Peter Ewell
Biographic Data
| ID | 1406449 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Peter Ewell |
| GIVEN NAMES | Peter |
| FAMILY NAME | Ewell |
| SIGNATURE | EWELL P |
| AFFILIATIONS | The Graduate Center, CUNY |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7315-7311 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 19 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
A Smalltown Cornfed Midwestern Boy Responds to His Critics (With Gratitude)
In this colloquy response to my monograph On Music Theory, and Making Music More Welcoming for Everyone, I situate my race scholarship within my life as a Black, biracial, Midwesterner, and as a cellist, Russianist, and music theorist. I promote an integrationist approach to music and music studies, and I confront the white supremacist and patriarchal roots of classical music and music theory in the United States. As I engage with each colloquist…
On Music Theory, and Making Music More Welcoming for Everyone
Since its inception in the mid-twentieth century, American music theory has been framed and taught almost exclusively by white men. As a result, whiteness and maleness are woven into the fabric of the field, and BIPOC music theorists face enormous hurdles due to their racial identities. In On Music Theory , Philip Ewell brings together autobiography, music theory and history, and theory and history of race in the United States to offer a black pe…
Music Theory and the White Racial Frame
For over twenty years, music theory has tried to diversify with respect to race, yet the field today remains remarkably white, not only in terms of the people who practice music theory but also in the race of the composers and theorists whose work music theory privileges. In this paper, a critical-race examination of the field of music theory, I try to come to terms with why this is so. I posit that there exists a "white racial frame" in music th…
Music theory à la Leningrad: An interview with Tatiana Bershadskaya
For over sixty years Tatiana Bershadskaya has played a central role in music and music theory in Russia. Specifically, she is the undisputed leader of the so-called “Leningrad School” of music theory, which arose in contradistinction to the strong influence of Moscow, and what is often called the “Moscow School,” in the twentieth century. For much of the twentieth century there was a certain tension between these two schools, with the more-famous…
Introduction to the Symposium on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly
In this introduction to the symposium on Kendrick Lamar and his album To Pimp a Butterfly , I give a brief overview of each of the five articles of the symposium while highlighting certain aspects of the work that I find particularly important. I also suggest, along the way, parts that may prove useful to rap studies specifically and music theory generally
On the Russian Concept of Lād, 1830–1945
Universally translated into English as “mode,” the Russian term лад (“lād”) first appeared in 1830 as a translation from German Tonart , which is usually translated into English as “tonality.” To Tchaikovsky a lād was, in fact, a tonality, but by century’s end lād had come to signify its pre-tonal cousin, mode. Boleslav Yavorsky’s work on the subject in the early twentieth century gave lād new post-modal and post-tonal meaning with respect to qua…
Sing Vasya, Sing: Vasya Oblomov's Rap Trios as Political Satire in Putin's Russia
Who dreamt you up? Definitely not Gogol.Gogol couldn't have done that! 1 Vasya Oblomov is the pseudonym of Vasily Goncharov (b.1984-see Figure 1).His first megahit as Oblomov, "Magadan," was released in May 2010 and displays his keen sense of satire and humor. 2 The song also represents his first foray into rap.Though Oblomov's style can certainly be described as rap, he prefers the term "songs of a conversational style," 3 and he often mixes the…
The Parameter Complex in the Music of Sofia Gubaidulina
Although the music of Sofia Gubaidulina is well known, it has received little analytical attention. Approximately twenty-five years ago her friend and colleague Valentina Kholopova worked out a system for analyzing Gubaidulina's music. Kholopova shows that the composer usually groups together five so-called expression parameters (EP): articulation and methods of sound production, melody, rhythm, texture, and compositional writing. Moreover, each …
"On the System of Stravinsky's Harmony" by Yuri Kholopov: Translation and Commentary
