SMT-Pod

In this week’s episode, Tan Nazare explores the musical and visual mechanics of anime opening credits, analyzing how specific harmonic progressions, textures, and structures are used to engage viewers and support the narrative. This episode was produced by Jose Garza along with Team Lead Leah Frederick. Special thanks to peer reviewers Stephen Ai and Clair Nguyen. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written...

In this week's episode, Sasha Drozzina considers the larger political symbolism of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s four-act ballet Swan Lake and the recent sampling of the ballet’s “Dance of the Little Swans” and its subversive use by a Russian rapper and singer-songwriter, Noize MC in his 2023 song “Kooperativ “Lebedinnoe Ozero”” (Cooperative “Swan Lake” in English) This episode was produced by Mark M...

In this week's episode, Alice Xue introduces the “single-block form” in African music, and shows through 8 examples how repetition generates complexity, meaning, expressive power and participation. This episode was produced by Mark Micchelli along with Team Lead Caitlin Martinkus. Special thanks to peer reviewers Martin Scherzinger and John Heilig. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartag...

In this week’s episode, Hang Ki Choi explores how the silences in Arvo Pärt’s "Ludus" play with our sense of musical beginnings and endings. This episode was produced by Jason Jedlicka along with Team Lead Orit Hilewicz. Special thanks to peer reviewers Robert Sholl and John Heilig. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supplementary materials...

In this week’s episode, Luis Matos-Tovar gives us a look into Judith Weir’s The Black Spider , a children's opera that challenges gendered expectations of women dying and men surviving that is common in many traditional operas. Weir does this in a manner that is musically accessible to younger performers with a story that is playful, somber, and triumphant. This episode was produced by Zach Lloyd...

In this week’s episode, Brandon Scribner analyzes Laura Kaminsky’s opera, As One, which uses music (specifically texture and timbre) to trace the experience of Hannah’s gender transition. This episode was produced by Zach Lloyd along with Team Lead Anna Rose Nelson. Special thanks to peer reviewers Vivian Luong and Joseph Straus. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing m...

In this week's episode, Zachary Simonds uses tools developed by Robert Hatten to analyze Mary, Queen of Scots by Thea Musgrave, focusing on the melodically ascending octave and its use as a complex narrative device throughout the opera. This episode was produced by Jose Garza along with Team Lead Matthew Ferrandino. Special thanks to peer reviewers Colleen Renihan and Evan Ware. SMT-Pod’s theme mu...

In this week’s episode, Isabel Milbourn examines Thea Musgrave’s opera Harriet, The Woman Called Moses: a story of Harriet Tubman that delves into both her heroic actions and her personal life, differentiated through musical motives and interactions between Harriet and the opera chorus. This episode was produced by Zach Lloyd along with Team Lead Anna Rose Nelson. Special thanks to peer reviewers...

In this week's episode, Aaron D'Zurilla explores how the vocal utterances and non-verbal vocalisms in Ellen Reid’s opera p r i s m (2018) convey the complexities of the trauma experienced by survivors of sexual assault. This episode was produced by Zach Lloyd along with Team Lead Matthew Ferrandino. Special thanks to peer reviewers Colleen Renihan and Evan Ware. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written b...

In this week’s episode, you'll hear from Rachel Lumsden about this SMT-Pod's season's Student Seminar Series, and you'll also get to hear from each of the seminar scholars about what to expect in their upcoming episodes. This episode was produced by Zach Lloyd. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supplementary materials on this episode and mo...

This is the first episode in a five-episode mini-series on “idiomatic improvisation” as a pedagogical technique in the music theory and aural skills classroom. In this episode, Alex Jonker and Peter Schubert invite students to improvise doo-wop songs which take place in a simple harmonic context while offering a lot of freedom, and a lot of fun! This episode was produced by Amy Hatch & Katrina...

This is the second episode in Alex Jonker and Peter Schubert’s  five-episode mini-series on “idiomatic improvisation” as a pedagogical technique in the music theory and aural skills classroom. In this episode, students improvise a melody over a longer ground bass progression, now in a standard common practice harmonic context including some chromatic harmony. This episode was produced by Amy...

This is the third episode in Alex Jonker and Peter Schubert’s five-episode mini-series on “idiomatic improvisation” as a pedagogical technique in the music theory and aural skills classroom. This episode is the only one in the series where the improvisation uses notation, asking students to harmonize a chant melody with a very limited set of rules in order to introduce unfamiliar sounds, like para...

