One of the common mistakes of music students is to read letters, articles and other musical documents by composers, performers and musicologists, completely out of context. In order to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of what one reads, the reader must attempt to gain access to the context/s of the document. One can start doing so by asking to whom was the document written. The next second question could be: what was the writer seeking to achieve? Only these two questions may help avoiding many misunderstandings. To answer these questions, one often needs to do further reading of other documents. Further questions could help building a wider context: at what period was this document written? Are any of the key terms in the document being treated in a special way with regards to their history or the writer’s history? A practical example could help to understand what I mean when I say that a historical music document must be read in context.

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Jehoash Hirshberg wrote a letter on the new Israeli Musicological website. Avior Byron respondes to this letter in the following video calling the IMS members to join Hirshberg’s initiative and think what content they can contribute to the website.

Byron: It is my first video post, so it is not very "edited" and "clean", however, I hope you will enjoy it. The video is in Hebrew, so I apologize to my English readers who do not know the holly language. I added subtitles to the most important parts. Please turn on your speakers and press on the button in the center of the picture below:

Here are the parts of Hirshberg’s letter that Byron refers to:

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Compare the two following videos to see how great the difference are between the performances. The first is by Glenn Gould the second is by Isaac Barry.

Glenn Gould

Isaac Barry

06 Hanns Eisler — Elegie 1939, poem by Bertolt Brecht

Hanns Eisler - Nonett nr.1, Variationen

This video shows some of the paintings of Arnold Schoenberg. Schoenberg painted self portraits, portraits of other people (some very famous such as Mahler), caricatures, nature, etc. I found especially impressive the paintings of “gazes” and some of the portraits. The video is very good: the choice of paintings, the way some of the paintings are presented side by side with photos of people, and the quotations by Schoenberg and others. The Arnold Schoenberg Center recently made a catalogue of Schoenberg’s paintings which can be obtained via their website www.schoenberg.at

When I used to be a student in the Tel-Aviv University, Leon Schidlowsky said that Schoenberg was a bad painter. Looking at this video I feel far from this opinion. What is clear to me is that these paintings a extremely valuable for anyone who wishes to understand the period and cultural surroundings of Schoenberg.  

In 1921 Schoenberg drew two caricatures of performers in embarrassing Positions (you can see them in the video). In one you can see the pianist’s body twisting in an absurd manner while playing the piano. The pianist is smiling with closed eyes while the head is in a position reaching upwards. Note that the pianist is playing without a score. It seems as if Schoenberg is mocking exaggerated romantic expressive movements, which he might  have seen as belonging to a past era.

In the other caricature Schoenberg drew a pianist in an opposite manner: inactive, sitting loosely on the piano chair and staring at the keyboard. The performer, who sits like a sack of potatoes while starring at the score, seems musically impotent. One might suspect that the lines that Schoenberg drew near the legs of the pianist imply an obscene gesture. In this period Schoenberg felt threatened by the possibility that his will would be overridden by performers expressing themselves.

On the other hand, Schoenberg wrote elsewhere that the interpretation of the performer is extremely important. After he immigrated to USA he wrote several documents that show an increasing awareness to the importance of performers as creative artists.  

Schoenberg had a complex and at times contradictory attitude towards performers and performance. In the book I am currently writing I analyze these contradicting aspects.

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Arnold Schoenberg videos

The Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna had uploaded many interesting videos to Youtube.com

You can find the videos at the following link: http://youtube.com/user/ascvideo

Here are three videos so that you can have an impression of what you can find there. It is recommended to see all of them at the same time

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Arnold Schoenberg as painter

Joseph Auner has successfully demonstrated that although many supporters of and objectors to Arnold Schoenberg’s music had described the composer as elitist, his relation to the public was complex. Many of his compositions from the 1920s simultaneously participate in and challenge contemporary popular genres. Auner claims that ‘the image of an uncompromised Schoenberg making no concessions to the performer or listener is … mistaken.’ (Joseph Auner, ‘Schoenberg and His Public in 1930’, in ed. Walter Frisch, Schoenberg and His World (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press 1999).