Yuri Kholopov is generally regarded as the foremost Russian music theorist in the latter half of the twentieth century. Though he published articles in a wide array of topics, he was happiest when discussing twentieth-century concepts; it was to this end that he devoted a large part of his life's work. The essay by Kholopov translated in the present article is from 1997, six years before he died. There are several significant points that he makes…
Rethinking Octatonicism: Views from Stravinsky’s Homeland
Recent and long-standing debates about the role of octatonicism in works by Stravinsky and other late-chromatic and early-modernist composers have taken place with little mention of how octatonicsim is viewed in Russia-the country of Stravinsky's birth and formative years as a composer. In this article, the author seeks to put music that is often considered octatonic in North America into a Russian framework. He does this by examining the work of…
The Role of Research Institutions in Seed-related Disaster Relief: Seeds of Hope Experiences in Rwanda
The article describes the efforts of a coalition of agricultural research centres, Seeds of Hope (SOH) in the rebuilding of Rwanda, after the genocide and war of 1994. Research involvement in emergency relief and rehabilitation was unusual at the time and SOH had to forge its unique complementary role. Focusing on crop and variety development and conservation it: provided technical advice to relief agencies on seed procurement; used its baseline …
Music Theory and the White Racial Frame
For over twenty years, music theory has tried to diversify with respect to race, yet the field today remains remarkably white, not only in terms of the people who practice music theory but also in the race of the composers and theorists whose work music theory privileges. In this paper, a critical-race examination of the field of music theory, I try to come to terms with why this is so. I posit that there exists a "white racial frame" in music th…
Sing Vasya, Sing: Vasya Oblomov's Rap Trios as Political Satire in Putin's Russia
Who dreamt you up? Definitely not Gogol.Gogol couldn't have done that! 1 Vasya Oblomov is the pseudonym of Vasily Goncharov (b.1984-see Figure 1).His first megahit as Oblomov, "Magadan," was released in May 2010 and displays his keen sense of satire and humor. 2 The song also represents his first foray into rap.Though Oblomov's style can certainly be described as rap, he prefers the term "songs of a conversational style," 3 and he often mixes the…
The Parameter Complex in the Music of Sofia Gubaidulina
Although the music of Sofia Gubaidulina is well known, it has received little analytical attention. Approximately twenty-five years ago her friend and colleague Valentina Kholopova worked out a system for analyzing Gubaidulina's music. Kholopova shows that the composer usually groups together five so-called expression parameters (EP): articulation and methods of sound production, melody, rhythm, texture, and compositional writing. Moreover, each …
Rethinking Octatonicism: Views from Stravinsky’s Homeland
Recent and long-standing debates about the role of octatonicism in works by Stravinsky and other late-chromatic and early-modernist composers have taken place with little mention of how octatonicsim is viewed in Russia-the country of Stravinsky's birth and formative years as a composer. In this article, the author seeks to put music that is often considered octatonic in North America into a Russian framework. He does this by examining the work of…
The Role of Research Institutions in Seed-related Disaster Relief: Seeds of Hope Experiences in Rwanda
The article describes the efforts of a coalition of agricultural research centres, Seeds of Hope (SOH) in the rebuilding of Rwanda, after the genocide and war of 1994. Research involvement in emergency relief and rehabilitation was unusual at the time and SOH had to forge its unique complementary role. Focusing on crop and variety development and conservation it: provided technical advice to relief agencies on seed procurement; used its baseline …
Rethinking Octatonicism: Views from Stravinsky’s Homeland
Recent and long-standing debates about the role of octatonicism in works by Stravinsky and other late-chromatic and early-modernist composers have taken place with little mention of how octatonicsim is viewed in Russia-the country of Stravinsky's birth and formative years as a composer. In this article, the author seeks to put music that is often considered octatonic in North America into a Russian framework. He does this by examining the work of…
"On the System of Stravinsky's Harmony" by Yuri Kholopov: Translation and Commentary
