Society for American Music
Bulletin, Volume XXVII, no. 1 (Spring 2001)
News of the Society
Letter from the President
Greetings! My, how two years have flown. How well I remember standing at the podium in Fort Worth
shaking in my boots wondering how on earth I could ever follow Anne McLucas as President of this
great Society. The time has come for me to pass on the gavel to Paul Wells, who, I am sure, will have
an equally busy but rewarding two years. I have truly enjoyed the challenges and opportunities
of the past couple of years. I wish to thank all of the committee chairs and members, the editors
of the Bulletin and American Music, conference manager Jim Hines, and the Executive Directors Kitty
Keller and Mariana Whitmer. Their hard work and dedicaton to the Society is astounding. Absolutely
nothing could have been accomplished without you. You have made my job so much easier by your good will,
your humor, support, and above all, your readiness to step in and do whatever is necessary, whenever
necessary.
In September, the Board met in Pittsburgh at our new national office. Thank you, Mariana, for setting
up our meeting and hosting it. Thanks also to Jim Cassaro for arranging our use of a meeting room
in the university library. Much of our discussion centered on establishing short-term and long range
plans to develop our resources. We have many wonderful lans for SAM underway and we are more generous
than any other professional society in recognizing the importance ot student participation at our
conferences. Student support has always been a central mission of SAM and, in many ways, is what
distinguishes our society from many others. To this end, we are grateful for the establishment of two
new endowments (described more fully elsewhere in the Bulletin): The Student Travel Endowment, to support
attendance at our annual conferences, and the Wiley Housewright Dissertation Award, which recognizes
the best dissertation in American music in a given year. To this we add the Mark Tucker Award which will
recognize the best student paper given at the annual conference.
The Toronto Conference was a huge success. Many thanks to Kitty Keller, Mariana Whitmer, Kitty
Preston and the Program Committee for their efforts. SAM was a major presence at the conference,
one of the "Big Five" societies involved in every aspect of planning and producing this once-in-a-lifetime
event. Our sessions were well attended and well received. It is awesome to think about our society,
smaller in size than the others yet so powerful in its impact. Our presence at the conference was noted
everywhere and we can be proud of our visible involvement in the dissemination of American music
internationally.
In closing, I want to thank you for the honor of serving as President of the Society for American
Music. This is a terrific organization and I look forward to working with you toward the continued
growth, financial stability, and implementation of new ideas in our collective efforts to support SAM.
In appreciation,
Rae Linda Brown
News from the Executive Director
Once again the membership of the Society has displayed its generosity!
Gifts to the Society since the beginning of the year have totaled over $5,000.
These donations go a long way toward supporting our newly endowed Housewright Dissertation fund
and the Student Travel Endowment, as well as RILM, publication subventions, and several of the
Society's interest groups.
As of March 1, 2001, significant contributions to SAM include:
$100 and over
Vic Cardell
Susan Key
Anne Dhu McLucas
Melva Peterson
Ray Reeder
Deane Root
Ann Sears
Judy Tsou
Robert Walser
$200 and over
Paul Charosh
Margery Lowens
Judith Tick
$1000 and over
Kitty Keller
Sustaining Members
Rae Linda Brown
Homer Rudolph
Ann Sears
New Members
The Society for American Music is please to welcome the following new members:
Ayden W. Adler . . . . . . Rochester, NY
Elizabeth Auman. . . . . . Washington, D.C.
