Listening a Page at a Time - Stephen Rodgers

This is the first episode in a five-episode mini-series on “idiomatic improvisation” as a pedagogical technique in the music theory and aural skills classroom. In this episode, Alex Jonker and Peter Schubert invite students to improvise doo-wop songs which take place in a simple harmonic context while offering a lot of freedom, and a lot of fun!This episode was produced by Amy Hatch & Katrina Roush along with Team Lead Caitlin Martinkus. Special thanks to peer reviewers Phil Duker and Joseph Straus. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supplementary materials on this episode and more information on our authors and composers, check out our website: https://smt-pod.org/episodes/

This is the final episode in a five-episode mini-series on “idiomatic improvisation” as a pedagogical technique in the music theory and aural skills classroom. In this episode, Alex Jonker and Peter Schubert ask students to improvise classical phrase continuations that modulation to the dominant, drawing on basic musical instincts about phrase lengths and tonality.This episode was produced by Amy Hatch & Katrina Roush along with Team Lead Caitlin Martinkus. Special thanks to peer reviewers Phil Duker and Joseph Straus. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supplementary materials on this episode and more information on our authors and composers, check out our website: https://smt-pod.org/episodes/

This is the fourth episode in Alex Jonker and Peter Schubert’s five-episode mini-series on “idiomatic improvisation” as a pedagogical technique in the music theory and aural skills classroom. In this episode, students improvise a Renaissance first-species canon with Peter, teaching them to listen, think, and sing all at the same time in a simple diatonic context.This episode was produced by Amy Hatch & Katrina Roush along with Team Lead Caitlin Martinkus. Special thanks to peer reviewers Phil Duker and Joseph Straus. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supplementary materials on this episode and more information on our authors and composers, check out our website: https://smt-pod.org/episodes/

This is the third episode in Alex Jonker and Peter Schubert’s five-episode mini-series on “idiomatic improvisation” as a pedagogical technique in the music theory and aural skills classroom. This episode is the only one in the series where the improvisation uses notation, asking students to harmonize a chant melody with a very limited set of rules in order to introduce unfamiliar sounds, like parallel perfect fourths.This episode was produced by Amy Hatch & Katrina Roush along with Team Lead Caitlin Martinkus. Special thanks to peer reviewers Phil Duker and Joseph Straus. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supplementary materials on this episode and more information on our authors and composers, check out our website: https://smt-pod.org/episodes/

This is the second episode in Alex Jonker and Peter Schubert’s  five-episode mini-series on “idiomatic improvisation” as a pedagogical technique in the music theory and aural skills classroom. In this episode, students improvise a melody over a longer ground bass progression, now in a standard common practice harmonic context including some chromatic harmony.This episode was produced by Amy Hatch & Katrina Roush along with Team Lead Caitlin Martinkus. Special thanks to peer reviewers Phil Duker and Joseph Straus. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supplementary materials on this episode and more information on our authors and composers, check out our website: https://smt-pod.org/episodes/

In this week's episode, Craig Peaslee reimagines formal music theory analysis and takes the listener to the arena of competitive music performance through the lens of a radio sportscast.This episode was produced by Zach Lloyd along with Team Lead Evan Ware. Special thanks to peer reviewers Nate Mitchell and John Heilig. Additional thanks to Indigo Knecht, Spencer Long, Megan Lyons and Jody Diamond.SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supplementary materials on this episode and more information on our authors and composers, check out our website: https://smt-pod.org/episodes/

In this week's episode, Audrey Slote guides listeners through an analysis of “Mandorla Island” from Nicole Mitchell’s experimental jazz album Mandorla Awakening II from 2017. This episode centers Mitchell’s own Afrofuturist, feminist writings as its primary music-theoretical framework and illuminates how such theorizing productively challenges canonical academic ways of thinking about music and its relationship to society.This episode was produced by Jason Jedlička along with Team Lead Anna Rose Nelson. Special thanks to peer reviewers Jacob Cupps and Caitlin Martinkus. Additional thanks to Steven Rings, Nicole Mitchell, and Jennifer Iverson.SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supplementary materials on this episode and more information on our authors and composers, check out our website: https://smt-pod.org/episodes/

In this episode, Mark Micchelli examines the relationship between music theory and creative practice via a firsthand exploration of the formal structure of Cecil Taylor’s solo piano improvisations.This episode was produced by Jason Jedlicka along with Team Lead Matthew Ferrandino. Special thanks to peer reviewers Chris Stover and John Heilig. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supplementary materials on this episode and more information on our authors and composers, check out our website: https://smt-pod.org/episodes/

In this week's episode, Daniel Ketter presents an essential voice analysis arrangement of J. S. Bach’s fugue for solo cello. It traces the composer’s solution to weaving a four-part fugal texture with nearly no chords or double stops through inventive combinations of a subject and countersubject.This episode was produced by Jason Jedlicka along with Team Lead Leah Frederick. Special thanks to peer reviewers Gilad Rabinovitch, Ed Klorman, and Joe Straus. Additional thanks to Jason Orr, Jessie Black, and Royce Diamond at Phosphor Studios.SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supplementary materials on this episode and more information on our authors and composers, check out our website: https://smt-pod.org/episodes/

In this episode, Samantha Sasaki analyzes three bagpipe performances of “Auld Lang Syne” in Hong Kong in order to uncover why this instrument has retained cultural and political significance in the 27 years post-Handover.This episode was produced by Jose Garza along with Team Lead John Heilig. Special thanks to peer reviewers Larry Witzleben and Jennifer Weaver. Additional acknowledgements to Anna Yu Wang and Gavin Steingo. SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supplementary materials on this episode and more information on our authors and composers, check out our website: https://smt-pod.org/episodes/