I have just read an interesting letter Schoenberg wrote in 1930 to Dr. Flesch from Radio Berlin. In this letter he suggests a radio program where there will be a ‘confrontation of divergent opinions and the author’s remark on them.’ Schoenberg suggests that the program will include parts that will be written in advance and a ‘free discussion’ part. Schoenberg’s suggestion was adopted and I think that there is such a radio recording, with Schoenberg as the author, which exists (perhaps in the Schoenberg Center in Vienna). It is amazing that Schonberg writes that ‘for years I had the idea of getting someone to start a periodical in which the public could express opinion in the manner described above’. Are we evident here of an insight into the future were online journals will enable comments of the readers? In one of my previous posts I reviewed some of the current online music journals and suggested how the online music journal of the future will look like. I hope that the guys in Music Theory Online (or any other online journal) will pick up the glove.

Giving a successful conference paper is not an easy task. I have seen more people fail communicating during conferences than people who presented their arguments in an affective manner. In my Review of the IMS conference 2008: what there is and what there is not to read in Hebrew in Music I promised to write about how to give a conference paper. In this post I will give several tips that might help improving a conference paper thus achieving better communication and a stronger effect.

Practice make perfect: read your paper before the conference and measure
Most papers are limited to twenty minutes (with additional time for questions). It is not uncommon to see scholars who do not finish their paper reading on time (I am speaking now about conferences that one reads from a paper). A simple way to avoid this embarrassing situation is to read the paper you plan to give a few days before the conference takes place, and measure the duration. If you measure the time it takes to read the paper you can decide to make changes accordingly. Take into consideration that the pace of reading during a conference is usually different than when you are more relaxed at home. It is better to leave two-three minute spare so that you do not feel in a rush during the reading. This will also give a more relaxed impression during your reading and motive more people to listen to you. I saw some experienced scholars to write on their papers instructions what to leave out in case that the time will run out.

Present your paper before family and friends and record it
It is very effective to gather a few people that you trust their opinion and read the paper before them. This could be an excellent way to prepare to the conference. Ask these people to tell you what they understood from your paper. Try that the audience will include people who have a potential to understand your paper and others who are not from the field of your study (perhaps even not scholars at all). Receiving feedback can help you understand how you look and what is actually being communicated to others. Recording the session can help you see how you are talking and this will surely help you improve.

Body language
Some people argue that eighty percent of what one communicates is body language. When you prepare your paper you can add performance signs that will refer to body movements that you would like to use in order to underline, illuminate or express the things you say. Take into consideration that movements are an excellent way to keep your listeners listening to you. With one an unexpected movement you might gain the attention of people many people who are otherwise lost, dreaming, or asleep. Yet it is important not to be rude or too sudden – you do not want to achieve listening, yet cause a bad effect on your lecture!

Using power point
If you decide to use power point or any other visual presentation of text, make sure that the text size is greater than 18 and that there are a relatively little number of words that are presented. The power point presentation (unlike the hand-out) is useful for two reasons: (1) it gives the listeners an orientation in case that they get lost during your lecture (trust me, this happens all the time); (2) it gives you structure to your lecture. Do not present table with lots of data that no one will see. In other words, keep your power point text very short.

Check that everything is working before the lecture
Make sure that you will have time before the paper giving to come to the place and check if everything is working. Check whether people can hear you. Check whether the person at the last row can read your power point presentation. Check whether people can hear your sound examples. Make sure that you feel at home (as much as possible).

Keep your ideas simple
Take into consideration that when one reads a text, one can stop and think about it, change the pace of reading, return to the text, etc. During the paper you give, people will not have the possibility to do so. This is why keeping the ideas simple and even repeating them (something that you would like to avoid in an article or a book) is important.

After you give the paper
Do not forget to speak to people that heard your paper in the conference. You will learn an important lesson on what you actualy managed to communicate and what not. Ask more than one person so that you will be able to receive more than one perspective.

Relevant posts:
The difference between a poor critic and a good scholar
How to write good texts about music

The Israel Musicological Society opened a new website (http://israel-musicological-society.huji.ac.il). I wrote in my post Review of the IMS conference 2008: what there is and what there is not to read in Hebrew in Music that it is sad that much money was spent on this website. The result is poor. The decision was made three years ago, and at that time it was perhaps a reasonable one. Today, it is almost free of charge to build a site with content management systems like Joomla. Moreover, one can use services such as Google analytics for receiving valuable information on the behavior of visitors on one’s website. The only reason that I write this, is to point to fruitful directions that can be done in the near future.

