For a detailed curriculum vitae, click here.
Vincent Pérez Benítez, Jr.
Professor of Music Theory, 2019–present
Associate Professor of Music Theory, tenured, 2011–2019
Assistant Professor of Music Theory, 2005–2011
The Pennsylvania State University (PSU)
225 Music Building I
University Park, PA 16802
vpb2@psu.edu
Area Coordinator, Musicology/Music Theory/Composition/Technology, 2019–2022
EDUCATION
PhD, Music Theory, Indiana University
DMA, Organ Performance, Arizona State University
MM, Theory and Composition, Arizona State University
MM, Organ Performance, University of North Texas
BM, Organ Performance, magna cum laude, University of North Texas
PhD dissertation (Indiana University): Pitch Organization and Dramatic Design in Saint François d’Assise of Olivier Messiaen
Dissertation committee: Eric J. Isaacson (adviser), Lewis Rowell, Robert Hatten, Thomas J. Mathiesen
“This thesis analyzes how Messiaen’s pitch organization is used as an integral part of the drama, and also provides an overview of the work’s religious sources and musical language.” —Nigel Simeone, “Messiaen,” Oxford Bibliographies, 2017, DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199757824-0057
DMA research paper (Arizona State University): Musical-Rhetorical Figures in the Orgelbüchlein of J. S. Bach
Tomoko A. Miyamoto, organist, liner notes, Fruits of Bach Grove: The Orgelbüchlein (CD recording, ALM Records ALCD-1167, 2017): “There are many books and dissertations written about the Orgelbüchlein. Bach is very special in many aspects, but especially in his use of [r]hetoric and the symbolism of numbers. Just before the recording, I was fortunate to be able to re-read the doctoral thesis . . . Musical-Rhetorical Figures in the Orgelbüchlein of J.S. Bach by Vincent P. Benitez, written in 1985. Thanks to the internet I was able to find him and have personal communication online.”
Organ Study: Marilyn Keiser, Larry Smith, Michael Corzine, Robert Clark, Charles S. Brown, and Donald Willing
Harpsichord Study: Karyl Louwenaar Lueck, John Metz, Susan Ferré, Charles Brown, and Dale Peters
Composition Study: Randall Shinn, Glenn Hackbarth, William Latham, and Merrill Ellis
EDITORSHIPS/NATIONAL COMMITTEE WORK
Publication Awards Committee for Books, Wallace Berry Award, Emerging Scholar Award, 2023
H. Colin Slim Award Committee, The American Musicological Society, 2020–2021
Scholarship and Research Editor, College Music Symposium, 2019–2021
Editor, Indiana Theory Review, August 1994–July 1996
Reviews Editor, Indiana Theory Review, December 1993–July 1994
PUBLICATIONS
Books:
The Color of Time and the Late Music of Olivier Messiaen (in progress; supported by a Penn State sabbatical leave, fall 2022 to spring 2023)
Olivier Messiaen’s Opera, Saint François d’Assise. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2019.
“Overall, this volume fulfills Benitez’s ‘hope [that] it will serve as an intellectual springboard into the mind of one of the most creative musicians of the twentieth century’ (p. 5) and Messiaen’s self-described ‘synthesis of all that he had done up to that point in his career as a composer’ (p. 1), the opera Saint François d’Assise.”—MLA Notes 78, no. 2 (December 2021): 255–57.
“This well-researched book is wonderfully written with great clarity and organization, and provides a remarkable and original perspective on the work of the great French composer.”—Christopher E. Mehrens (2020) Olivier Messiaen’s Opera, Saint François d’Assise, Music Reference Services Quarterly. https://www-tandfonline-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/doi/full/10.1080/10588167.2020.1863761?scroll=top&needAccess=true.
“Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.”—Choice Reviews Online (September 2020)
“. . . a captivating narrative that illuminates the inner workings not only of Messiaen's magnum opus but of his musical language altogether.” —Christoph Neidhöfer, Schulich School of Music, McGill University
Expanded edition includes listings of numerous primary source documents with commentary (especially all of the composer’s birdsong notebooks) from the Fonds Olivier Messiaen (as of April 2017), located at the BnF, Département de la Musique, Paris
“Benitez's book ... is a welcome contribution to popular music scholarship.”—Music Theory Online 18, no. 4 (December 2012)
“[This] book is required reading...for any Beatles scholar or fan. Proving that the scope of McCartney's 'musical activities [are truly] mind-boggling,' Benitez adds to the understanding of the various musical heights (and lows) this icon has attained thus far. Highly recommended. All readers." —Choice Reviews Online (January 2011)
Analytical observations about various songs are incorporated into The Paul McCartney Project (“The most comprehensive database of music written or recorded by Paul McCartney, from the Quarry Men to the Beatles, from Wings to his solo career”)
Olivier Messiaen: A Research and Information Guide. Routledge Music Bibliographies. New York and London: Routledge, 2008.
“An exhaustive guide to primary sources (including Messiaen’s articles and reviews, pedagogical writings, lectures, prefaces, interviews, and correspondence) and secondary literature (biographies, style studies, and discussions of individual works). The author provides concise and helpful summaries of some nine hundred items as pointers to further research and includes a detailed list of Messiaen’s musical works as an appendix.” —Nigel Simeone, “Messiaen,” Oxford Bibliographies, 2017, DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199757824-0057
“Benitez displays an impressive command of the literature on Messiaen. . . . Far more than a compendium of research sources on Messiaen, this book offers an essential guide that will prove beneficial both for the specialist—who will discover a wealth of helpful new sources to examine—and for the person who is beginning to explore the fascinating and captivating music of this modern master.”—Brian Hart (2009) Olivier Messiaen: A Research and Information Guide. (Routledge Music Bibliographies), Music Reference Services Quarterly, 12:1-2, 61-63, DOI: 10.1080/10588160902963546
“. . . invaluable resource for Messiaen scholars. . . gives about as comprehensive a bibliography of the literature on Messiaen as it is possible to imagine . . . provides . . . numerous insightful comments . . . a treasure trove of information.”—Christopher Dingle, Tempo 62, no. 246 (October 2008): 71–72
e-Books:
The Music of the Beatles and American Popular Culture. Music 209N/ENGL 208N (Gen Ed online, inter-domain course), Office of Digital Learning, PSU, 2017 (regular course offerings during the summer and spring).
The Music of the Beatles. Music 109 (Gen Ed online course), Office of Digital Learning, PSU, 2012, revised 2013.
Book Chapters/Conference Proceedings:
Messiaen:
“Divine Transcendence and Birdsong in Messiaen’s Un Vitrail et des oiseaux.” Music and Transcendence in a Posthuman Age (McGill and Queen's University Press, edited volume, forthcoming).
“Stravinsky and the End of Musical Time: Messiaen’s Analysis of The Rite and Its Impact on Twentieth-Century Music.” Proceedings (online) from the “Sacre Celebration: Revisiting, Reflecting, Revisioning.” York University, Toronto, Canada (2013). Benitez1-4-22-23.pdf (corrected version).
“Narrating Saint Francis’s Spiritual Journey: Referential Pitch Structures and Symbolic Images in Olivier Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise.” In Poznan Studies on Opera. Vol. 4, Theories of Opera, ed. Maciej Jablonski, 363–411. Poznan, Poland: Publishing House of the Poznan Society for the Advancement of the Arts and Sciences, Section of Music and Fine Arts, Publication of the Committee for Musicology, vol. 16, 2004.
Baroque Music:
“Thoroughbass as Pedagogy in the Teaching of Improvisation in Undergraduate Music Theory Courses.” In Improvisation and Music Education: Beyond the Classroom, ed. Ajay Heble and Mark Laver, 140–52. New York: Routledge, 2016. https://www.routledge.com/Improvisation-and-Music-Education-Beyond-the-Classroom/Heble-Laver/p/book/9781138830165
Popular Music:
“‘That Was Me’ in ‘Vintage Clothes’: Intertextuality and the White Album Songs of Paul McCartney.” In The Beatles through a Glass Onion: Reconsidering the White Album, ed. Mark Osteen, 213–29. Tracking Pop Series. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, 2019.
