SCSMT Meeting Wrap-Up, Spring 2025
The Annual Meeting of the South-Central Society for Music Theory was held from March 14-15 in New Orleans, Louisiana, on the campus of Loyola University. Attendance was robust at nearly 40 registrants, and 23 papers and lightning talks were presented. We thank the members of the outgoing Program Committee for their service (Stefanie Dickinson, John Latartara, Connor Davis, Jennifer Salamone, and Stefanie Bilidas), as well as James MacKay (chair) and Janna Saslaw for doing local arrangements.
Two conference workshops were open to all attendees. Mitchell Ohriner (University of Denver) led one on “Rhythm (Sometimes) without Meter,” and Timothy Chenette (Utah State University) led another on “Timbre in Aural Skills.” At the plenary discussion, Ohriner and Chenette shared summaries of their workshops, as well as led a discussion about points of overlap between both topics.
This year, we also had our first themed open discussion on the topic of “AI and Pedagogy,” which was wonderfully and ably led by Zachary Lloyd (Florida State University Center for the Advancement of Teaching). Engagement was very encouraging, and we look forward to holding similar events in the future on topics of immediate and common interest. If you would like to suggest a topic for themed open discussion, please email us at the address listed at the end of this post.
We congratulate Ruixue Hu, a graduate student at the Eastman School of Music, for winning the Best Student Paper Award for his paper “Understanding Non-Lexical Vocables in Music.” In his paper, Hu argued that the most important attribute of non-lexical vocables (NLVs) is their versatility, which emerges from their amplitude, malleability, and democracy, and presented a detailed topology of NLVs that includes examples from multiple eras and cultures. Both historical and global in scope but also sensitive to the regional cultures from which musical examples are drawn, Hu’s paper represented a significant step towards a more thorough and analytically precise understanding of non-lexical vocables as they function in a variety of musics and cultures.
At the Business Meeting on March 15th, Wesley Bradford (University of Louisiana at Lafayette) was re-elected for his second and final term as Secretary to serve 2025-2027. We announced that SCSMT has resolved its IRS 501c3 status issue, and is now a tax-exempt organization and registered charity. Several role additions or changes were also made. Madison Stepherson (University of Oregon) was named the new Technology Chair, a position that was created to help SCSMT host a virtual conference in 2028, per an agreement with a rotation of other regional societies. Rebecca Long (University of Louisville) stepped down as Social Media Coordinator, and was replaced by Camila Canaviri Pacheco (University of Central Arkansas) and Zachary Lookenbill (University of Arkansas). Jason Jedlička (Belmont University) will be Election Officer for 2026. We thank Rebecca for her past service, and are very grateful to new volunteers. To confirm these role changes and prevent future issues with maintaining tax-exempt status, bylaw amendments were discussed and passed.
In 2026, SCSMT will meet at the University of Louisville (March 20-21, 2026). Please join us in Louisville, Kentucky next spring! The 2026 Program Committee will be chaired by John Latartara (University of Mississippi), and will include: Zachary Lookenbill (University of Arkansas), Jacob Gran (Louisiana Tech University), Anne Delfin(University of Alabama), and Ruixue Hu (Student Paper Award Winner-Eastman School of Music). Looking even further ahead to 2027, we are still planning to meet jointly with Music Theory Southeast in Atlanta, Georgia (Georgia State University).
Last but not least, the president would like to thank the rest of the Executive Board for being patient as she learned the ropes of leading a regional theory society: Secretary, Wesley Bradford (UL-Lafayette) and Treasurer, Douglas Rust (University of Southern Mississippi). The help and responsiveness of Webmaster Trevor de Clercq (Middle Tennessee State University) is also deeply appreciated.
For questions about SCSMT, please email us at scsmt@yahoo.com.