56th Annual Meeting at Hofstra University
The 56th annual meeting of MTSNYS will take place April 3 and 4, 2027, at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY.
More information will be available on the 2027 conference page.
David Gagné
MTSNYS Past-President
David Gagné, a much-beloved member of the music theory community, passed away the other day at age 76. David graduated with a Ph. D. in music theory from CUNY in 1988, with the dissertation "Performance medium as a compositional determinant: A study of selected works in three genres by Mozart.” David taught at Queens College and the Graduate Center for many years. He also taught at Mannes, Columbia, and NYU, served as the President of the Music Theory Society of New York State, and--during the 1970s--served as an Associate Music Director at the Dance Theatre of Harlem.
David is renowned for his work in Schenkerian theory and analysis. He published many articles on this subject and co-authored (with Allen Cadwallader) the landmark textbook, Analysis of Tonal Music: A Schenkerian Approach (OUP, first published in 1998). His wife of many years, Danai Gagné, passed away a few years ago; he is survived by his daughter, Melia Gagné-Giuffo.
Patricia Carpenter Emerging Scholar Award
We are excited to announce that the 2025 Patricia Carpenter Emerging Scholar Award goes to Rebecca Moranis (City University of New York Graduate Center) for her paper “‘An Analysis of Joni Mitchell's Vocal Evolution.” Honorable mention goes to Jacob Ludwig (University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music) and Evan Martschenko (Eastman School of Music) for their paper "Uncovering Howard Hanson's Proto-Set Theory Pedagogy."
Congratulations Rebecca, Jacob, and Evan!
Members of the 2025 Patricia Carpenter Emerging Scholar Award committee included Gilad Rabinovitch, chair (Queens College); Yayoi Uno Everett (Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center); Peter Silberman (Ithaca College); Sean Smither (The Juilliard School and Mannes School of Music); Stephanie Venturino (Yale School of Music), and Philip Stoecker (ex officio, Hofstra University).
Theory and Practice
We are pleased to announce the publication of a double volume of Theory and Practice, with articles by Danielle Bastone Barrettara, James S. MacKay, Samantha M. Inman, and David Hier, and including reviews of new books on musical form by Caitlin Martinkus and of The Cambridge Companion to Video Game Music by William O’Hara.
More details and digital versions of the articles can be found here.
“With a donation to MTSNYS you can support our workshop programs…”
— Philip Stoecker, Board President (2023–2025)