*main conference page – MTSMA https://musictheorymidatlantic.org Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic Sun, 05 Apr 2026 19:20:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://musictheorymidatlantic.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/favicon-transparent-1-100x100.png *main conference page – MTSMA https://musictheorymidatlantic.org 32 32 MTSMA 2026 https://musictheorymidatlantic.org/conferences/2026-conference/mtsma-2026/ Sun, 23 Feb 2025 05:00:00 +0000 https://musictheorymidatlantic.org/?p=1852

The Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic Twenty-Fourth Annual Meeting

Virtual

February 19–21, 2026

Conference Schedule

Keynote Speakers and Workshop Leaders: Dr. Kimberly Goddard Loeffert and Dr. John Peterson

Changing Landscapes in Music Theory Pedagogy.

Over the past decade, music theory pedagogy has significantly changed, sometimes in response to circumstances external to the field, and sometimes in response to work from within the field. Questions of equity, academic freedom, and generative AI are no longer peripheral to faculty work; they now shape everyday decisions about teaching, assessment, and professional risk. This combination presentation/workshop offers participants the opportunity to reflect on the past and present, consider the future of music theory pedagogy, and to hear about one direction the facilitators are moving. We begin with two facilitated breakout discussions. The first examines inflection points that have shifted the way music theory is taught, shaping curricular choices; evaluation practices; and representation in the classroom. The second explores AI as a present inflection point, considering the opportunities and challenges created by heightened attention to academic freedom and evolving expectations around AI. Finally, we reflect on our own collaborative book project as a case study, using it to surface questions about equity and responsibility in contemporary academic production. Rather than offering prescriptions, the session foregrounds tensions, tradeoffs, and unresolved questions, with the aim of helping participants think more clearly and defensibly about their pedagogical and scholarly choices in a shifting higher-ed landscape.

Dr. Kimberly Goddard Loeffert is a music theorist and saxophonist who serves as Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech. She is Immediate Past President of the North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) and a founding member of the NASA Committee for Gender Equity. Her recent scholarship has centered representation of composers, musicians, and authors in music theory and saxophone pedagogy and scholarship, as well as AI and creative rights, and AI-informed accessible pedagogy. She is co-editor (with John Peterson) of Modeling Musical Analysis (Oxford University Press 2025), a collection of essays modeling analytical writing for undergraduate students using a variety of music theories and genres


Dr. John Peterson is Associate Director for the School of Music and Associate Professor of Music Theory at James Madison University. He studies form and musical meaning in classical music, musical theater, and popular music as well as music theory pedagogy and inclusivity in higher education. A proponent of collaborative research, John has published co-authored articles (with Brian Jarvis) in Music Theory Spectrum, the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, and SMT-V. As part of a team of scholars, he worked to revise and expand Open Music Theory, and he co-edited (with Kimberly Goddard Loeffert) Modeling Musical Analysis, a collection of 28 short essays written by minoritized scholars to model analytical writing for undergraduate students.

Program Committee

  • Eugene Montague, chair (George Washington University)
  • Jennifer Campbell (University of Kentucky)
  • Mark Micchelli (West Virginia University)
  • Judith Ofcarcik (James Madison University)
  • Michael Puri (University of Virginia)
  • Kristen Wallentinsen (Rutgers University)

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The Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic Twenty-Third Annual Meeting

Gettysburg College

Gettysburg, PA

February 21–22, 2025

Conference Schedule

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

Gretchen Horlacher headshot
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

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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)

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The Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic Twenty-Second Annual Meeting

Christopher Newport University

Newport News, VA

March 15–16, 2024

View Schedule
Register

Keynote Speaker and Workshop Leader

Dr. Alexander Rehding (Harvard University) will give the keynote address, and will conduct a professional development workshop. All conference attendees (students and faculty) are encouraged to attend these events, and no application is necessary for workshop participation beyond conference registration.  

