Sound Expertise

Will Robin
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Sound Expertise Podcast

Conversations with scholars about music, hosted by musicologist Will Robin and produced by D. Edward Davis

  1. 29/08/2023

    Music Theory's Racism Problem with Philip Ewell

    Philip Ewell has, in recent years, become the most controversial music scholar on the planet. After his incisive work on music theory's white racial frame was unfairly attacked by fellow academics, he was suddenly thrust into the national spotlight, as right-wing news outlets targeted him as part of a broader backlash. A discussion about what it means to be caught up in the Culture Wars, racism in music scholarship, and how Dr. Ewell has grappled with it all.Philip Ewell is professor of music...

    58 min

  2. 22/08/2023

    The Science of Silence with Chaz Firestone

    Do we hear silence? John Cage certainly thought so, and so does Chaz Firestone, a scientist whose laboratory's recent study revealed that yes, we do hear silence. In this conversation, we discuss his new findings, what they mean for the fields of perception studies and philosophy, and how science and the humanities can work together to provide new answers to longstanding questions. Chaz Firestone is Assistant Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Director of the Hopkins Perception...

    36 min

  3. 15/08/2023

    Curating Black Musical History with Dwandalyn Reece

    In curating music and the performing arts at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, Dwandalyn Reece has one of the most important jobs one can have as a music scholar: providing a framework for the public to understand African-American culture, at a moment in which Black history is under a nationwide assault. In this conversation, Dr. Reece discusses her work at the Smithsonian, the process of acquiring important artifacts of Black musical life, and the mus...

    44 min

  4. 08/08/2023

    Hip-Hop and Friendship on Death Row with Alim Braxton and Mark Katz

    Mark Katz is John P. Barker Distinguished Professor of Music at UNC Chapel Hill; Alim Braxton is a rapper on death row, who has been incarcerated in Central Prison in North Carolina since 1993. In 2019, they struck up a correspondence, and then a friendship, and are now writing a book. This is their story.Show notes and more over at soundexpertise.org!Questions? Thoughts? Email soundexpertise00@gmail.com or tag Will on Instagram/Twitter @seatedovation

    55 min

  5. 01/08/2023

    Reviving Julius Eastman with Mary Jane Leach

    The revival of Julius Eastman's work has transformed the world of avant-garde music, and in many ways can be attributed to a single individual. Since the late 1990s, the composer and performer Mary Jane Leach has collected manuscripts and recordings of Eastman's music, and helped bring about the current wave of "Eastmania." But the politics of Eastmania have become increasingly complicated, and Leach has found herself enmeshed in controversy around who can make claim to his legacy. A conversa...

    39 min

  6. 25/07/2023

    Doing Public Musicology with Douglas Shadle

    In 2018, Douglas Shadle tweeted about systemic discrimination in American orchestral programming. His thread went viral, and he soon found himself doing what became known, around then, as public musicology. In this conversation, he talks about presenting his work outside the academy through advocating for marginalized composers, and what the Florence Price revival has meant for his scholarship (and, more troublingly, how Schirmer's acquisition of her music may actually prevent it from being h...

    51 min

  7. 18/07/2023

    Bach Scandals, Jug Bands, and Vexations with Joshua Rifkin

    In his long career as a scholar and conductor, Joshua Rifkin has done a lot: arranged for Judy Collins, performed in the first-ever marathon of "Vexations," helped lead the ragtime revival and, perhaps most importantly, totally upended the conventional wisdom about Bach's choral music. This is a conversation about all of that, and more: rich, insightful, and scandalous stories about one of the most fascinating lives a music scholar can lead. (Including: getting tipsy with John Cage, playing i...

    1h 16m

  8. 11/07/2023

    What Bossa Nova Means with Kaleb Goldschmitt

    Bossa nova is everywhere –– from a dance craze in the '60s to elevator music today -- but it's also from somewhere. Kaleb Goldschmitt studies how bossa nova moved from a specific musical tradition grounded in Brazilian culture to an international phenomenon, and what that means for how we understand jazz history. A conversation about all that and more, including how queer and trans musicians and scholars are navigating post-Bolsonaro Brazil.Kaleb Goldschmitt is Associate Professor of Music at...

    49 min
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Trailers

About

Conversations with scholars about music, hosted by musicologist Will Robin and produced by D. Edward Davis

Information

  • Creator
    Will Robin
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2023
  • Episodes
    49
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2023 Sound Expertise
  • Show Website
    Sound Expertise

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