Digital Commons Network^™

Music Post-Westernism: From Tonal And Post-Tonal Hegemony To Multipolar Decolonization, Mark Jericho Y. Pacia

Social Transformations Journal of the Global South

Post-Westernism is a transformation in which the West is no longer the hegemonic center but rather projects a new era of music. This research proposes Post-Westernism as the fundamental shift after the post-tonal (contemporary) era in art (classical) music. While the post-tonal era emerged from the rebellion toward tonality, Post-Westernism calls for critiquing the Western nature of both tonality and post-tonality. Through this, Post Westernism investigates the current musical hegemony and proposes a multipolar system via the decolonization and transculturation of music and scholarship. It answers the question: How will composers innovate when innovation is institutionalized and the avant-garde is …

Black On Black Sounds: Music, Migration, And The ‘Nu-K Blak’ Identity Formation In Early 21st Century Britain, Monique Charles

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Examining literature on the under researched areas of Afrobeats and African migration to Britain, this article identifies significant internal shifts in the ethnic diversity of Black Britain —i.e., from Caribbean (predominantly Jamaican) to West African (Nigerian, Ghanaian) (ONS 2011). Interpreting literature and applying to the British context, it highlights how Afrobeats reshapes Blackness in Britain, particularly the incorporation of desirable Africanness through Afrobeats music. It argues that demographic and musical shifts in Britain result in a renegotiation of the Caribbean and US dominant 20th century Black Britishness — ‘UK Blak’ identity (as identified by Bradley 2013, Gilroy 1993 & Palmer …

Isu Philharmonia String Orchestra: November 17, 2025, Samuel Chen

School of Music Programs

This is the seventy-third program of the 2025-2026 season.

Center for the Performing Arts

November 17, 2025

Monday Evening

8:00 p.m.

A Lost Culture Of Touch And Sound: The Contribution Of Visually Impaired Musicians To The Evolution Of The Spanish Guitar, Marco Ramelli

Soundboard Scholar

In the story of music-making, blind musicians have played an intrinsic role, helping to drive the development not only of musical styles but also of instruments, instruction, and aesthetics. Many musical practices were cultivated first within blind communities and adopted only later by sighted musicians, often with a gradual erasure of their original context. The history of the Spanish guitar offers a compelling case study of this progression, demonstrating how the contribution of blind musicians could be both wide-reaching and yet, over time, forgotten. The history of this contribution is challenging to recover, for in Spain as elsewhere, blind musicians …

Isu Jazz Ensemble I And Ii: Lewis, Conductor And Williams, Conductor; November 14, 2025, Dr. Reginald Lewis, Noah Berkshier, Glenn Williams

School of Music Programs

This is the fifty-fourth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Center for the Performing Arts

November 14, 2025

Friday Evening

7:00 p.m.

Jazz & Contemporary Combos, Department Of Music, University Of Richmond

Music Department Concert Programs

No abstract provided.

Civic Chorale Fall Concert: November 9, 2025, John M. Koch, Dennis Gotkowski, Dan Forrest, Elaine Hagenberg, Morten Laurdsen, John Rutler

School of Music Programs

This is the forty-fourth program of the 2025-2026 season.

November 9, 2025

Sunday Afternoon

3:00 p.m.

Clacls Reportage, Vol. 2, Tatiana Bertolucci Peixoto, Marcela Joya, Oscar Aponte, Ana María Granados Romero

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

This second volume of the CLACLS Reportage Series is a testament to our ongoing commitment to public-facing scholarship that bridges academic research and the lived experiences of Latinx communities in New York and beyond. This edition brings together three distinct yet interconnected stories that speak to belonging, migration, and cultural transformation across generations.

Tatiana Bertolucci Peixoto follows the legacy of Marielle Franco, the Black, queer, favela-born activist whose political assassination in Rio de Janeiro reverberated around the world galvanizing a global network of resistance—from Brazil’s favelas to New York’s diasporic communities—turning her name into a living emblem of feminist, anti-racist, …

Isu Symphony Orchestra: Chen, Director; November 2, 2025, Samuel Chen

School of Music Programs

This is the thirty-seventh program of the 2025-2026 season.