Other authors in this collection include Walter Everett, John Covach, Lori Burns, and Kenneth Womack.
“Ram (1971)” and “Band on the Run (1973).” In The Album: A Guide to Pop Music’s Most Provocative, Influential, and Important Creations, ed. James E. Perone, 147–56; 275–85. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2012. https://www.abc-clio.com/products/d9772c/
Articles:
Messiaen:
“Reconsidering Messiaen as Serialist.” Music Analysis 28, nos. 2–3 (2009): 267–99.
“A Conversation with Composer Gerald Levinson about Olivier Messiaen.” oliviermessiaen.net (12 December 2008). (pdf available only by permission).
“Messiaen as Improviser.” Dutch Journal of Music Theory 13, no. 2 (2008): 129–44. Messiaen as Improviser.pdf
“Aspects of Harmony in Messiaen’s Later Music: An Examination of the Chords of Transposed Inversions on the Same Bass Note.” Journal of Musicological Research 23, no. 2 (April-June 2004): 187–226. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01411890490449781
“A Creative Legacy: Messiaen as Teacher of Analysis.” College Music Symposium 40 (2000): 117–39.
Baroque Music:
“Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 538: A Rhythmic/Metric Perspective.” The American Organist (March 1991): 56–58.
“Rhythm and Meter in Buxtehude's Toccata in D Minor BuxWV 155.” Diapason (July 1989): 14–16.
Popular Music/Other:
“Twentieth-Century Musical Concepts and the Music of the Beatles.” GAMUT 9 (1999): 91–104.
“The Foundation of a Scientific Theory of Music” (third author; in collaboration with Michael H. McLarty and William H. Braun). Psychological Record 40 (Fall 1990): 491–504.
In Progress:
“Temporal Beginnings: Musical Time and Messiaen’s Analysis of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.”
This emerging article stems from lectures I gave on the subject at various national and international venues. In addition to developing a polished translation of Messiaen’s analysis into English, I studied his annotated score (piano, four hands) of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (which he used while teaching at the Paris Conservatoire) at the BnF during the summer of 2017, copying every annotation that he wrote into my four-hand piano score. I discovered many things not in the Traité de rythme or in the Messiaen literature. This article will also serve as the first chapter of my book, The Color of Time and the Late Music of Olivier Messiaen.
“Harmony and Transformational Voice Leading in the Later Music of Olivier Messiaen.”
Book Reviews (12 books on Messiaen):
Review of Richard D E Burton's Olivier Messiaen: Texts, Contexts, & Intertexts (1937–1948), ed. Roger Nichols (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016). MLA Notes 74, no. 2 (December 2017): 279–81.
Review of Christopher Dingle and Robert Fallon’s (eds.) Messiaen Perspectives, vols. 1–2 (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2013). Music Theory Spectrum 37, no. 2 (Fall 2015): 323–27.
Review of Gareth Healey’s Messiaen's Musical Techniques: The Composer's View and Beyond (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2013). MLA Notes 71, no. 1 (September 2014): 70–72.
Review of Christopher Dingle’s Messiaen’s Final Works (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2013). MLA Notes 70, no. 4 (June 2014): 695–98.
Review of Jon Gillock’s Performing Messiaen’s Organ Music: 66 Masterclasses (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2009). Performance Practice Review 16, no. 1, Article 2.
Review of Sander van Maas’s The Reinvention of Religious Music: Olivier Messiaen’s Breakthrough Toward the Beyond (New York: Fordham University Press, 2009). MLA Notes 67, no. 4 (June 2011): 741–43.
Review of Siglind Bruhn’s Messiaen’s Explorations of Love and Death, and Messiaen’s Interpretations of Holiness and Trinity, 2 vols. (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2008). MLA Notes 66, no. 3 (March 2010): 524–27.