Accommodations

Hotel: Newport News Marriott at City Center

The conference will take in the Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center at Christopher Newport University (Room 102: Art History Lecture Hall). There is free parking in the visitor lot in front of the library (Lot B), right next door. Please see the campus map here: https://cnu.edu/visit/campusmap/

Use this link for a $25 corporate discount: https://www.marriott.com/event-reservations/reservation-link.mi?id=1667591840197&key=CORP&app=resvlink

Program Committee

  • Rosa Abrahams, chair (Ursinus College)
  • Stefan Greenfield-Casas (University of Richmond)
  • Kimberly Goddard Loeffert (Virginia Tech)
  • Edward Latham (Temple University)
  • Fred Maus (University of Virginia)

Local Arrangements

Chelsey Hamm (Christopher Newport University)

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The Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic Founding Meeting

The Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, Maryland

April 4–5, 2003

View Schedule

Photo Gallery

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The Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic 2nd Annual Meeting

Temple University

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

April 26–27, 2004

View Schedule

Program Committee

  • Joel Phillips, chair (Westminster Choir College)
  • Ted Latham (Temple University)
  • Shellie Gregorich (Mansfield University)
  • Charles Frantz (Westminster Choir College)
  • Kenneth Carter (Rutgers University)
  • Ingrid Arauco (Haverford College)

Local Arrangements

Ted Latham (Temple University)

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The Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic 3rd Annual Meeting

Wilkes University

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

April 1-2, 2005

View Schedule (PDF)

Program Committee

  • Carl Wiens, chair (Nazareth College)
  • Mark Butler (University of Pennsylvania)
  • Ellen Flint (Wilkes University)
  • Dora A. Hanninen (University of Maryland at College Park)
  • Mark Janello (Peabody Conservatory of Music)

Local Arrangements

Ellen Flint (Wilkes University)

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The Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic 4th Annual Meeting

Westminster Choir College

Princeton, NJ

March 17–18, 2006

View Schedule (PDF)

Program Committee

  • Ellen Flint, chair (Wilkes University)
  • Shellie Gregorich (Mansfield University)
  • Michael Klein (Temple University)
  • Joel Phillips (Westminster Choir College)
  • Carl Wiens (Nazareth College)

Local Arrangements

Joel Phillips (Westminster Choir College)

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The Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic 5th Annual Meeting

Catholic University of America

Washington, D.C.

March 23–24, 2007

View Schedule (PDF)

Program Committee

  • Michael Klein, chair (Temple University)
  • Yayoi Everett (Emory University)
  • Dora Hanninen (University of Maryland)
  • Eric McKee (Penn State University)
  • Joel Phillips (Westminster Choir College/Rider University)
  • Nancy Rao (Rutgers University)

Local Arrangements

Steven Strunk (Catholic University of America)

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The Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic 6th Annual Meeting

Music Division of the Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

March 27–28, 2008

View Schedule (PDF)

The conference will take place in the Whitall Pavillion located off the lobby of the famous Coolidge Auditorium (now 83 years old).  The Coolidge has been the scene of some famous premiers and other notable performances. The one most often cited around here is the premiere of Appalachian Spring, but also notable chamber music events such as Joseph Szigeti and Bela Bartok playing Beethoven, Debussy & Bartok in 1940.  

The Whitall Pavilion is a comfortable living-room-like space with floor-to-ceiling windows on one wall overlooking a courtyard with garden & shallow pool and a statue of Pan playing his pipes. A short stroll down the hall and up one flight is the breathtaking Great Hall—one of many reasons writers on architecture have called the Jefferson Building the most beautiful building in Washington. 

There will be a small exhibit of some of the early theory texts in the Library of Congress. 

Program Committee

  • Nancy Rao, chair (Rutgers University)
  • Chris Doll (Rutgers University)
  • Edward Latham (Temple University)
  • Fred Maus (University of Virginia)
  • Lynne Rogers (William Paterson University)
  • Anton Vishio (New York University)

Local Arrangements

Stephen Soderberg (Library of Congress)
Susan Clermont (Library of Congress)

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The Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic 7th Annual Meeting

George Mason University

Fairfax, VA

April 3–4, 2009

View Schedule (PDF)

Program Committee

  • Anne Marie de Zeeuw, chair (University of Louisville)
  • Tomoko Deguchi (Winthrop University)
  • Dora A. Hanninen (University of Maryland)
  • J. Daniel Jenkins (University of South Carolina)
  • Eric McKee (The Pennsylvania State University)
  • Kip Wile (Peabody Conservatory of Music)

Local Arrangements

Rachel Bergman (George Mason University)

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