Faculty in the South were brought together from all areas of college music by this conference and the opportunity it afforded to share new teaching methods, new research, and new music. It was held at UCF College of Arts & Humanities at The University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida, the place where the Southern Chapter began. I chaired a couple of sessions. The first was devoted to piano pedagogy, featuring Dr. Joann Marie Kirchner of Temple University and her paper on the incorporation of metacognition into the class piano program, and Dr. Rose Grace of Bethune-Cookman University; her experience-based research seems to show that maximization of the brain and muscle memory can be achieved by practicing on a closed piano lid. In the second session I hosted, our new CMS Southern Chapter President Dr. Brendan McConville of The University of Tennessee, Knoxville presented his analysis of Genesis by the maximalist composer Charles Wuorinen, now in his 80th year. A highlight of the three well-programmed composers' concerts was Richard Kravchak's (The University of Southern Mississippi) adrenalized performance of Weather Report for oboe and sound file by Ken Davies of Gautier, Mississippi. Besides myself, who else is already looking forward to next year?
The 40th Annual Southern Chapter Conference of The College Music Society (CMS)
ZANE GILLESPIE
After six years as Minister of Music at Mount Pleasant United Methodist Church (UMC) in Holly Springs, MS, I was recently called to continue to work to address public engagement in music participation as Director of Music Ministries at First UMC in Water Valley, MS. I am a Composer, Theorist, and member of both The College Music Society as well as The Poe Studies Association (PSA). I am also an active pianist and vocalist, specializing primarily in church music. My paper entitled ““Mesmeric Revelation”: Art as Hypnosis” has been published by the international, peer-reviewed journal Humanities. In addition, another paper of mine entitled “A Model of Triadic Post-Tonality for a Neoconservative Postmodern String Quartet by Sky Macklay” has been submitted to the peer-reviewed Music Theory journal Perspectives of New Music. At the end of February 2015, I served as Chair for the session entitled “Aesthetics and Philosophy” at The Fourth International PSA Conference in New York City. On June 21, 2014, my Quartet for Alto Saxophone and Strings, a commission from concert saxophonist Walter Hoehn, was performed as part of Concert V of the Eighth Annual Belvedere Chamber Music Festival held at Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Memphis, TN. Characteristically neo-romantic (in the original sense of the word), my music earned me the Nancy Van de Vate Award for Composition three times from the University of Mississippi Department of Music. A native of Pontotoc, MS, I hold degrees from the University of Mississippi (BM; MM), and the University of Memphis (DMA) where I was the 2011 recipient of the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music's Smit Composition Award. I live in Memphis, TN.