Review of Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone’s Olivier Messiaen: Oiseaux exotiques (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007). MLA Notes 64, no. 4 (June 2008): 743–45.
Review of Björn Heile’s The Music of Mauricio Kagel (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006). MLA Notes 64, no. 2 (December 2007): 298–300.
Review of Messiaen’s Language of Mystical Love, ed. Siglind Bruhn (New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1998). MLA Notes 56, no. 2 (December 1999): 424–26.
Review of Benito V. Rivera’s Translation of Joachim Burmeister’s Musica Poetica 1606 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993). Indiana Theory Review 18, no. 1 (Spring 1997): 97–114.
Review of E. Thomas Glasow’s Translation of Olivier Messiaen: Music and Color: Conversations with Claude Samuel (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1994). Indiana Theory Review 17, no. 2 (Fall 1996): 93–102.
Grants/Interviews/Residencies/Other:
Penn State Incentives and Innovations Grant, 2016, in the amount of $13,000 to support the creation of an online, inter-domain Gen Ed course on the music of the Beatles and American Popular Culture (MUSIC 209N/ENGL 208N, The Music of the Beatles and American Popular Culture). This course was written in consultation with Professor Michael Bérubé, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Literature, English department, Penn State University. Development took place in 2017, with the pilot version occurring in the Spring 2018, and regular course offerings starting in the Spring 2019.
Resident Scholar, Institute for the Arts and Humanities (IAH), PSU, Fall 2016
Faculty Research Grant in the amount of $6,550, Fall 2015, from the College of Arts and Architecture, PSU, to help fund my research proposal, "Examining the Birdsong Notebooks of Olivier Messiaen," while at the BnF in Paris in 2016
SMT Subvention Grant, July 2015, from the Society for Music Theory, to help fund my research proposal, "Examining the Birdsong Notebooks of Olivier Messiaen," while at the BnF in Paris in 2016
Honors examiner, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA, May 23–24, 2014
Individual Faculty Grant in the amount of $3,500, Spring 2014, from the IAH, PSU, to conduct research in France in May–June 2014 on Messiaen’s birdsong notebooks at the BnF (During this time, I also visited Messiaen’s summer home in Petichet, childhood apartment in Grenoble, and the Paris Conservatoire, where I observed organ professor Olivier Latry teach his students in the Salle d’Orgue.)
e-Learning Fellow, Fall 2013; course buyout and grant in the amount of $3,000 (to pay for faculty/student musicians). Weekly meetings with an instructional design consultant to revise assessment procedures for MUSIC 109: The Music of the Beatles (online course). I developed instructional videos of Beatle songs played by a Penn State ensemble comprised of both faculty and students that I directed, and played piano and bass guitar.
e-Learning Fellow, Spring 2013; grant in the amount of $3,000: weekly meetings with an instructional design consultant to revise the course content and document the copyright use of audio files, musical examples, photos, and videos for MUSIC 109: The Music of the Beatles (online course)
Penn State Incentives and Innovations Grant, Spring 2011, in the amount of $10,000 to support the creation of an online General Education course on the music of the Beatles, and to enhance the development of MUSIC 498, The Music of the Beatles, taught in the Spring of 2012
Resident Scholar, IAH, PSU, Spring 2010
Interviewed on 31 March 2008 by Cathy Peters of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation – Radio National for her program on Messiaen’s Quatuor pour le fin du Temps: “Into the Music: Transcending Time – Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time.” ABC aired the program on July 12, 2008 and repeated it on May 5, 2012
Individual Faculty Grant in the amount of $2,000, Fall 2005, from the IAH, PSU, to conduct research in France (Paris and Paray-le-Monial) and Italy (Assisi and Florence) in May–June 2006 for my book, Olivier Messiaen’s Opera, Saint François d’Assise
Faculty Research Grant in the amount of $3,450, Fall 2005, from the College of Arts and Architecture, PSU, to conduct research in France and Italy in May–June 2006 for my book, Olivier Messiaen’s Opera, Saint François d’Assise
LECTURES
International (refereed):
Messiaen:
“ ‘L’unique oiseau de l’Éternité, c’est vous ! ‘: Divine Transcendence and Birdsong in Messiaen’s Un Vitrail et des oiseaux.” Music and Transcendence in a Posthuman Age International Conference, Montreal, Canada, February 23, 2023.
