AMS Philadelphia 2009 Abstracts - American Musicological Society

150 saturday afternoon AMS Philadelphia 2009
“only connect”: the role of Musicology
in coMMunity engAgeMent
Sponsored by the Pedagogy Study Group, with the Committee on Career-Related
Issues and the Philadelphia Orchestra
Jessie Fillerup, University of Mary Washington, Co-chair
Anne-Marie Reynolds, SUNY Geneseo, Co-chair
Ayden Adler, Philadelphia Orchestra
Marisa Biaggi, Metropolitan Opera
Richard Freedman, Haverford College
Susan Key, San Francisco Symphony
Michael Mauskapf, University of Michigan
James Steichen, Princeton University
In this panel and discussion session, the AMS Pedagogy Study Group, The Philadelphia
Orchestra Association, and the Committee on Career-Related Issues will juxtapose the engagement
of adult audiences with the stated aim of the AMS—to advance “research in the
various fields of music as a branch of learning and scholarship.” How can we, as musicologists
and teachers, most effectively interact with interested non-professionals, both within the university
and without? How can we redefine the role of musicology in relation to these audiences
by turning the notion of community “outreach” to a “drawing in”? Considering perspectives
in musicology, education, performance, and arts management, panelists will explore ways of
engaging general audiences through musicological research, while initiating a dialogue about
musicology’s potential to encourage audiences to think differently about the repertoire they
hear.
Richard Freedman, longtime presenter of pre-concert programs for The Philadelphia Orchestra
and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Susan Key, educational director
for the San Francisco Symphony’s Keeping Score project, will discuss Tchaikovsky’s Fourth
Symphony, to be performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra on the weekend of the Annual
Meeting. While the Fourth Symphony typically attracts audiences with its impassioned emotional
drama, scholars usually contest its meaning and significance by addressing the work’s
programmatic associations, purported autobiographical content, and stylistic references to
Beethoven. This perceptual gap between audiences and scholars may be bridged by exploring
the music-making process through interaction with musicians, primary sources relating to the
composer’s biography and culture, and the listener’s personal connections to the music via
active reflection. Ayden Adler, Director of Education and Community Partnerships at The
Philadelphia Orchestra, will similarly discuss inventive forms of engagement derived from her
experiences as a performer, musicologist, and educational manager.
James Steichen and Marisa Biaggi, Creative Content Manager for the Metropolitan Opera
Company, will co-present innovative approaches to scholarship and performance on and
off campus. Steichen reverses the traditional question of how to bring musicology to the
public by asking instead how to bring the public to musicology. His case studies include the
University of Chicago’s Artspeaks series, which invites artists for a short-term residence of
public events and classroom activities, and a recent opera production at Princeton University
that occurred in tandem with a scholarly conference. Biaggi, a musicologist working in arts