This is the fourth episode in Alex Jonker and Peter Schubert’s five-episode mini-series on “idiomatic improvisation” as a pedagogical technique in the music theory and aural skills classroom. In this episode, students improvise a Renaissance first-species canon with Peter, teaching them to listen, think, and sing all at the same time in a simple diatonic context. This episode was produced by Amy H...

This is the final episode in a five-episode mini-series on “idiomatic improvisation” as a pedagogical technique in the music theory and aural skills classroom. In this episode, Alex Jonker and Peter Schubert ask students to improvise classical phrase continuations that modulation to the dominant, drawing on basic musical instincts about phrase lengths and tonality. This episode was produced by Amy...

In this week's episode, Craig Peaslee reimagines formal music theory analysis and takes the listener to the arena of competitive music performance through the lens of a radio sportscast. This episode was produced by Zach Lloyd along with Team Lead Evan Ware. Special thanks to peer reviewers Nate Mitchell and John Heilig. Additional thanks to Indigo Knecht, Spencer Long, Megan Lyons and Jody Diamon...

In this week's episode, Audrey Slote guides listeners through an analysis of “Mandorla Island” from Nicole Mitchell’s experimental jazz album Mandorla Awakening II from 2017. This episode centers Mitchell’s own Afrofuturist, feminist writings as its primary music-theoretical framework and illuminates how such theorizing productively challenges canonical academic ways of thinking about music and it...

In this episode, Mark Micchelli examines the relationship between music theory and creative practice via a firsthand exploration of the formal structure of Cecil Taylor’s solo piano improvisations. This episode was produced by Jason Jedlicka along with Team Lead Matthew Ferrandino. Special thanks to peer reviewers Chris Stover and John Heilig. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia,...

In this week's episode, Daniel Ketter presents an essential voice analysis arrangement of J. S. Bach’s fugue for solo cello. It traces the composer’s solution to weaving a four-part fugal texture with nearly no chords or double stops through inventive combinations of a subject and countersubject. This episode was produced by Jason Jedlicka along with Team Lead Leah Frederick. Special thanks to pee...

In this episode, Samantha Sasaki analyzes three bagpipe performances of “Auld Lang Syne” in Hong Kong in order to uncover why this instrument has retained cultural and political significance in the 27 years post-Handover. This episode was produced by Jose Garza along with Team Lead John Heilig. Special thanks to peer reviewers Larry Witzleben and Jennifer Weaver. Additional acknowledgements to Ann...

Brad Osborn talks about the emergence of the major III chord in post-millennial pop music, and how this chromatic chord forms loops that contain elements of both major and minor keys. This episode was produced by Amy Hatch along with Team Lead Caitlin Martinkus. Special thanks to peer reviewers Bryn Hughes and Evan Ware. Additional acknowledgements to Chris White, Charles Brockus, and John White....

In this week's episode, Jason analyzes the second and third movements of Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No. 3, performing a close reading of the music from a broadened, newer perspective of voice. This episode was produced by Katrina Roush along with Team Lead Anna Rose Nelson. Special thanks to peer reviewers Kristen Wallentinsen and Evan Ware. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, wit...

In this week's episode, Lydia Bangura analyses her own performance choices in comparison to a professional recording using Jennifer Ronyak’s framework of co-performance. This episode was produced by Zach Lloyd along with Team Lead Megan Lyons. Special thanks to peer reviewers Shersten Johnson and Daniel Barolsky. Additional thanks to David Kjar, Marc Hannaford, Kim Loeffert, and John Peterson...

In this episode, Olivia Lucas and Mazbou Q discuss ways to use techniques from hip hop to build skills in the music theory and aural skills classroom.  This episode was produced by Jose Garza along with Team Lead Jennifer Weaver. Special thanks to peer reviewers Leah Frederick and Danny Jenkins. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supple...

In this week’s episode, Anna Stephan-Robinson examines Katherine Ruth Heyman's 1920 song, "Tortie-Tortue," considering how the unjustly neglected composer's subtle changes transform a simple poem into a brief but compelling musical drama. This episode was produced by Zach Lloyd along with Team Lead Leah Frederick. Special thanks to peer reviewers Hilary Poriss and Joseph Straus. SMT-Pod’s theme mu...