“Birdsong as Theological and Compositional Determinants in Olivier Messiaen's Opera, Saint François d'Assise." 9th European Music Analysis Conference 2017, Strasbourg, France, June 28, 2017.
“Stravinsky and the End of Musical Time: Messiaen’s Analysis of The Rite of Spring and Its Impact on Twentieth-Century Music.” Eighth Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, UK, September 15, 2013; Sacre Celebration: Revisiting, Reflecting, Reimagining, York University, Toronto, Canada, April 18, 2013; 2012 Meeting of the International Musicology Society, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome, Italy, July 6, 2012.
“Illuminations of the Beyond: Improvisation, Composition, and Messiaen’s Last Improvisation Concert.” Perspectives of Musical Improvisation Conference, University of Oxford, England, September 11, 2012.
“Harmony and Transformational Voice Leading in the Later Music of Olivier Messiaen.” 7th European Music Analysis Conference, Conservatory of S. Cecilia, Rome, Italy, September 29, 2011; Seventh Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900 and the International Conference of the Society for Music Analysis, Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, Lancaster, England, July 31, 2011.
“Music as Incantation: An Examination of André Jolivet’s Influence on Olivier Messiaen.” Messiaen 2008 International Centenary Conference, City University of Birmingham, Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham, England, June 21, 2008; International Conference of Messiaen Studies, The University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, March 31, 2008.
“The Fusion of the Philosophies of Saint Thomas Aquinas and Henri Bergson in Olivier Messiaen’s Theology of Time.” Boston University Conference, “Messiaen the Theologian,” October 12, 2007.
“Messiaen as Improviser.” Ninth International Conference of the Dutch-Flemish Society for Music Theory, Prince Claus Conservatoire, Groningen, The Netherlands, February 24, 2007.
“Understanding Messiaen as Serialist: Theological Time and Its Musical Expression through Number.” Fourth Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900 (member of a special Messiaen panel with Stephen Broad, Christopher Dingle, and Nigel Simeone), University of Sussex, Brighton, England, August 25, 2005; Dublin International Conference on Musical Analysis, University College Dublin, Ireland, June 25, 2005; Third Annual Conference of the Society for Musicology in Ireland, University College Cork, Ireland, May 8, 2005.
“Aspects of Harmony in Messiaen’s Later Music: An Examination of the Chords of Transposed Inversions on the Same Bass Note.” 14th Nordic Musicological Congress, Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, Finland, August 13, 2004.
“Narrating Saint Francis’s Spiritual Journey: Pitch Structures and Symbolic Images in Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise.” International Conference of the College Music Society, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland, July 7, 2001.
“Simultaneous Contrast and Additive Pitch Designs in Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise.” OXMAC 2000, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, September 23, 2000.
Baroque Music:
“A Passacaglia Principle for the North German Baroque?: Distinguishing Between Passacaglia and Ciaccona in the Ostinato Organ Works of Dieterich Buxtehude.” 16th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music, University of Music and Dramatic Arts Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria, July 12, 2014.
“Thoroughbass as Pedagogy in the Teaching of Improvisation in Eighteenth-Century Counterpoint and Music Theory Classes.” ICASP Summit on Improvisation Pedagogy and Community Impact, University of Guelph, Canada, May 24, 2013 (part of a special panel discussion).
“Rethinking Buxtehude as Harmonist.” 15th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music, University of Southampton, England, July 12, 2012.
Popular Music/Other:
“The Macca/MacMa Collaboration: Persona and Protagonist in the Songs of Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello.” International Conference on Analyzing Popular Music (PopMAC), University of Liverpool, UK, sponsored by the Society for Music Analysis, July 2, 2013.
