The annual meeting of the Texas Society for Music Theory takes place this weekend in Houston. It's a joint meeting this year with the South Central Society for Music Theory. The programs for both societies look quite strong this year (and I'm not just saying that because I was on the program committee). I'm not presenting this year. It's nice to go to a conference without the added stress of wondering if you'll have enough handouts or if the author of the article you attacked will be in the front row.
We have quite a few students attending as well. For many, it will be their first conference. None of them is presenting, so they'll have a stress-free opportunity to see a variety of research, meet some people, and get the full conference experience.
A post over at Peter Tambroni's Mostly Bass blog got me thinking. Tambroni offers young bassists some guidelines for bowing a passage:
It's interesting to me to think how this sort of logic may have influenced the development of musical meter. If the only instruments someone had available to them were bowed string instruments (or if the composer was a string player), then it seems logical that duple meter would be privileged in this person's compositions. Early monophony (chant) and polyphony seems to be governed more by the breathing mechanisms of singers (hence the irregular groupings and meters) than anything else (I'm generalizing, of course). Perhaps it was the mechanical demands of instruments that hastened the evolution of meter.
Thoughts?
We have quite a few students attending as well. For many, it will be their first conference. None of them is presenting, so they'll have a stress-free opportunity to see a variety of research, meet some people, and get the full conference experience.
A post over at Peter Tambroni's Mostly Bass blog got me thinking. Tambroni offers young bassists some guidelines for bowing a passage:
1. The first beat of a measure should be a down bow. (Unless there’s a syncopation.)
2. ‘Ands’ (&) are usually up bow.
3. Rests can be bowed or count as a bowing.
4. Hooks may be used (especially in asymmetrical meters such as 6/8) but avoid 3 of the same bow in a row.
5. Bow lifts may be used
6. You may break one rule per measure.
*Unsure / confused / complex? - Find the end of a phrase that you want to be a down bow then work backwards
It's interesting to me to think how this sort of logic may have influenced the development of musical meter. If the only instruments someone had available to them were bowed string instruments (or if the composer was a string player), then it seems logical that duple meter would be privileged in this person's compositions. Early monophony (chant) and polyphony seems to be governed more by the breathing mechanisms of singers (hence the irregular groupings and meters) than anything else (I'm generalizing, of course). Perhaps it was the mechanical demands of instruments that hastened the evolution of meter.
Thoughts?