Dear all,

Join us for next week’s workshop, where we’ll discuss proposal materials from Patrick Fitzgibbon and Liz Hopkins! Pre-circulated materials are available here, with the password proposals.

 

Music, Science, and Science Fiction: The Feeling of Knowing

Liz Hopkinsforbiddenplanet

My project looks at the use of electronic music in science fiction films and nature documentaries from the 1960s and 70s. I am considering ways in which this music was developed to convey emotional, physical, and ideological meaning through connotation and denotation, as well as the underlying philosophies of compositional processes. I argue that these sound tracks become a means of understanding the mass cultural assimilation of and emotional relationship with science, technology, and ways of knowing.

 

 

 

Musical Rule-Breaking, 1450-1800

Patrick Fitzgibbon

Patrick Workshop Image
Rules are the basic stuff of music theory. My project looks at what happens when they get broken. Through a series of case studies on characteristic early-modern texts, I explore musical rules in relation to sites of authority and enforcement; notions of mistake and misconduct; inflections of socioeconomic rank; and processes of discursive activation/sublimation. The main question is: why should a musician, past or present, not only fail to heed rules but also seek to breach them?

 

The paper I have forwarded for your consideration comes from my prospectus-in-progress. Following several pages surveying my overall topic, the paper sketches in a few of the issues that I view as central to each case study. I would be most grateful for your help identifying any future pitfalls or paths forward that you find especially striking.

The workshop will take place on Wednesday, May 21, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., in the Logan Terrace Seminar Room (801). See you there for food, drink, and delicious discussion!

Cheers,
Ana and Chelsea