National (refereed):
Messiaen:
“Illuminations of the Beyond: Messiaen’s Last Concert at La Trinité.” 2014 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists, Boston, MA, June 24, 2014. “Illuminations of the Beyond: Improvisation, Composition, and Messiaen’s Last Improvisation Concert.” 2012 National Meeting of the American Musicological Society, New Orleans, LA, November 3, 2012.
“One Composer Viewed Through the Prism of Another: Messiaen’s Analysis of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.” 2013 National Meeting of the Society for Music Theory, Charlotte, NC, November 1, 2013.
“‘Tout mon opéra est un immense acte de Foi en Dieu’: Understanding the Theology of Olivier Messiaen's Opera Saint François d'Assise.” Symposium, “Olivier Messiaen: The Musician as Theologian,” The Meadows School of the Arts and The Perkins School of Theology of Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, September 26, 2008.
“The Influence of Saint Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae on the Compositional Aesthetic of Olivier Messiaen.” Forum on Music and Christian Scholarship, Yale Institute of Sacred Music, New Haven, Connecticut, March 10, 2007.
“Timbre as Religious Symbol in Olivier Messiaen’s Opera Saint François d’Assise.” Forum on Music and Christian Scholarship, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, February 18, 2005; Thirty-Seventh Annual Contemporary Music Festival, Indiana State University, Terra Haute, Indiana, October 31, 2003.
“Simultaneous Contrast and Additive Pitch Designs in Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise.” Twenty-Second Annual New Music & Art Festival, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, October 18, 2001; National Meeting of the College Music Society, Toronto, Ontario, November 4, 2000.
Popular Music/Other:
“Twentieth-Century Musical Concepts and the Music of the Beatles.” 1997 National Meeting of the Society for Music Theory, Phoenix, Arizona, October 31, 1997.
Invited/Campus Lectures:
Messiaen:
“The Turangalîla Symphony of Olivier Messiaen.” IAH, Fall 2017 Faculty Lecture Series, PSU, October 18, 2016.
“Messiaen and Improvisation.” Keynote address (Lise Waxer Memorial Lecture), Spring 2015 meeting of the New York State/St. Lawrence Chapter of the American Musicological Society, York University, Toronto, Canada, May 2, 2015.
“Messiaen and Improvisation.” Eastman Theory Colloquium, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, March 27, 2015.
“Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time.” Pre-Concert Lecture for the “Concert Spirituel” Faculty Recital of Dr. Steven Smith, Esber Recital Hall, The Pennsylvania State University, February 2, 2014.
“Stravinsky and the End of Musical Time: Messiaen’s Analysis of The Rite and Its Impact on Twentieth-Century Music.” Interdisciplinary Lecture Series, Lipcon Auditorium, Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, November 5, 2013.
“Tracing the Compositional Path of Olivier Messiaen’s Opera, Saint François d’Assise: An Assessment of the Influence of Wagner, Debussy, and Dukas on Messiaen.” Institute for the Arts and Humanities, Spring 2010 Faculty Lecture Series, The Pennsylvania State University, April 20, 2010.
“Olivier Messiaen: Composer-Organist, Man of Faith.” Pre-Concert Lecture for an all-Messiaen organ concert by Jon Gillock. Worship Hall, Pasquerilla Spiritual Center, The Pennsylvania State University, April 15, 2008.
“The Influence of Saint Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae on the Compositional Aesthetic of Olivier Messiaen.” Institute for the Arts and Humanities, Fall 2006 Faculty Lecture Series, The Pennsylvania State University, November 14, 2006.
“Music that Transports Us to God: Tonalities and Religious Symbolism in Olivier Messiaen’s Opera Saint François d’Assise.” Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio, April 20, 2001.
Baroque Music:
“Musical Rhetoric in the Organ Music of Dieterich Buxtehude and Johann Sebastian Bach,” Lecture-Recital for the Penn State Musicology/Music Theory Colloquium Series, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, January, 21 2011.
