Society for Musicology at Florida State University

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Society for Musicology at Florida State University

The Society for Musicology is a student-run organization within the musicology department at FSU.

Like this page for updates on the latest SfM events, student and faculty achievements, and other news. Our official Facebook group, which provides a space for communication between our current students, alumni, and faculty, may be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/187995264581088

09/05/2026

Next up is Vincent Vaccaro!

Hailing from Concord, North Carolina, Vincent is a 2nd-year Masters student at FSU. His primary research focus is on the music of the Italian American diaspora, exploring the scholarly concept of Italianita (Italian-ness) through a musical lens. For his thesis, he is researching the impact of Italian opera’s presence in New Orleans on the earliest waves of Italian immigrants to the city starting in the 1860’s. Vincent traveled to New Orleans for three weeks where he spent time researching several archives throughout the city involving Italian opera, primarily at the Historic New Orleans Collection. He also gained the opportunity to travel to the University of New Orleans to search archives pertaining to formerly active Italian organizations in New Orleans dating back to the early 20th century. Throughout his time there he also frequently visited the American Italian Cultural Center to explore their exhibits and take Italian lessons. Towards the end of the trip, Vincent was able to meet opera historians Jack Belsom and George Dansker who were eager to help find resources for him to look into. In between all his work, Vincent frequently walked around the city, taking pictures and noting down any examples of Italian diasporic culture permeating the New Orleans landscape, from regional Italian flags being flown to trying the multitude of Italian restaurants common throughout the city.

09/03/2026

Catch musicology PhD candidate Julien Duncan’s presentation, a part of the Society for American Music’s “Sounding the Nation at 250” lecture series on Saturday, at 7pm in Longmire Recital Hall!

On March 4, 1901, the band of the newly-mustered Porto Rico Regiment of Volunteers [sic] marched down Pennsylvania Avenue during President William McKinley’s second inauguration, a ceremony the press hailed as “an imposing show of power.” Leading the ensemble was twenty-six-year-old Luis Rodríguez Miranda, a Puerto Rican clarinetist, guitarist, composer, and career soldier. His musicians and the battalion they accompanied reflected the United States’ expanding reach beyond the continent following the Spanish-American War.
This presentation introduces Luis R. Miranda as a central figure in the story of American music at 250. Across an expansive military and public service career, Miranda directed the 65th Infantry Regiment Band in Puerto Rico, served extensively in the Panama Canal Zone and on the mainland, and led university and civic ensembles during both World Wars. His collaborations with Alberto Galimany, leader of the Banda Republicana de Panamá, and Alton Adams, director of the U.S. Navy Band in the Virgin Islands, reveal how music fostered professional exchange within the U.S. territorial sphere of influence during this period.
Drawing on scores and historical newspapers from the Archivo General de Puerto Rico, the Library of Congress, and the Digital Library of the Caribbean, this presentation offers a contextual biographical sketch of Miranda, analysis of his ensemble programs, and live piano demonstrations of excerpts from “Recuerdos de Borinquen,” “Impromptu,” “Bibelot” (Panamanian Pasillo), “Ugolina,” and “The Union Club.” These examples illustrate Miranda’s engagement with Puerto Rican, U.S., and Caribbean musical styles, underscoring his place in American music history and in the broader tradition of military service through music.

09/01/2026

Next up is second-year master’s student Panos Christeas!
Panos is studying the oral folk music tradition of Crete. His master’s thesis focuses on the practices of “glendi”, “parea”, and the “zygia ensemble”, exploring questions of apprenticeship and authenticity within Cretan musical tradition.
He spent the summer conducting fieldwork in Athens, Santorini, and Crete, where he observed “glendia” and “parees”, interviewed musicians, and performed regularly as part of an autoethnographic approach to his research. He also participated in two workshops held in the villages of Choudetsi and Meronas, Crete.