Joanna Binford . . . . . . Lexington, KY
Stacey Bostwick. . . . . . Altoona, IA
Guy Bowdish. . . . . . . . Los Alamos, CA
David Brodbeck . . . . . . Pittsburgh, PA
Clyde W. Brockett. . . . . Newport News, VA
Maria Cizmic . . . . . . . Los Angeles, CA
Shuann Chai. . . . . . . . Somerville, MA
Joe Clark. . . . . . . . . Prescott, AZ
Dick Connette. . . . . . . New York, NY
Joseph Darby . . . . . . . Keene, NH
Jeremy Day-O'Connell . . . Ithaca, NY
Sarah Day-O'Connell. . . . Ithaca, NY
Kevin Delgado. . . . . . . Los Angeles, CA
Mary Talbot Fee. . . . . . San Diego, CA
Kevin Fellezs. . . . . . . San Francisco, CA
Naomi Frenkel. . . . . . . Annandale, VA
Carolyn J. Fulton. . . . . Tallahassee, FL
Rebecca Giacosie . . . . . Santa Barbara, CA
Larry Hamberlin. . . . . . Rochester, VT
Kirsten Helgeland. . . . . Cincinnati, OH
Kathleen Hogan . . . . . . Charlottesville, VA
Richard Hulan. . . . . . . Springfield, VA
Bonnie S. Jacobi . . . . . Spring, TX
Michael Kramer . . . . . . Chapel Hill, NC
Alyson McLamore. . . . . . Arroyo Grande, CA
Elizabeth Yates McNamee. . San Francisco, CA
Kathleen J. Mills. . . . . San Cristobal, NM
Katherine Misener. . . . . Ottawa, Canada
Mitchell B. Morris . . . . West Hollywood, CA
David B. Pruett. . . . . . Tallahassee, FL
Richared Rischar . . . . . Carlisle, PA
Francesca M. Rivera. . . . Berkeley, CA
Professor Doc Rossi. . . . Perugia, Italy
Robert Saladini. . . . . . Arlington, VA
Chris Shultis. . . . . . . Albuquerque, NM
David Suisman. . . . . . . New York, NY
Matthew Tift . . . . . . . Middleton, WI
Dianne Vars. . . . . . . . Federal Way, WA
New Institutional Member:
Old Dominian University . . Norfolk, VA
Members in the News
Peter Dickinson's book, Marigold: The Music of Billy Mayerl [OUP 2000: discography by
John Watson and list of works by Alex Hassan] is a major study of the British novelty pianist and
composer who was priminent in the UK from the 1920s to the 1950s. The book has been awarded a
Certificate of Merit in the category of Best Research in Recorded General Popular Music by the
Association of Recorded Sound Collections.
British preparations are being made for the Billy Mayerl Centenary which falls on May 31, 2002. There will
be at least two major London concerts, attention by the BBC, and several more CDs from Eric Parkin.
Dickinson is now working on a Copland symposium based on centenary papers given at the conferences in
Toronto and London last year. This will also include unknown interviews with Copland and will be
published next year.
Albany Records have issued three CDs of Peter Dickinson's music, which have attracted attention
in the major record magazines. The last of these CDs, Rags, Blues & Parodies, is -- like
Billy Mayerl -- another example of American idioms affecting serious composers abroad.
Mezzo soprano Peggy Balensuela has recently had released on Albany Records (Troy 438) a CD
featuring the songs of American composer/poet/publisher Carrie Jacobs Bond (1862-1947) titled:
"Songs My Grandmother Taught Me: Songs of Carrie Jacobs-Bond).
On Monday, June 18, the Longy School of Music presented veteran music icon Gunther Schuller
with its prestigious Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society.
Schuller, the second recipient of this annual honor, received the award at Longy's Tropical Garden
Party held at Boston's historic Symphony Hall.
The event, also celebrating the recipients of the Georges Longy Achievement Awards and the Nadia
Boulanger Achievement Award, benefits Longy's Scholarship and Outreach Program.
A frequent collaborator of Bernstein's throughout the 1960s, Schuller is a deserving recipient of this
award which "recognizes extraordinary artistic accomplishment over a performer's lifetime and the
contribution that he or she has made in introducing new audiences nationally and world-wide to the
beauty of great music."
Throughout his nearly sixty years in professional music, Schuller has advanced the causes of innovative
music and musicians through his careers as a horn player, composer, conductor, educator and conservatory
president, author and jazz historian, and independent music publisher and label founder. He has
consistently used his own notoriety to help others by supporting their early careers, working as a college-level
educator for nearly 40 years, publishing over 1000 compositions, premiering and conducting contemporary
works, and producing over 110 recordings on his own GM Recorings label.
Founded in 1915, the Longy School of Music presents this award, with the permission of the Bernstein
trustees, to Gunther Schuller as he celebrates his 75th birthday and the 20th anniversary of GM recordings.
New Interest Group Formed
Members of the Society have formed the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgendered Interest Group, as approved
by the SAM Board last fall.
In their letter of petition to the board, the group noted that "similar groups have recently been
established in our sister societies, including the American Musicological Society and the Society for
Music Theory, and a growing literature suggests that in many cases, the experience of an 'alternative'
lifestyle lies behind many distinctive aspects of American art and popular musics.