Cetner for the Performing Arts

November 2, 2025

Sunday Afternoon

3:00 p.m.

Introduction – Musiques Au Proche-Orient Après Le Tournant Numérique, Amr Abdelrahim, Thomas Michel, Nicolas Puig

Regards

Le développement des pratiques du do it yourself, l’avènement des home studios et la multiplication des circulations sonores (samples, échantillons sonores, etc.) grâce aux supports numériques et aux plateformes d’écoute ont modifié en profondeur la production musicale au Machreq. Cette introduction dresse le tableau des études produites sur la musique au Proche-Orient depuis l’avènement du numérique au début des années 2000 ; elle passe en revue les différents paradigmes mobilisés et propose une approche centrée notamment sur les Science and Technology Studies pour comprendre le sens des évolutions en cours.
Elle décrit ensuite les différentes contributions qui alimentent ce …

Contentious Culture: The Convergence And Contestation Of Class And Identity In Egypt’S Mahraganat Scene, Elisa Schouten

Regards

Since its inception in the early 2000s, Mahraganat music has undermined traditional cultural gatekeeping and reshaped Egypt’s music scene, becoming one of the country’s most debated music genres in recent history. This paper aims to examine Mahraganat within the broader context of cultural identity formation and technological developments and contextualize the criticism of the genre and its makers. Building on research conducted in Egypt’s capital between 2019 and 2024, this paper explores the history of cultural gatekeeping and argues that social class lies at the core of the heated debate surrounding Egyptian music and Mahraganat in particular. It shows that …

Sonic Acts Of Care: Friendship-Based Networks And Grassroots Activism In Beirut, Rim J. Irscheid

Regards

The article examines a Beirut-based network of self-funded, independent musicians that translate memories and their emotions into artistic and activist practices. Drawing on musical albums created since the 2020 Beirut port explosion, the article explores the social and emotional impact of artist-run spaces for music production. Focusing on a friendship-based network around the collectively-run recording studio Tunefork Studios, it examines how care, trust, and solidarity with Lebanon’s citizens and music producers are translated into both their creative practices and their production and distribution strategies. I argue that Beirut-based musicians increasingly thematise the emotional toll and personal investment in political, infrastructural …

Isu Wind Symphony: From The White House To Our House; October 19, 2025, Dr. Anthony C. Marinello Iii, Col. John R. Bourgeois, Wesley Anderson, Dr. Tim Fredstrom

School of Music Programs

This is the twenty-second program of the 2025-2026 season.

Center for the Performing Arts

October 19, 2025

Sunday Afternoon

3:00 p.m.

Learning How To Practice Takes Practice, Micah Killion, Robert Duke

John J. Cali School of Music Scholarship and Creative Works

Effective music learning depends on effective music practice. Although time spent with teachers is an important component of young musicians’ development, time spent alone practicing is perhaps even more consequential. Researchers and teachers have offered many prescriptions about effective music practice, yet observations of young musicians’ actual practice reveal that their behavior in the practice room is often quite unlike what teachers envision. The most important aspects of effective practice are the thinking, perceiving, and decision-making that serve to organize how musicians spend their time. We discuss how to help students focus their attention in ways that lead to the …

Timbre — A Transcendent Paradox?, Eugenia Siegel Conte

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Timbre, as ethnomusicologist Cornelia Fales writes, is “paradoxical” precisely because it is one of the most exacting processes in which the human body may sense and comprehend the source of a sound even as that comprehended sound is impossible to describe outside of metaphor or comparison. As one of the more recognizable qualities of sound but the most difficult to describe, timbre allows us to consider physical/emotional (affective) experiences of sound as a key aspect of faith and meditation. In this article, I examine physical-affective intersections of faith and meditation that often are key to praxes of worship, and show …

