MACRO Circular Opus 4

Spring 1997

More Notes from the Chair!

IMPORTANT!! PLEASE READ!

Bruce Benward retired Professor of Music Theory will receive an Honorary Doctor of Musical Arts on August 9th at Bowling Green State University. He has also been invited by his alma mater, the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, to speak to the theory faculty and students on March 11. On the twelfth, he has been invited to speak at a meeting of the Music theory Society of New York State. Bruce and Gene Benward will be leaving in April for a trip around the world that features travel on the Orient Express.

A "jog" for your memory!! Please submit your membership renewal forms! Now that we have award support, membership fees are optional, but I do need to know that you want to renew your membership with the organization. So SEND IN YOUR FORM! Future newsletters and other items will only be sent to the people who have turned in their forms.

We are also reminding faculty to encourage their students to become involved in MACRO. We have both publishing and financial opportunities available for students. Take advantage of them!

Hearing Voices

Yes, the MACRO Chair is hearing voices, other than her own, and she is thrilled! Many of our members are now submitting items to the newsletter! Just a reminder: if at all possible, send your submissions electronically. They can be cut and pasted right into an e-mail or sent as an attachment to an e-mail. For longer articles I prefer a hard copy and a copy on disk. If you do not have access to these technological capabilities, contact me prior to the deadline and we will work out another arrangement. Our next deadline is September fifteenth for the October edition of the newsletter.

MACRO NEWS

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Marilyn Saker, one of our MACRO Board Members, has been granted tenure and promotion to Associate Professor at Eastern Michigan University. Dr. Saker's teaching duties include a variety of theory and aural skills courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as private lessons in harpsichord performance. She also serves as an editor for MACRO's journal, Musical Insights, which is to be released late this Spring.

Gene S. Trantham, one of our MACRO Board Members, has been granted tenure and promotion to Associate Professor at Bowling Green State University. Gene is teaching a graduate seminar entitled Analysis for Performers during the spring semester at Bowling Green State University (Ohio). The seminar includes a study of analytical approaches, an exploration of harmonic motion and other aspects of music revealed through analysis (especially macro analysis), and a guided analytical study of music selected by students. The course is designed to enhance the performer's understanding of the compositional and interpretive devices of a composer for a specific composition that the student is currently studying. Macro analysis is used as a springboard by the students as they develop analytical approaches for their selected compositions. Students read articles that discuss various aspects and issues of analysis and performance including informed intuition (Nolan, College Music Symposium, 1993/1994, 112-139) and musical imaging (Fisk, College Music Symposium, 1996, 59-72). Faculty panels comprised of performance department members also provide insights into how professional musicians look at and study music as performers. For more information about the course and bibliography, please contact Gene S. Trantham, College of Music Arts, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403; Telephone: (419) 372-2175; E-mail: gtranth@bgnet.bgsu.edu

Warren Gooch recently gave a presentation on macro analysis at the 1997 Great Plains Chapter Meeting of the College Music Society. The presentation, titled "Performance-Based Analysis: A Practical Approach to Music Theory," addressed macro analysis as a hearing-based system that facilitates a broader understanding of musical flow and harmonic direction.

STUDENT ACTIVITES

Trio for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano, composed by MACRO member Paul Sayre, was performed at the Tenth Biennial Contemporary Music Festival at Eastern Michigan University on February 12, 1997. Prior to this Michigan premiere, Mr. Sayre's composition was awarded a prize in the Sonoklect National Chamber Music Competition, judged by a panel of distinguished composers chaired by Mario Davidovsky. It was previously performed by the well-known music ensemble, Continuum, in February 1996.

SCHOLARSHIP WINNER

Brandy Gerber is our Robert Fountain Memorial Scholarship winner for 1997, and the first student author to be featured in our MACRO journal. Brandy is one of Marilyn Saker's students at Eastern Michigan University. She is pursuing a Master of Arts Degree in Theory/Literature and Harpsichord Performance. Look for her article "A Macro Analysis Approach to Mozart's Piano Sonata in C major, K. 545" in the first edition of Musical Insights. Congratulations Brandy!

FEATURES FOR TEACHERS

Intervals?! Interval tunes were submitted by Jeanmarie Nielsen, Marilyn Saker, and Jamie Henke. We know there are more tunes out there, please submit them and we will run this feature again in the next newsletter.

Ascending P5 -- Theme from Star Wars Descending P5 -- Theme from The Flintstones Ascending Tritone -- Theme from The Simpsons Ascending m2 -- Theme from Jaws Ascending M6 -- NBC Theme "Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera is a good comparison of the descending 6th, followed immediately by the descending 5th and a few notes later--ta da! The Perfect 4th.

Teaching Hint submitted by Marilyn Saker

Macro analysis is ideal for helping beginning theory students identify harmonic rhythm within a composition. Even if the harmonic structure of the work includes a series of single harmony position changes, recurring root representations help to identify the duration with which a harmony lasts.

Favorite Teaching Piece submitted by Marilyn Saker

Schumann's Kleine Studie (Little Etude) from Album For the Young op. 68, no. 14). A fairly consistent harmonic rhythm in this composition makes locating chords simple, thus allowing the students to focus on chromatic harmony. Chords of interest include several secondary dominants/leading-tones and altered dominants, as well as a raised-fully-diminished submediant and a dominant-thirteenth chord. Chord resolutions fulfill functional harmony expectations and the work is composed in a style that even beginning class piano students can handle, thus allowing them to play the work as part of the analysis process. Phrase identification also poses an interesting challenge in this composition.