Yuri Kholopov is generally regarded as the foremost Russian music theorist in the latter half of the twentieth century. Though he published articles in a wide array of topics, he was happiest when discussing twentieth-century concepts; it was to this end that he devoted a large part of his life's work. The essay by Kholopov translated in the present article is from 1997, six years before he died. There are several significant points that he makes…
Sing Vasya, Sing: Vasya Oblomov's Rap Trios as Political Satire in Putin's Russia
Who dreamt you up? Definitely not Gogol.Gogol couldn't have done that! 1 Vasya Oblomov is the pseudonym of Vasily Goncharov (b.1984-see Figure 1).His first megahit as Oblomov, "Magadan," was released in May 2010 and displays his keen sense of satire and humor. 2 The song also represents his first foray into rap.Though Oblomov's style can certainly be described as rap, he prefers the term "songs of a conversational style," 3 and he often mixes the…
The Parameter Complex in the Music of Sofia Gubaidulina
Although the music of Sofia Gubaidulina is well known, it has received little analytical attention. Approximately twenty-five years ago her friend and colleague Valentina Kholopova worked out a system for analyzing Gubaidulina's music. Kholopova shows that the composer usually groups together five so-called expression parameters (EP): articulation and methods of sound production, melody, rhythm, texture, and compositional writing. Moreover, each …
Music theory à la Leningrad: An interview with Tatiana Bershadskaya
For over sixty years Tatiana Bershadskaya has played a central role in music and music theory in Russia. Specifically, she is the undisputed leader of the so-called “Leningrad School” of music theory, which arose in contradistinction to the strong influence of Moscow, and what is often called the “Moscow School,” in the twentieth century. For much of the twentieth century there was a certain tension between these two schools, with the more-famous…
Introduction to the Symposium on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly
In this introduction to the symposium on Kendrick Lamar and his album To Pimp a Butterfly , I give a brief overview of each of the five articles of the symposium while highlighting certain aspects of the work that I find particularly important. I also suggest, along the way, parts that may prove useful to rap studies specifically and music theory generally
On the Russian Concept of Lād, 1830–1945
Universally translated into English as “mode,” the Russian term лад (“lād”) first appeared in 1830 as a translation from German Tonart , which is usually translated into English as “tonality.” To Tchaikovsky a lād was, in fact, a tonality, but by century’s end lād had come to signify its pre-tonal cousin, mode. Boleslav Yavorsky’s work on the subject in the early twentieth century gave lād new post-modal and post-tonal meaning with respect to qua…
Music Theory and the White Racial Frame
For over twenty years, music theory has tried to diversify with respect to race, yet the field today remains remarkably white, not only in terms of the people who practice music theory but also in the race of the composers and theorists whose work music theory privileges. In this paper, a critical-race examination of the field of music theory, I try to come to terms with why this is so. I posit that there exists a "white racial frame" in music th…
On Music Theory, and Making Music More Welcoming for Everyone
Since its inception in the mid-twentieth century, American music theory has been framed and taught almost exclusively by white men. As a result, whiteness and maleness are woven into the fabric of the field, and BIPOC music theorists face enormous hurdles due to their racial identities. In On Music Theory , Philip Ewell brings together autobiography, music theory and history, and theory and history of race in the United States to offer a black pe…
A Smalltown Cornfed Midwestern Boy Responds to His Critics (With Gratitude)
In this colloquy response to my monograph On Music Theory, and Making Music More Welcoming for Everyone, I situate my race scholarship within my life as a Black, biracial, Midwesterner, and as a cellist, Russianist, and music theorist. I promote an integrationist approach to music and music studies, and I confront the white supremacist and patriarchal roots of classical music and music theory in the United States. As I engage with each colloquist…
Art (8 works) · Music History and Culture (7 works) · Musicology and Musical Analysis (6 works) · Music Technology and Sound Studies (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Aesthetics (4 works) · Literature (4 works) · Epistemology (3 works) · History (3 works)