Music, in Theory

In November 2019, music theorist Philip Ewell gave a plenary at the annual meeting for the Society for Music Theory. Titled “Music Theory’s White Racial Frame,” Ewell’s discussion of equity in American music theory was supported by the example of Heinrich Schenker, whose documented racist ideologies have historically been historically overlooked by scholars. Ewell, who himself relies on Schenkerian theory, argued that Schenker’s racism should be included in classroom discussions of his work—something Schenker himself would have agreed with—and suggested that reducing the number of semesters focused on Schenkerian music theory would allow for other, non-Western modes of music theory to be incorporated into curricula. Ewell’s frank discussion of Schenker prompted the peer-reviewed Journal of Schenkerian Studies, published annually by the University of North Texas Press, to run 15 essays in response to Ewell’s plenary. These appeared in Volume 12, published July 24, 2020. The Journal was subsequently criticized for the quality of responses. Several veered into ad hominem attacks on Ewell himself. One submission ran anonymously—a rarity in academic publishing. Another was written by an academic/editorial advisor for the Journal, Timothy Jackson, without following best practices set for such instances to avoid conflicts of interest.Following vocal criticism and pushback from its student body and faculty (including an open letter signed and circulated online), and the wider music theory community, UNT assembled an ad hoc review panel to investigate the conception and production of Volume 12 of the Journal of Schenkerian Studies. The panel comprised five UNT faculty members—all outside of the College of Music, and all current or former editors of scholarly journals. The focus here was not the content of the responses, but how the issue itself came together. Citing standards and guidelines for academic publishing recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics, the panel determined that there were several instances of editorial mismanagement, including a lack of peer or complete editorial review of the responses to Ewell that were published. UNT made the full review public.In response to the review and the committee’s recommendations, Jackson’s department chair, Benjamin Brand, wrote to him: “I cannot support a plan according to which you would remain involved in the day-to-day operations of the journal, and its editorial process in particular.” Brand also said that he would support “the possibility of relocating the JSS and thus severing ties between the journal, UNT, and UNT Press,” should Jackson wish.On January 14, 2021, Jackson filed a lawsuit against 26 named defendants: eight members of the UNT Board of Regents in their official capacity, 17 faculty members in Jackson’s own division, and one PhD student and teaching fellow. In two essays examining difference aspects of the case, we try to make sense of an academic music theory debate that came to encompass the biggest questions of free speech and morality currently percolating in American society.