The Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic Twenty-Third Annual Meeting
Gettysburg College
Gettysburg, PA
February 21–22, 2025
Conference highlights
We had a wonderful 2025 conference! Special congratulations to our keynote speaker, Gretchen Horlacher, and the winner of the Dorothy Payne Award, Jacob Eichhorn.
At the business meeting and executive board meeting, we enacted positive change for our society. MTSMA will begin implementing dues beginning with the 2026 virtual conference, which will allow us to better track membership and support the society. This will not result in more money paid by members, as we are lowering conference fees in tandem with the implementation of dues. We also adopted many amendments to our bylaws to clarify them and reflect current practices.
Thank you to the many people involved in running a successful conference!
Megan Lavengood
MTSMA President
Keynote Speaker and Workshop Leader:
Dr. Gretchen Horlacher
Keynote
Setting the Stage:
The Use of Space and Sound in Theatrical Dance
Read abstract
How a given space is filled or left open is a common and important part of constructing choreography, and is often an element of movement analysis in the field of dance. For example, space forms the last element in Rudolf Laban’s sophisticated theory of movement analysis, in which the human body projects from within itself into space. (The four elements are known by the acronym BESS, which stands for body, effort, shape, space.) We might think of a performance space as having potential for exploration by a dancer.
The emerging field of choreomusicology – the study of how music and dance interact – often describes how dancers “move to music” by drawing upon music’s rhythmic structure and its melodic contours. We have paid less attention to potential links between music and the space inhabited by dancers on a stage. A conception of physical space as the extension of a dancer’s body in three dimensions can qualify sound in similar ways, especially via metaphors of movement. Laban himself described passing through a musical scale, allying physical and metaphorical movement. In this talk, I focus on how Western theatrical dancers (from ballet, modern dance, and post-modern dance) move both within the space of a proscenium stage, and in conjunction with musical movement.
Bio
Gretchen Horlacher is currently Associate Professor of Music Theory at the University of Maryland where she served for three years as Associate Director for Academic Affairs. Her work engages the music of Igor Stravinsky, theories of rhythm and meter and the intersections of music and dance. Her monograph for Oxford University Press, Building Blocks: Repetition and Continuity in Stravinsky’s Music, was published in 2011, and she is co-editor of The Rite of Spring at 100 (Indiana University Press, 2017), which received the Ruth A. Solie award from the American Musicological Society. She served terms as SMT Secretary and SMT Vice President.
Professional Development Workshop
An Introduction to Choreomusicology:
The Measurements of Music and Dance
All conference attendees (students and faculty) are encouraged to attend these events, and no application is necessary for workshop participation beyond conference registration.
Conference Location
The 2025 meeting of MTSMA will take place at Gettysburg College in historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Free parking is available a few hundred feet away in the “Constitution” parking lot.
Accommodations
Hotel Gettysburg
1 Lincoln Square
Gettysburg, PA 17325
The Hotel Gettysburg is close to campus in the center of town. This hotel is recommended for those who wish to walk to and from the conference.
Hampton Inn Gettysburg
1280 York Road
Gettysburg, PA 17325
Meeting attendees can book rooms at the Hampton Inn Gettysburg. Parking is free.
Travel
Driving
Gettysburg College is roughly 45 minutes from Harrisburg, 75 minutes from Baltimore, and 90 minutes from Washington, D.C.
If you’re driving in from Washington or Virginia, take route 15 to the PA 97 exit (Baltimore St, by the outlet mall), then go north through the rotary at the center of town and turn left at the first traffic light, which is Water Street. Water Street turns into an access drive that will take you to the parking lot.
For those approaching campus from the south, please note that Washington Street is closed a few blocks from campus.
Gettysburg College buildings do not have official street addresses. Using the campus address, 300 North Washington St., will take you somewhere near the northern edge of campus.
- For Schmucker Hall: use 210 N Washington St
- For parking: use 142 Constitution Avenue
Please park on campus. Most unmetered parking spaces in the city of Gettysburg (including the street parking next to Schmucker Hall) are restricted to two hours for those without resident permits, even on weekends.
Air
Recommended airports are Harrisburg (MDT) and Baltimore (BWI). Dulles International Airport (IAD) is also available. A shuttle is available to campus.
Rail
Amtrak offers services to downtown Harrisburg (via the Keystone Service from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvanian from NYC – Pittsburgh) and BWI Airport (Acela and Northeast Regional). A shuttle is available to campus.
Shuttle to campus
Gettysburg College operates shuttle services to and from regional transportation centers, stopping three to four times a day at the following hubs:
- Harrisburg (MDT) Airport and Amtrak Stations: $35 one way
- BWI airport and Amtrak station: $40 one way
- Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Shady Grove Metro: $45 one way
Conference attendees may read more about these services, including pickup times, here. Shuttles may be booked as “Alumni and Guest Travel” at this page.
Carpool
Local arrangements chair William O’Hara is available to help coordinate carpools and/or roommates among conference attendees. Contact him at wohara (at) gettysburg (dot) edu to indicate your interest.
Program Committee
- Anna Stephan-Robinson, chair (West Liberty University)
- Philip Duker (University of Delaware)
- Anna Rose Nelson (University of Maryland)
- Simon Prosser (George Mason University)
- Victor Szabo (Hampden-Sydney College)
Local Arrangements
William O’Hara (Gettysburg College)