Music Professor Wesley Baldwin will discuss the human need to interact with music during the first Pregame Showcase on Saturday, September 12.
Baldwin will present “Home, Away, and Back Home: How the Language of Music Works” at 4:00 p.m. prior to the Vols’ game against Oklahoma.
Now in its twenty-sixth year, the Pregame Showcase gives fans an opportunity to hear from some of the exceptional faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences prior to each gridiron matchup. It is sponsored by the college with support from UT Athletics, the McClung Museum, the Office of Alumni Affairs, and WUOT 91.9 FM.
Free and open to the public, each showcase will take place two hours before kickoff and feature a thirty-minute presentation followed by a fifteen-minute question-and-answer session. All sessions will be held in the auditorium of the McClung Museum. A brief reception will follow immediately after each program. Door prizes will be awarded.
During his presentation, Baldwin will demonstrate how the language of music engages listeners and offer insights into the musical effects that make a musical piece or song evoking in listeners emotions of sadness, happiness, triumph, introspection, or agitation. He also will show how musical tension, expectation, resolution, and surprise are created.
Here’s the lineup for the rest of the season:
September 19—”Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight.” Margaret Lazarus Dean, associate professor of English, will explore what space flight has meant to ordinary Americans in terms of past history and potential future directions.
October 3—”Navigating Genre, Tweaking Type: Romance, John Cusack-Style.” Chris Holmlund, professor of modern foreign languages and literatures, will examine the traits and conventions that characterize performance in romance films using illustrations from the work of actor John Cusack.
October 10—”Venezuela in Crisis: The Deterioration and Polarization of Party Politics.” Jana Morgan, associate professor of political science, will explore the shift in Venezuela from a stable democracy to an unstable, conflict-ridden regime and look ahead to what might become of Venezuelan politics in the future.
November 7—”Recent Developments in Southeastern Archaeology.” David Anderson, professor of anthropology, will discuss discoveries in southeastern archaeology in recent years and tools such as remote sensing equipment that have revolutionized data collecting.
November 14—”Searching for Extraterrestrial Rocks in Antarctica.” Devon Burr, associate professor of earth and planetary sciences, will discuss her recent participation in the research expedition searching for meteorites on the East Antarctica Plateau.
November 28—”The Brain Basis of Sleep Health.” Ralph Lydic, professor of psychology, will focus on sleep disorders and ongoing research related to sleep health.
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CONTACT:
Jeremy Hughes (865-974-0963, jhughe19@utk.edu)