Special Issue
Editor's Message
This is the first time MTO is publishing a supplemental issue outside of the established regular schedule. The issues discussed in the papers included surely merit a first Special Issue (2.2) of the journal, for as readers will discover, the essays cut right to the heart of, and struggle with, some basic ideological and methodological assumptions in our discipline. The discussions approach the topic from different and complementary points of view, and illustrate and summarize the issues in clear, sensitive, and, in Brown's and Burnham's cases, entertaining and humorous ways. Those who heard the papers delivered at the 1995 Annual Meeting of the SMT in New York City will want to read them as essays in order to refresh their memories, and to take the opportunity to think through and re-consider the questions raised by the five authors.It is easy to imagine, further, that readers' thoughts will soon make their way into graduate seminars. I hope, too, that a lively dialog will ensue through MTO's allied electronic discussion forum, mto-talk. The mailing list has been active lately with an exchange on Richard Littlefield's article The Silence of the Frames, which appeared at the end of January in MTO 2.1. Comments on the present essays may be sent to mto-talk@societymusictheory.org. Rapid delivery of the most current scholarly research and thinking, and the opportunity for instant peer commentary: that is what electronic publishing does most effectively and efficiently. MTO subscribers should be aware that mto-talk postings are available, indexed by author, subject, and date, on the mto-talk Hypermail Web page, at the URL:
In addition to short informal remarks posted to mto-talk, commentators are invited to submit longer, more formal commentaries for publication in regular issues of MTO, the next (2.3) scheduled for release toward the end of March. Those who wish to submit formal commentaries should read the MTO author guidelines. WWW users will find a link for the guidelines on the MTO home page (http://boethius.music. ucsb.edu/mto/index.html).
We are most pleased to be the first to publish the essays on Music Theory and the New Musicology. They will be published a second time, later this year, in the journal repercussions. We hope that MTO subscribers will find the essays informative and provocative statements on the issues, will enjoy and learn from them, and will participate in what should develop into a most interesting discussion through mto-talk.
Lee A. Rothfarb, General Editor, Music Theory Online
University of California, Santa Barbara
mto-editor@societymusictheory.org
Updated
03 July 2013
Brent Yorgason
