ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Winner of the 2017-2018 American Prize for Solo Instrumental Performance, Micheal Barnes is a graduate student at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, studying music theory. He was the winner of the 2015 Oklahoma Day of Percussion Collegiate Solo Snare Drum Competition, and 2016 ENKOR International Music Competition and placed in the Naftzger Young Artist Competition, the Coeur d’Alene Symphony National Young Artist Competition, the Hellam Young Artist Competition, and the U.S. Army National Collegiate Solo Competition. Micheal has been a soloist with the Oklahoma State University Wind Ensemble, the University of Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra, the Delta Symphony, and the CCM Chamber Choir. In 2015, he was awarded a teaching fellowship to work with the National Youth Orchestra and Choir of Belize. He holds a BM from the University of Oklahoma and MM in percussion performance from the University of Cincinnati.
ABOUT THE RESEARCH LIGHTNING SESSION: The Noble Snare: The Snare Drum, Embodied Cognition, and Melodic Rhythm
The idea that the snare drum is melodic is central to percussion pedagogy. However, explanations of this idea are inadequate in theoretical discourse and pedagogical literature. I formalize the idea of “melodic rhythm” by theorizing the process of metaphorically mapping melodic contour onto snare drum music. Drawing from work in embodied cognition, I explore how conceptual metaphors play a central role in our understanding of music, above all the metaphor GREATER IS HIGHER as a way to understand pitch-height relations in melody. When this metaphor is applied to the physical motions used to play the snare drum, a contour can be realized in a similar way that pitched instruments produce a melodic line with contour. In this clinic, I analyze snare drum works, tracing how the physical motions needed to perform them map onto conceptual metaphors. Through this approach, the music of the snare drum can be understood more clearly.