A word about search engines

Websites have a potential of attracting visitors from all over the world. Search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN scan websites constantly for new information. After they index a new page that is added to a website, it leads traffic to it, when it thinks that it contains relevant information for web surfers. Search engines like websites that are constantly being updated. New information can include: new pages, blog posts, forum posts, comments, etc.

The goal

I think that the goal of building a website for the IMS should be, to attract people to its activities in the real and virtual world. In other words, the website should make people aware of the publications of IMS members, conferences and other activities, as well as to any of their activities on the web (that at present, apart of Min-Ad, almost do not exist).

The problem with the current site

The current site does not encourage its member or visitors to take actions on the website. A website that wants to attract visitors must create new texts all the time. These texts must be interesting in order to create further action by members and visitors. The current site includes CVs in attached documents. It is clear that most people will not bother reading more than one of two CVs. It would be useful if more personal information would be added. For example, scholars could write about their fields of interests, how they became musicologists, what they are working on in the present, plans for the future, etc. This information is more fun to read and is likely to attract more reactions than CVs (remember, reaction on the web is the most important thing). People can ask for advise from other scholar and web surfer concerning their research. People can recommend and review new and old books. Students may be encouraged to write for the website, participate in forum discussions and be active in other activites on the website.

Writing on the web

One can find music journal on the web (see my post on Where to publish online articles on music: journals review). The web can encourage a kind of writing that is less formal than in journals. This has disadvantages, however, it also has advantages. I would never write an article as I write a post in my blog. Yet, writing a blog helps me improvise on ideas, test them and communicate with a relatively big number of people. Believe me, this is fun.

The real problem

The real problem is that it is really hard to make people react and be involved in a website. I tried many things in my blog and some of these things worked. But the truth is that most forums and blogs do not survive more than two months.

The solution

What one needs to do is to think hard how a website could be a ground for involving IMS members to write about what they care of and to constantly be active and participate on the website. This is hard. But it is perhaps the only way. Technology is almost free today and there are possibilities. Things can be built relatively fast. However, first one must think about the ways to achieve social participation. I think that the IMS members should participate in this thinking and perhaps some good ideas will come up. Please comment in the form below!

In the last two decades musicology and music theory are moving from text based research towards methodologies that include wider cultural and social contexts. One of the results of this shift is the need of scholars to include sound recordings and other multimedia features in the presentation of their research. This post will review some of the online music journals where one can publish and enjoy the vast possibilities offered by the web.

Before I will review the journals I would like to state briefly some of the advantages of publishing online:

More people read online articles
Search engines such as Google constantly scan the web and index any new information that appears on websites. When people search the web the search engines aim to offer them the most relevant information. In practice, this means that they are working for you for free. They bring you audience on a daily basis to your online articles.

More people quote your online articles
As a result of this, there is more chance that people will find your article and react to it. This is true also in the scholarly world. Today, any scholar who respects himself will use, not only university catalogs, but also the search engines and other online resources to find articles on music. Publishing on the web has the potential of making people quote your articles more often. In the academy, the more you are quoted, the more you are appreciated.

The medium is the message
Using the web offers you the possibility of linking to other resources, adding sound, video and other multimedia features. Music Theory Online is the most advance journal that is consciously attempting to implement these features.

Social reaction
Unfortunately, there is no online journal that is using the web as a truly interactive tool. In the Web 2.0 age, the internet is an excellent medium for scholars and other people to react (comments on articles, forums, sharing possibilities (such as Stumbleupon)) to the work of one and other in other formats than articles. We are still waiting for MTO or a new journal to take the initiative and implement these features.

A kleine disadvantage
Having said all this, there are some disadvantages in online publishing. One is the fact that it is hard to read an article on the web. The result is a kind of scan through reading that gives less attention to what the author wrote. Very few readers bother to print the article and fully read it. There are probably other disadvantages that I did not think of (feel free to comment below).

