Finding the Center—UT Creates New Meeting Point For American Music

Finding the Center—UT Creates New Meeting Point For American Music

The University of Texas at Austin School of Music unveils a Center for American Music.

Written By

Molly Sheridan



Look out musty conservatories, there’s a new cool school on the block. The University of Texas at Austin School of Music has unveiled a Center for American Music. It will be dedicated to the teaching, research, and performance of American music—ostensibly including everything from John Adams to Eminem.

David Neumeyer, chair of the new center and noted film music scholar, explains that the center is unique nationally. “[It] is the only such institute to be integrated with a comprehensive school of music within a major research university. The School of Music aims to create a unique community of scholars, performers, and industry professionals in a collaborative learning environment.”

The initial impetus to establish the center started with the younger faculty who saw a need to encourage performances of and interaction with American music and to open up the conservatory to the historical and critical study of popular music. Neumeyer and a group of young musicologists at UT spearheaded the drive which only began in October of 2001. B. Glenn Chandler, director of the School of Music, says that things “really moved much faster than any of us had ever dreamed. We had a supportive administration, so we didn’t want to drag our feet and let that window close.” The project has also been backed by a group of interested private funders.

To kick-off the opening of the Center for American Music, UT held an inaugural conference, “Popular Culture and American Music,” in late November. In the spring, the Center will host the new music ensemble eighth blackbird for a week of residency activities, culminating in a public concert in March. Noted scholars will also discuss the challenges and rewards of performing contemporary music. The full program can be found on the center’s website, cam.music.utexas.edu. These events will be free and open to the public.

The initiative marks an impressive cross-collaboration between various schools on campus. In addition to expanding this area of scholarship through post-doctoral fellowships in American music and conferences (see sidebar), the School of Music will develop new undergraduate degree programs in recording technology with the College of Engineering, music business with the School of Business and the School of Law, as well as introduce film scoring as a new concentration within the composition program alongside the film department.

And as if that wasn’t enough, there are also plans to establish a UT recording label to produce recordings of significant American music—both historic and new. “I think it will be important to provide recordings to colleagues and other institutions that they couldn’t find at Tower because it’s not financially lucrative,” Chandler explains. Hopefully a labor pool of student engineers and artists on faculty will “allow us to do some things that a commercial company couldn’t do.”

Austin itself is renowned nationally as a music performance capital of all kinds of music, but Chandler points out that UT itself also has a number of resources that have yet to be tapped. “The Center for American History on campus has more than 7,000 musical items—everything from sheet music to some historically important recordings—most of which have not been researched, so we will have materials to chew on for a long, long time.”

But just what defines the “American music” the center will dedicate itself to? With a laugh, Chandler acknowledges that the parameters are tough to find. “There are differing options on where the delimitations should be drawn, if at all. Frankly, there are some who would say any music that is performed in America is open for discussion. I’d like to be a little more definitive than that but what we’re really saying is that we will study any music that emanates from America. Music from other countries that has a strong influence on American music obviously is by extension going to be considered.”

Regardless of where the lines are ultimately drawn in practice, Chandler is audibly excited by the possibilities offered by the establishment a center like this at UT. It’s an initiative he hopes will grow and help create a national, if not international, interest in American music of all kinds.