Singing A Wide Heart: Timbre And Sung Prayer In Senegal’S Layène Community, Margaret L. Rowley

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Layène sung prayer (called sikkar) is embedded within the religious practices of the Layène community, a minority Sufi order in Dakar, Senegal. This article explores the functions of Layène sung prayer, focusing especially on its loud, vibrational timbre. Both men and women vocalists in call-and-response sing loudly, using wide vibrato and electronic amplification to ensure that the sikkar reaches the inhabitants—both human and non-human—in the surrounding community. This article demonstrates that the distinctive timbre of Layène sung prayer serves the spiritual functions of binding the community together in spiritual and social cohesion, increasing individual and collective generosity, and demarcating …

Live Wires: The Angelus Temple And The Timbre Of Power, Catherine Provenzano

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

This article is a media history and contemporary case study of The Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, founded by Aimee Semple McPherson in 1923. My analysis of the Angelus insists upon the centrality of a hyperaudible paradigm of worship that uses media to maximize the legibility of a Christian message, and, more than this, imagines that media itself as a living soul in need of redemption. Many contemporary megachurches employ savvy applications of sound and sound transmission as instruments of belonging as well as action, and these rely on high-budget investments in church infrastructure, software and personnel. I argue that …

Performing "Manly" Worship Music: Gender And Timbre At Mars Hill Church, Maren Haynes Marchesini

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Ten years ago, Mars Hill boasted fifteen campuses and 15,000 members. Amid mounting allegations of abuse and mismanagement leveled against founding pastor Mark Driscoll, the church famously collapsed, closing its doors at the end of 2014. Driscoll had built Mars Hill’s core brand around his opposition to the perceived feminization of the Christian mainstream, and appointing himself the “leader of a heterosexual male backlash” in the church and broader culture. While Driscoll’s muscular Christianity stands in a wide historical stream, Mars Hill long led the charge in establishing a youth-oriented, hipster brand of hypermasculine Calvinism. And while rhetoric and theology …

From The Heaviest, Dirtiest Depths To The Washy Ambient Clouds: Guitar Timbre In/As Schismogenesis In North American Christianity, Joshua K. Busman, Nathan Myrick

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

This essay argues that within the socio-cultural context of North American Christianity, the timbral qualities of electric guitar, with its long lineage as a site of cultural values conflict and identity negotiation, serves a theological function in the emerging and cohering sonority of digital worship. Using as comparative case studies the timbral qualities of delay and ambience as promoted and sold by Worship Tutorials as representing normative sonic values for these Christians, on the one hand, and the dialectic and schismatic deployment of distortion by the band My Epic on the other, we suggest that these timbral qualities become important …

Sounds Like 'Saudade': Eschatological Echoes In Brazilian 'Gospel' Music, Fernando Berwig Silva

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

This paper analyzes the song “Saudade” by the Brazilian gospel singer Stella Laura. In the song, I argue that Stella Laura uses Brazilian timbral markers from the Sertanejo and Gospel Brazilian music genres to articulate a unique perspective on eschatology, one that is based on the affective structure of the Lusophone word ‘saudade.’ Furthermore, I contend that the song, rooted in the Brazilian nostalgic sertanejo music tradition, leans on stylistic and timbral tools to communicate the idea of saudade from heaven. Beyond lyrics that feature theological notions of origin, identity, and nostalgia, Stella Laura’s song employs timbral, poetic, …

Isu Philharmonia String Orchestra: October 8, 2025, Samuel Chen

School of Music Programs

This is the eighteenth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

October 8, 2025

Wednesday Evening

7:30 p.m.

Fall Concert: Treble And Concert Choir; October 5, 2025, Mark Grizzard, Andrew Bruhn

School of Music Programs

This is the sixteenth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Center for the Performing Arts

October 5, 2025

Sunday Evening

6:00 p.m.