It seems to me that the disadvantage is negligible in comparison to the advantages that I just stated. This and the fact that my research often includes sound examples leads me to publish most of my articles in online journals.

I have gathered some links to online journals on music that can be helpful for anyone who wishes to find places to publish an article. In the following I will review some of these journals:

Music Theory Online
If you want a high level peer-reviewed scholarly journal on music you should first turn to Music Theory Online (MTO). This journal is live and kicking (not like most of the online journals that stopped publishing several years ago, or publish very rarely). MTO encourages the use of web features such as scans of sound examples in impressive formats, the use of recordings and probably anything that the web can offer. The articles are published as web pages (and not pdf of doc files). This is better for the search engines indexing. Yet, it is not easy to read through these long articles on the computer screen. Research shows that people do not usually read more than 600 words on one web page. The printing possibilities are still something that needs improvement in MTO. As mentioned above, that would be wise to include things like commenting, forum, web 2.0 sharing and other social features that can be useful in creating interaction between people and help the information spread on the web.

Journal of Music and Meaning
This journal is less popular and prestigious than MTO. Unlike MTO which includes everything. M&M encourages articles that deal with the meaning of music. It “encourages any multidisciplinary research on meaning that is able to challenge conceptions of music, or research that explores the notion of meaning by the study of musical phenomena.” It is a peer-reviewed journal and it has a forum (which is not very active)

Min-Ad and JSMI
These journals are local journals (in the sense that most people who publish there are locals). Min-Ad is from Israel and JSMI is from Ireland. They publish many kinds of things. JSMI attempts more than Min-Ad to be international by approaching authors from other countries. Another reason to speak about these two journals in one breath is the fact that their articles are published in pdf format. This has the advantage of easy printing in a professional format. There is the stated above disadvantage of being less friendly to the search engine robots (these articles therefore attract less web visitors).

Long live Gamut
Gamut is a new online journal on music. It is peer-reviewed online journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic. Journals need money for editing and other activities, and only some rich universities have such possibilities. This is why most journals die after several issues. We hope that Gamut will have a different destiny.

Ethnomusicology Online - EOL and Journal of Film Music
There are journal that deal with very specific areas. EOL focuses on ethnomusicology and JFM on film music. If you have an article that falls in one of these areas, it would be wise to check these places first.

ECHO and British Postgraduate Musicology
If you are a student you should be aware that publishing is something that you would like to start sooner rather than later. This will help you find a job later on. ECHO and British Postgraduate Musicology are two places where students can publish. I must admit that when I started to publish online I approached MTO. Tina Ramnarine advised me: “Always aim high. Start with the most prestigious journal or publishing house and then approach the others”. Having said this, I did publish in local journals such as Min-Ad and Tav+ in order be locally known and support the latter journal in its first steps.

Semi online journals: RMA
There are many journals that have web pages with some information about their non-web articles and activities. Some journals publish online only abstracts and/or selected articles. The feeling is that the “real thing” is the paper journal. The Royal Music Association Journal does not pretend to be an online journal. However, Nicholas Cook arranged that it will have the possibility to add sound examples on the web. So one can read the paper article and then turn to the web to hear the sound recordings.

Other issues to consider
Before submitting your article to an online journal it would be wise to look who is sitting on the editorial board (this is true also for non-online journals). In order to avoid the process of being rejected (see Zoë Lang post on the challenges of getting published as a young scholar) by editors who are not in favor of your kind of scholarship, read or at least go through some of their articles.

Some journals, like JMSI, request the surfer to register before being able to read an article. This process discourages many surfers from going on and accessing the article. For the editors of journals registration might seem a small matter comparing to the advantages of reading the articles. However, for the web surfers this might mean going on to other sites.

How will look future online journals on music
There is a feeling that musicologists are still thinking in paper format when they create a journal of write on the web. Here are some points for those who will create the online music journal of the future:

(1) The will include text formats that will be friendly both for search engines and human readers.
(2) They will include possibilities of commenting and forum discussions.
(3) They will include possibilities of sharing information between users and sites.
(4) They will use all of the advantages of multimedia presentations on music and music related information.