1. Glendi in Athens with musicians Giorgos Skordalos and 2. Giannis Linardakis
3. Pyrgos, Santorini
4. Vasilis Vroutsis on Cretan lute and Panos on Cretan lyra, performing as a zygia in Santorini
5. Kavousi, Crete
6. Vasilis Vroutsis on Cretan lute and Panos on Cretan lyra, performing as a zygia in a tavern in Kavousi, Crete
7. The old port of Heraklion, Crete
8. Downtown Chania, Crete
9. “Embellishments and Bowing Techniques in Mediterranean Modal Music,” taught by Giorgos Papaioannou and organized by the Music Labyrinth Institute in Choudetsi, Crete
10. Parea at a local tavern with Afghan rubab, violin, jaw harp, and tabla in Choudetsi, Crete
11. Final concert by workshop participants performing a contemporary Persian piece
12. Meronas village, Rethymno, Crete
13. Shadow theater in Meronas, Crete
14. “Music of Western Crete,” taught by Stratis Skarakis and organized by the Meronas Cultural Center in Meronas, Crete
15. Workshop participants performing “Melissianos Syrtos” from Kissamos, Crete
16. The class recording the song “Glukomilitsa”

08/27/2026

Next up in our Summer Research Series is Nick Montoya!

Originally from Santaquin, Utah, Nick is a second-year PhD student, currently serving as the FSU World Music co-Coordinator, the co-Director of the FSU Balinese Gamelan, and the Visiting Scholar Coordinator of the SfM board.
Nick’s main research interests are Indonesian folk musics, jaw harps, revival/regeneration, and play as a foundational necessity of human life. Still in the preliminary considerations of a dissertation topic, he spent his summer traveling around Indonesia and the US to study Balinese gamelan, genggong (jaw harp), and penting (keyed chordophone), as well as Sundanese karinding and Minahasan traditional instruments, with Sanggar Tabuh Genggong Kutus I Nyoman Suwida Ganggasentana Eka Udyana karasukan Ruang Riung Reang Karinding and Inri Lengkong. Additionally, he attended the first ever Lawrence University Summer Gamelan Institute to study with Balinese maestros Dewa Berata and Dewa Tejur.

08/25/2026

Next up in the Summer Research Showcase is Emma Webb!

Emma is a second-year PhD student in musicology at FSU. Her research covers 19th and early 20th century American music and performance culture, focusing particularly on Irish and Orientalist representation in blackface minstrelsy. Emma began her summer at the American Conference for Irish Studies in Denver, CO, where she presented her talk, “Kelly and Leon’s Others: Irish American Whiteness in Blackface and Orientalist Minstrelsy.” She spent June in Tallahassee, continuing research in the special collections at the College of Music’s own Allen Music Library. In July, she made a brief stop at the Ward Irish Music Archives in Milwaukee, WI to view the Mick Moloney collection. Lastly, she spent a week in Austin, TX, studying the Harry Ransom Center’s large Minstrel Show Collection.

08/24/2026

Happy first day of classes! We’re kicking off the semester with celebrating some recent awards and accomplishments from our area.

• We congratulate 4th-year PhD candidate Zachary Moreau on being selected as one of the twelve inaugural fellows of the new FSU university-wide Humanities Center, a position that comes with a $4000 stipend! Zach’s dissertation is titled “Music, Activism, and Intersectionality: Identity and Ideology in Degenerate State.” Congrats to Zach, we are so excited to see you representing our area in the new university-wide Humanities Center!
• 4th-year PhD candidate Maya Johnson received a four-week New York Public Library fellowship for research on her dissertation “Meredith Monk’s Performance as Postmodern Ritual.” While this is still considered a “short-term” fellowship, four weeks is the maximum time, coming with a $4000 stipend. Maya is excited to use this time to further peruse the 300 boxes and >10000 videos housed within the Meredith Monk Archive in NYPL-LPA.
• Congrats again to Anchal Khansili (Anchal Khansili) and Maya Johnson, our Musicology area Service Award recipients from our ’25-26 year, who received their official plaques last week. This award is bestowed annually at the end of the spring semester. Students, this could be you next spring!
• Emily Eubanks, an FSU alum, was awarded a research grant from the AMS Virginia & George Bozarth Fund for her project “The Soundscape of Austrian Identity: Performances in Caroline Pichler’s Early Nineteenth-Century Salon”
• Ana Uribe Law was awarded a grant from the Harold Powers World Travel Fund for her dissertation project “Latinidad in/and U.S. Opera in the Twenty-First Century.”