"In addition to the scholarly issues on which such an interest group might focus, others express
an enthusiasm for a forum in which they can discuss problems related to the workplace, not the least of
which is discrimination based on sexual preference. In promoting G/L/B/T visibility within
the field, the very existence of such an interest group within the Society would make a significant
contribution to our discipline.
The new group did not meet in Trinidad, but will instead hold its first meeting at the Lexington
conference in March 2002.
Serving as temporary chair until the group holds elections at that first meeting, and as official
contact for the group, is David Patterson, University of Illinois.
David Patterson also chairs the 20th-Century Music Interest Group. He may be reach via e-mail
at dwpatter@uiuc.edu.
Letter from the Editor
Nearly two decades ago, analyst John Naisbitt described 10 movements aimed to reshape Western
society in his runaway bestseller Megatrends.
These trends emerged from the research compiled by his consultant firm, derived by reading
hundres of regional newspapers and tabulating placement, mention and treatment of certain key
words, phrases, and concepts. With his finger squarely on this particular pulsing artery of hometown
America, Naisbitt drew his conclusions.
Among the trends he identified was an important concept he called "high tech, high touch," a trend
he revisited in 1999's High Tech, High Touch: Technology and Our Search for Meaning. Stated simply,
this idea proposes that the more complicated, articial and technologically advanced a person's life
becomes, the more that person will seek uncomplicated, natural and technologically simple means of
relaxation and leisure.
Naisbitt originally pointed to growing interest in gardening and crafts; I have enjoyed watching this
trend at work in the musical arena, as participation in low-tech (and no-tech) expressions such as
shaped-note singing, traditional folk musicmaking, blues, bluegrass, ancient music and ethnic music of
all kinds has literally exploded.
This trend continues to affect technology as well, forcing toolmakers to create ever-friendlier
machings with tactile, more natureal interfaces and creative possibilities. One can purchase a
high-tech, MIDI-enabled, all-digital guitar effects processor that includes a low-tech, 1950s-vintage
12AX7 vacuum tube circuit chosen for its warm envelope. A recent favorite of mine is an all-digital
virtual Leslie rotating speaker, which even places a replica Leslie contrl panel on your computer
screen an allows your mouse to move the dials (and even pull classic rock tricks such as setting
differnt rotation rates for each "speaker") to shape your sound.
Music research is certainly high-touch!
I would like to make your Bulletin as high-touch as possible, while using high-tech tools
such as e-mail and the Web to get more information disseminated faster. Send me your news items
in a timely fashion, and I will endeavor to reduce the time between deadline and delivery to
one month (with a little help from some of my journalism majors). Larry Worster greatly improved
this Bulletin -- let's build on that momentum!
--Philip A. Todd
Oklahoma Baptist University
New Grove Contributors include at Least 238 SAM Members
Curious to see how many fellow Americanists participated in the New Grove turn-of-the-millennium
musical reference project, Michael Meckna (who contributed 73 articles himself) ran a quick comparison
of the Society's 2000 Membership Directory against the the New Grove Dictionary of Music, 2nd ed.
contributors list in Volume 28, Appendix III, and came up with an impressive 238 names.
Listed in alphabetical order, they include:
Karen Ahlquist, J. Heywood Alexander, Christine Ammer, Donna K. Anderson, Elliott Antokoletz,
Aaron Appelstein, Charles M. Atkinson,
Walter Bailey, Rebecca A. Baltzer, Stephen Banfield, Margaret Downie Banks, Miriam W. Barndt-Webb, John
