Conference Information

Thirty-Fifth Annual Conference

Ball State University, Muncie, IN, May 10–11, 2024

General Information

Ball State University will host the Thirty-Fifth Annual Conference of Music Theory Midwest in Muncie, Indiana on May 10–11, 2024.

To register, visit our Registration Portal.

Click here for the Program.

Keynote Abstract

The conference will feature a keynote address by Noriko Manabe (Indiana University) titled "Intertextuality in Protest Music."

Music in protests regularly recalls pre-existing music, text, and symbols; such references capture attention, resonate with historical memory, enhance participation, and allow for allusive expression in oppressive circumstances. This talk considers the ways in which intertextuality in protest music manifests itself and serves social movements. Extending classifications from Genette and Lacasse, it posits a typology of intertextuality used in protest music—including covers, contrafacta, hip-hop remakes, remixes, allegories, metaphors, genre adaptation, paratext, and metatext—and considers how these techniques convey political messages, often by combining them with contemporary indexes or exploiting intertextual gaps (cf. Bauman and Briggs). The type of intertextuality that artists choose and the way it is received can vary depending on the method of censorship, copyright regimes, stage of the protest cycle, venue of the performance, and status of the artist. Drawing examples from the essays in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Protest Music (co-edited with Eric Drott) and the speaker’s own research in Japan and elsewhere, the talk shows the ubiquity of intertextuality in protest music, how it differs in various countries, and how it can communicate political points or misfire.

Location

The School of Music at Ball State University has about 500 undergraduate majors and about 100 graduate students in master’s, doctoral, and artist’s diploma programs. It offers degrees in Music, Music Education, Music Performance, Jazz Studies, and Music Media Production. The MTMW conference will take place in the school’s Music Instruction Building, which includes the 600-seat Sursa Performance Hall and state-of-the-art music technology and recording studios.

Paper sessions will take place in Sursa Hall and Hahn Recital Hall, both located in the Music Instruction Building (MIB), at 1707 W Riverside Ave. The Music Instruction Building is a short walk from the University (Student Center) Hotel.

Click on the following link for a campus map: https://www.bsu.edu/map

Conference Events

Banquet

The conference banquet will be held on the evening of Saturday, May 11, in Cardinal Hall A, located in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center. Banquet tickets may be purchased online during the conference registration process: $35 (regular) or $20 (student). The banquet registration deadline is Monday, May 6.

Please contact the Treasurer (treasurer@mtmw.org) if you would like to attend the banquet but didn’t sign up at the time of your initial conference registration.

Travel

Muncie is in east central Indiana, approximately halfway between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne. The closest airports are Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Dayton (OH), all about 90 minutes’ drive away. Representative driving times from other Midwestern cities: Bloomington, IN, 2 hrs.; Chicago, 4 hrs.; Cincinnati, 2.5 hrs.; Cleveland, 4.5 hrs.; Columbus, 2.5 hrs.; Detroit, 5 hrs.; Louisville, 3 hrs.; St. Louis, 5 hrs.

Parking

The nearest parking garage to the conference location is the McKinley Garage (R7), located just south of the Music Instruction Building. On Friday, metered parking is available on the first floor (and first ramp). Parking is free on Saturday.

Accommodations

There are blocks of rooms booked in two different hotels for the conference.

Student Center Hotel

Nineteen rooms (including twin, queen, and king beds) are at the Student Center Hotel on campus: call 765-285-1555 to reserve, block code 2405THE (rates listed below). Rooms at the Student Center Hotel must be booked by April 24, 2024.

Rates for the Student Center hotel:

Twin rooms are $72.25/night for 1 guest and $79.90/night for 2 guests.

Queen rooms are $76.50/night for 1 guest and $84.15/night for 2 guests.

King rooms are $84.15/night for 1 guest and $89.25/night for 2 guests.

Hampton Inn & Suites Muncie

Twenty-five rooms are available at the Hampton Inn & Suites Muncie: call 765-288-8500, block code MTM (rate $129/night), or click on this reservation link. Rooms at the Hampton Inn must be booked by April 12, 2024.

Local Information

Local Arrangements Chair: Brett Clement (Ball State University)

Program Committee

René Rusch (University of Michigan), Chair

M. Jerome Bell (Eastman School of Music, 2023 Komar co-winner); Nora Engebretsen (Bowling Green State University); Sumanth Gopinath (University of Minnesota); Vivian Luong (University of Oklahoma); Juan Patricio Saenz (McGill University, 2023 Komar co-winner); Frank Samarotto (Indiana University); and Christopher Segall (University of Cincinnati), ex officio.

Pre-Conference Workshop

There will be a pre-conference workshop, “Analyzing Improvisation,” led by Paul Steinbeck (Washington University in St. Louis). The workshop will take place on Thursday, May 9, 6:00–9:00 pm in the Hargreaves Music Building, Room 301. Hargreaves is located just north of the Music Instruction Building, across W. Riverside Avenue.

The workshop is a closed session for participants only. The application deadline has already passed.

Abstract

In the book Improvisation, first published in 1980, Derek Bailey claimed that “improvisation is always changing and adjusting, never fixed, too elusive for analysis and precise description, essentially nonacademic.” However, in the decades since these words were written, many musicians inside and outside the academy have dared to analyze musical improvisations, doing what Bailey said could not be done. Our workshop will examine the practice of analyzing music that is partially or wholly improvised, with an emphasis on methodology; first and foremost listening, but also transcribing recordings, studying scores and sketches, etc. We will also consider what analyzing improvisation can teach us about the discipline of music theory.

Komar Award Committee

Daniel Shanahan (Northwestern University), Chair

Leah Frederick (University of Michigan); Matthew Poon (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire)

Online Program

The online program can be found here once it is available.