Ithaca College

Sara Haefeli, assistant professor of music, will speak at the "Your Brain Needs Music" Symposium in Boulder, Colorado on Friday, October 11.  Last week she presented a paper at the International Conference of the Society for Minimalist Music in Long Beach, California.

Haefeli's symposium presentation will be an introduction to the field of musical semiotics with an interactive discussion of a number of visual and aural examples including scenes from Cameron Crowe’s major motion film Vanilla Sky, Michael Dougherty’s Sing Sing: J Edgar Hoover, Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Janis Joplin’s “Cry Baby,” as well as examples of music in commercial advertising. The purpose of the 45-minute presentation is to promote an understanding how music functions as a cognitive and emotional shorthand, and as a powerful source of identity and community. This understanding strengthens our position when we argue for the value of music as a public art.

On Friday, October 4, Haefeli presented at the International Music and Minimalism Conference.  Her paper, "Doctor Atomic at Maximum Volume: Adams, Cage, and Intertextuality," is a critical reading of John Adam's opera Doctor Atomic in light of the conceptual art practices of the late 1960s, especially John Cage's 1962 piece, 0'00".

Haefeli was proud to join Dr. Tim Johnson, professor of music theory, who also presented research at the International Music and Minimalism Conference.