A New Day: Sogns Of Wisdom, Love, And Hope: University Glee And Belle Voix; October 3, 2025, Tim Fredstrom, Andrew Bruhn

School of Music Programs

This is the fifteenth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Center for the Performing Arts

October 5, 2026

Sunday Afternoon

3:00 p.m.

University Glee And Belle Voix: A New Day: Songs Of Wisdom, Love, And Hope; October 5, 2025, Tim Fredstrom, Belle Voix

School of Music Programs

This if the fifteenth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Center for the Performing Arts

October 5, 2025

Sunday Afternoon

3:00 p.m.

General Music Pedagogies Through The Lens Of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, David Dockan, Carla Aguilar, Martina Vasil, Brent M. Gault, Jason D. Jones, Robin Giebelhausen, Sandra Sanchez Adorno

School of Music Faculty Publications

Common general music pedagogies include Orff-Keetman, Kodály, Dalcroze, Music Learning Theory, and World Music Pedagogy. These approaches engage learners through moving to music, playing instruments, and developing aural skills with repertoire from around the globe. As we look toward the future, general music classroom teachers are working to create engaging and relevant learning spaces. To help make the music classroom relevant for their students, music educators might consider incorporating culturally relevant pedagogy into general music pedagogies. The framework of culturally relevant pedagogy uses academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness as pillars for practice. In this article, authors share their …

Fue Evocations: A Culturally-Informed Performance Guide To Approaching Works For The Western Concert Flute Inspired By Traditional Japanese Flutes, Chase Michael Ketron

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this document is to create a culturally-informed and aesthetically accurate performance preparation guide for Western concert flute players seeking to perform works inspired by traditional Japanese flutes, or fue, such as the shakuhachi and nohkan.¹ While many pieces like these exist, there are limited resources detailing how to emulate the traditional Japanese flutes and their performance practices. The composers of these works often do well to provide notation for producing the specific sounds or effects they are trying to replicate, but these are non-standardized and thus vary from composer to composer. In addition, the traditional …

Isu Symphony Orchestra: Roots And Resonance; September 28, 2025, Samuel Chen

School of Music Programs

This is the eleventh program of the 2025-2026 season.

Center for the Performing Arts

September 28, 2026

Sunday Afternoon

3:00 p.m.

Isu Symphony Orchestra: Roots And Resonance; September 28, 2025, Samuel Chen

School of Music Programs

This is the eleventh program of the 2025-2026 season.

Center for the Performing Arts

September 28, 2025

Sunday Afternoon

3:00 p.m.

The Intersection Of Ethnomusicology And Special Education: An Exploration Of Aba-Infused World Music Play Facilitation In The Social-Emotional Development Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jean-Pierre Ervelt Leroy

Masters Theses

Inspired by experiences across disciplines, this mixed-method study peered into a possible intersection of ethnomusicology and special education. An innovative ABA-infused world music play facilitation program for children was created to examine how culturally diverse musical intervention in combination with Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) principles could enhance the social-emotional development in children diagnosed with ASD. To gain an informed context on worldview and structure, this research was conducted within both sacred and secular communities. To gain a comprehensive understanding of how interdisciplinary intervention can impact the self-expression, self-regulation skills, and cultural awareness of children, both quantitative assessments and qualitative observations …

Tradition, Individuality, And Innovation In Western Classical Music Performance: A Quantitative Analysis Of Bach’S Fourth Cello Suite Prelude, Clare Monfredo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Why do we seek out new performances of a commonly performed piece of music? An essential tradition of Western classical music (WCM) is the performance of canonical works by composers, an activity that requires the interpretation and execution of written scores by individual performers. In this practice, performers are not only expected to determine the composer’s “intentions,” but also somehow (paradoxically) share these in a “unique” performance interpretation. In musical education, performers are trained by teachers to create these “unique” interpretations by learning how to intuit composers’ intentions in a system that passes down interpretative traditions through master-apprentice one-on-one lessons. …