published in The Journal of Schenkerian Studies, which was, in turn, based on a presentation at a Society for Music Theory event. I must confess that I was only marginally familiar with this controversy, having heard about it only on the Facebook musicology group page. However, it seemed like a good topic to discuss, and I was grateful that Samantha Bassler agreed to give the opening remarks for the session, which would take place the following week (which would have been the last week in August). Shortly after the meeting, several people who were not familiar with the controversy asked me if I could provide some background to it, and I shared with all members several items with which I was familiar—taken, for the most part, from the Facebook musicology group. Shortly after I did that, I was accused of leaving things out, and, then, people started sending me things on this and related topics, including videos. At this point, because of these developments, we decided to postpone the roundtable and to discuss how to move forward at the next chapter meeting, which was on September 12th.
At this meeting, not all those in attendance wanted to devote time to discuss this issue, but many did, and so we will hold another roundtable on Wednesday, October 14th, at 7 PM. The format will be somewhat different from those in the past, so please note the following:
1. There is a place where anyone may put any items they think should be read or viewed prior to the discussion. Here is the URL:
The items there already (as of September 28th) are those I previously sent out, and which was never meant to be comprehensive. All interested parties, AMSGNY members or not, are welcome to post items that they think are relevant.
2. Because of the possibility that there will be many people who wish to speak that evening, we are limiting each person to three minutes. This means you need to plan what will be saying ahead of time. There is, however, an exception—if you feel you will need more time, you may contact me in advance (by the evening of October 12th) with the rationale for your request, and you will be given extra time to talk. You may e mail me at jdailey "at" gts.edu.
3. The procedure for October 14th will be to first go to the Zoom link
https://zoom.us/j/9453643107 , then, if you wish to speak, click on the chat box and put your name in it. That will tell us that you wish to speak, and we will allow people to speak in that order. Remember, unless you request an extension in advance, you are limited to three minutes. If you just want to listen/watch, then you do not need to add your name to the chat box.
https://zoom.us/j/9453643107 , then, if you wish to speak, click on the chat box and put your name in it. That will tell us that you wish to speak, and we will allow people to speak in that order. Remember, unless you request an extension in advance, you are limited to three minutes. If you just want to listen/watch, then you do not need to add your name to the chat box.
4. This event will not be recorded, and proper decorum is expected. Everyone is invited to listen and membership in the chapter or the AMS or anything else is not required. This is an opportunity for serious, scholarly discussion of an important issue. Feel free to share this information with anyone who may be interested.
I strongly believe that we, as scholars, have an obligation to openly discuss items of concern and that we should not seek to avoid controversy. I hope that this roundtable will assist in clarifying and assisting understanding of this issue.
Regards,
Jeff S. Dailey
President, AMSGNY