“Musical-Rhetorical Figures in the Orgelbüchlein of J. S. Bach.” St. Joseph Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, First Presbyterian Church, St. Joseph, Missouri, September 16, 1990 (also played an organ recital, which included the Sonata on the 94th Psalm by Julius Reubke).
Popular Music/Other:
“Did You Notice that the Lights Had Changed with the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper?” Lycoming Scholars seminar, Lycoming College, Williamsport, PA, November 7, 2017.
“The Beatles’ Revolver: The Best Album of All Time?” Penn State Alumni Association: City Lights 2017, Paley Center for Media, New York, June 8, 2017.
“Pop! America’s Enduring Love for Popular Music.” Research Unplugged, The Pennsylvania State University, November 13, 2014.
“The Great African- and Latin-American Popular Music Songbook.” Lecture-Concert, Common Hour, Esber Recital Hall, The Pennsylvania State University, March 28, 2014. Lectured and played bass guitar and piano in a faculty-student ensemble led by me.
“Sweet Soul Music: Spotlight on Otis Redding.” Celebration of African-American Music Festival 2012, Esber Recital Hall, School of Music, The Pennsylvania State University, February 3, 2012.
“Oye cómo va mi ritmo [Listen to the rhythm of my music]: Celebrating the Music of Carlos Santana.” Room 110, Music Building I, School of Music, The Pennsylvania State University, February 18, 2011; also given for LAGRASA (Latin American Graduate Student Association), 122 Thomas, The Pennsylvania State University, November 10, 2010.
“Motown’s ‘Pride and Joy’: The Music and Legacy of Marvin Gaye.” Celebration of African-American Music Festival 2011, Esber Recital Hall, School of Music, The Pennsylvania State University, February 4, 2011.
“Hitsville, U.S.A.: The Musical Legacy of Motown.” Celebration of African-American Music Festival 2009, Esber Recital Hall, School of Music, The Pennsylvania State University, February 27, 2009.
CHAIR, PAPER SESSIONS:
International:
“The Beatles’ Intercultural Influence.” “It Was 50 Years Ago Today!: An International Beatles Celebration,” Penn State-Altoona. February 7, 2014.
“Would You Let Your Daughter Analyse a Rolling Stones Song? Or: Understanding Deceptively Simple Music".” International Conference on Analyzing Popular Music (PopMAC), University of Liverpool, UK, sponsored by the Society for Music Analysis, July 3, 2013.
“Approaches to Harmony and Voice-Leading.” Seventh Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900 and the International Conference of the Society for Music Analysis, Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, Lancaster, England, July 30, 2011.
“Teacher Education: Tutoring, Technology, and Techniques,” CMS International Conference at the University of Limerick, Ireland, July 10, 2001.
National:
“From Motown to Hip Hop.” Lectures given by: John Covach, University of Rochester/Eastman School of Music; and Daphne Carr, New York University. 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, Rochester, NY, November 9, 2017.
“Messiaen’s Language.” 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, Nashville, TN, November 6, 2008. Lectures given by: Robert Fallon, Bowling Green State University; Wai Ling Cheong, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Christoph Neidhöfer, McGill University; and Andrew Shenton, Boston University. (Authored a formal session proposal that was accepted in its entirety.)
Regional/Campus:
“Short Paper Session 1.” Twelfth Annual Meeting of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic, Shenandoah University, Winchester, VA, March 21, 2014.
“Frameworks for Listening.” Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, March 16, 2013.
“Baroque Music.” Tenth Annual Meeting of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, March 31, 2012.
“Chord Roots and Harmonic Function in Twentieth-Century Music.” Ninth Annual Meeting of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic, George Washington University, Washington, DC, March 18, 2011.
“Lines, Layers, and Spaces.” Seventh Annual Meeting of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, April 3, 2009.
New Music and Art Festival, BGSU, October 10, 1998; October 5, 1996.
Moderator, “The Arts,” Third Annual Latino Issues Conference, BGSU, April 25, 1997.