08/21/2026

Next for our Summer Research Series is Austin Testerman. Austin is a second-year PhD Musicology Student.
A little about Austin’s research: as a musicologist, Austin studies the effects of networks, marketing, and musicality on the landscape of 20th-century evangelism in the United States. His current research centers around the Rodeheaver School of Music, a summer music school in Winona Lake, Indiana that operated from the 1920s through the 1960s and was founded to educate future global church music leaders. This annual conference not only hired some of the most prominent musicians in America during this time but also graduated students that went on to have major impacts on the worshipscape of the country.
In June, Austin was able to both apply and further his research throughout his travels. At The University of St. Andrews in St. Andrews, Scotland, Austin had the opportunity to attend the International Network of Music Theology summer conference which brought together leading voices in fields related to musicology and theology allowing for networking, brainstorming, and fellowshipping on an international scale. At this conference, Austin presented his paper “Vinyl Evangelism: the Missiological Recordings of the Musical Betts” which outlines the ministry and recordings of a duo directly linked to the Rodeheaver School of Music.
Following his time in Scotland, Austin travelled to Winona Lake, Indiana to interact directly with archival materials held in the Grace College and Theological Seminary Morgan Library as well as the Winona Lake History Center. These two locations form the only current archive with materials directly related to Homer Rodeheaver and his school of music. Austin was able to read multiple biographical manuscripts on Rodeheaver and browse through primary sources such as photographs, student lists, concert programs, and school memorabilia. These will serve as the foundation of his dissertation project.

07/31/2026

Yesterday, the FSU Summer Balinese Gamelan Ensemble had its “Shareformance.” The ensemble, co-directed by musicology professor Dr. Michael Bakan and PhD student Nick Montoya celebrated this successful shareformance with a delicious, or enak, lunch curtesy of Royal Thai & Sushi! Thank you Chef Tjokorda Kresna 😋🇮🇩

Gamelan ensemble meets this fall on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:30-9! All are welcome regardless of musical background!

07/29/2026

Next for our Summer Research Series is Zachary Moreau!
Zach is a fourth-year ABD Musicology PhD candidate.
A little about Zach’s research: as a musicologist and folklorist, Zach (he/him) studies the various intersections of class, race, and gender as they work in current local communities. His dissertation examines how musicians in the Tallahassee punk/DIY scene mobilize music within political advocacy and grassroots organizing. Central to this project is the band Degenerate State, whose work sits at the intersection of local activism, punk performance practice, and explicitly articulated political commitments. Active in the local punk/DIY network, the band participates in grassroots organizing and mutual aid, with members involved in various activist groups throughout Tallahassee.
Over the last couple months, Zach organized a listening and roundtable session held at 621 Gallery on July 11th. He was able to gather all six members, with one of them on zoom, together to listen, discuss, and experience what is means to be punk, Q***r, activists, and Degenerate State. Over the course of the two-hour session, several community members joined to watch and listen to their songs and hear the band members’ thoughts on music, expression, activism, class, gender, and community-making.
This project provided a moment for the currently on-hiatus band to meet together and speak about how Degenerate State can represent the real issues and ideas of local political groups.

07/20/2026

As promised, FSU Musicology is kicking off our Summer Research Series!

First in our Summer Research Series is Maya Johnson (.c.johnson), a fourth-year ABD Musicology PhD candidate and secretary of the SfM board. Maya has had a jam-packed summer!

A little about Maya’s research: as a musicologist, violinist, and violist Maya (she/they) celebrates music as a scholar, performer, and creator. Their dissertation highlights performer-composer , interrogating Monk’s interest in artistic mediums as timeless human expression and belief in the artist as visionary seer. Specifically, Maya asks how live performance today serves as a type of postmodern ritual that breaks down barriers among performers, composers, and audience, utilizing their own training in historical performance and collaboration with interdisciplinary artists to both study and embody Monk’s performance art.
 
This summer, Maya traveled to NYC, upstate NY, North Carolina, and Massachusetts. Starting with weeks of research at the Meredith Monk Archive, she then served as a violin fellow at the Next Festival of Emerging Artists in New York. At , she enjoyed working with composer .miro.johnson, choreographer , and dancers to perform an interdisciplinary music-dance work-in-progress, premiere pieces at and , learn from composers like Adeliia and Niloufar (, .nourbakhsh), and record premieres of commissioned compositions at .

After Next Fest Maya spent 12 days at chamber festival, where she had the honor of performing with and learning from and , performing in venues from art museums to prisons, and having her first performance art composition premiere. Currently, Maya is in North Adams, MA, as a performing fellow with ’s summer residency at before returning to Tallahassee.

Congratulations to Maya on her busy musical summer!

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