Being of sound mind: Philo presents Ramsey and Bernstein: two lectures on music

On February 7th and February 13th, the Philomathean Society will present two lectures on the study of music.

February 7th-- Can the Object Speak?: The Visual and the Audible in African American Music


A lecture by Dr. Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr., associate professor of music history and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He specializes in African-American and American music, jazz, cultural studies, popular music, film studies, and historiography. His book, Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop, was named outstanding book of 2003 by IASPM (International Association for the Study of Popular Music), U.S. A. His current projects include books about jazz pianist Bud Powell and singer/songwriter Curtis Mayfield. He has published in Black Music Research Journal, The Musical Quarterly, Journal of Popular Music Studies, The Black Scholar, Callaloo, American Music, American Quarterly, Journal of the American Musicological Society, The New York Times and The Village Voice. Ramsey has held visiting professorships at Harvard University and Princeton University. His band, Dr. Guy’s MusiQologY, released Y the Q? in 2007 and has toured internationally performing its unique brand of soul, pop, and fusion influenced jazz.

February 13th-- Johannes Ockeghem and the Sands of Time: Musical Texture and Cultural Change



A lecture by Dr. Lawrence F. Bernstein, professor of Music, and specialist in music of the Renaissance.

Bernstein's research has focused primarily on the music of Johannes Ockeghem and Josquin des Prez, and on the French chanson of the 16th century. More recently, he has begun to work on the 18th-century symphony, concentrating on the symphonic finales of Joseph Haydn and on the latter's influence on the music of such composers as Antonio Rosetti and Ignaz Pleyel. A retrospective collection of his essays on the chanson is to be published by the Centre d'Etudes Superieurs de la Renaissance in Tours.

He served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Musicological Society (1975-77), as a member of the editorial board of the New Josquin Edition (1982-94), and as the founding editor of AMS Studies in Music.

Both lectures will begin at 6 PM in the Philomathean Halls (4th Floor College Hall). Refreshments will be served.