H. Baron, Cyrilla Barr, Thomas Bauman, John BEckwith, Lawrence E. Bennett, Wesley Berg, Edward A.
Berlin, David BErnstein, Marianne Betz, Marshall Bialosky, Paul E. Bierley, Adrienne Fried Block,
Geoffrey Block, PHilip V. Bohlman, Jane Bowers, Gary R. Boye, D. Royce Boyer, Horace CD. Boyer, George
Boziwick, David Brackett, Charles E. Brewer, James R. Briscoe, Tim Brooks, William Brooks, Rae Linda
Brown, Michael Broyles, Carolyn Bryant, Rebecca A. Bryant, James M. Burk, J. Peter Burkholder, Ronald
L. Byrnside,
Raoul F. Camus, Vic Cardell, Pally Carder, Norbert Carnovale, James P. Cassaro, Susan Cifaldi, Frank J. Cipolla, Wilma
Reid Cipolla, J. Bunker Clark, R. Andrew Clark, Dale Cockrell, Susan C. Cook, Nym Cooke, Robert M. Copeland, Lenore
Coral, Frederick Crane, Richard Crawford, William Critser, Liane Curtis, Mary Wallace Davidson, James Deaville, Andrew
Dell'Antonio, Sam Dennison, Mark Devoto, Peter Dickinson, Theodor Duda, Doris J. Dyen,
Edward Eanes, J. Michele Edwards, Laurine Elkins-Marlow, Dena Epstein, Harry Eskew, David Evans, Sylvia Eversole,
James Farrington, Margot E. Fassler, George Ferencz, Annette Fern,
Sophie Galaise, John F. Garst, Jean Geil, Anthony F. Ginter, Sharon E. Gerard, Jane Girdham, Emily Good, John
Graziano, Gary A. Greene, Mark C. Gridley, William D. Gudger, Charles Hamm, Paul G. Hammond, Maria Anna Harley, Edward D. Harsh,
John Edward Hasse, Deborah Hayes, James R. Heintze, Clayton W. Henderson, Carol A. Hess, Barbara B. Heyman, Val Hicks, David K.
Hildebrand, James R. Hines, H. Wiley Hitchcock, Cynthia Adams Hoover, Robert E. Hopkins, Joseph Horowitz,
Dorothy Indenbaum, Susan Jackson,
Charles H. Kaufman, William K. Kearns, Elaine Keillor, William H. Kenney, Elise K. Kirk, David G. Klocko, Wolfram Knauer,
Ellen Knight, John Koegel, Orly Leah Krasner, Kenneth Kreitner, Karl Kroeger, Don Krummel, Daivd Z. Kushner, Paul Laird,
Steven Ledbetter, Ellen Lerner, Victoria Lindsay Levine, Beth Levy, Ralph P. Lock, R. Allen Lott, Margery Morgan Lowens,
Jocelyn Mackey, Brian Mann, Martin Marks, Olivia Mattis, Elanor F. McCrickard, Doris Evans McGinty, Wallace C. McKenzie,
Anne Dhu McLucas, Michael Meckna, David Metzer, Leta E. Miller, Tery E. Miller, Dennis Monk, Kevin E. Mooney, Joan Morris,
Sterling E. Murray, David Music,
Myrna Nachman, Severine Neff, Arthur Ness, Bruno Nettl, Jon Newsom, David Nicholls, Robert F. Nisbett, Kay Norton,
John Ogasapian, Carol Oja, William Osborne, June C. Ottenberg, Barbara Owen, Tom C. Owens,
Robert L. Parker, David W. Patterson, Karin Pendle, Vivian Perlis, Dolores Pesce, Barbara A. Petersen, Leslie Petteys,
Linda Pohly, Howard Pollack, Harrison Powley, Katherine K. Preston, Cynthia Richardson, Thomas L. Riis, Delmer D. Rogers,
Deane L. Root, Craig H. Russell,
Leonora Saavedra, Ora Frishberg Saloman, Ezra Schabas, Malinda Schantz, Martha Furman Schleifer, John C. Schmidt,
Wayne J. Schneider, Arthur F. Schrader, Gunther Schuller, Denise A. Seachrist, Ann Sears, Howard S. Shanet, Marjorie
Mackay Shapiro, Stephen Shearon, Jay Kaufman Shelemay, Wayne Shirley, Stephen Siek, Walter Simmons, James B. Sinclair,
Catherine P. Smith, Howard E. Smither, Ruth A. Solie, Susan T. Sommer, Stephen Spackman, John Spitzer, Larry Starr,
David Warren Steel, Fred Steiner, E. Larry Stempel, Amy K. Stillman, Jacklin Bolton Stopp, Willie F. Strong, Joanne
E. Swenson-Eldridge,
Nicholas Tawa, Timothy D. Taylor, Nicholas Temperley, Eldred A. Thierstein, Trebor Jay Tichenor, Judith Tick, Frank P.
Tirro, Barbara L. Tischler, Judy Tsou, Mark Tucker, Nany F. Vogan, Metro Voloshin,
John W. Wagner, Grayson Wagstaff, Robert Walser, Richard Wang, Thomas E. Warner, Richard D. Wetzel, Robert B. Winans, Robert E. Witmer,
Larry Worster, Josephine Wright, Victor Fell Yellin, Su Zheng, and Marilyn J. Ziffrin.
Please notify the Bulletin editor of any inadvertant omissions from this list.
Updated 8/01/01