Sibelius Academy Research Days 2021

For the last year, I have been investigating changes in American contemporary music practices in New York City in the 1970s. I am finally beginning to present the findings.

Below is the video recording of a paper presentation I made at the 2021 SibA (Sibelius Academy) Research Days, which were held online March 8-9. The paper is entitled “Institutionalization of ‘Uptown’: Contemporary music practice in New York City 1960-1975”.

Abstract:

The aim of this paper was to find out how contemporary music composition aesthetics and practices came to be defined and institutionalized as ‘uptown’ [‘midtown’] and ‘downtown’ in the 1970s in New York City. The geographic distinction identifies a pattern of separation of American contemporary music practices that started in New York City, and developed across the United States in the second half of the twentieth century.  I propose that the division of contemporary music practices in NYC and the ultimate institutionalization of ‘uptown’ is inextricably linked to changing orchestral practices in New York City in the late 1960s and 1970s.

For more on Siba Research Days, and to watch video from other presentations, please follow this link.

Slides, and statistical data presented therein, are my own.