Justin London, Professor of music, recently co-authored the article, “Systematic Distortions in Musicians’ Reproduction of Cyclic Three-Interval Rhythms,” with Bruno Repp (Haskins Labs, New Haven) and Peter Keller (Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig). The article appeared in Music Perception and examines musicians’ ability to produce and synchronize with complex rhythms. They found that musicians could, so long as the music is not too slow.  Their findings also support dynamic systems models of rhythm perception and production.

Professor of music Justin London recently had his article, “Ephemeral Media, Ephemeral Works, and Sonny Boy Williamson’s ‘Little Village’” published in the latest issue of The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. London notes that a recording of the great blues harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson inspired the paper. The article explains that although “Little Village” was never released as a single, the piece gives listeners a window into how songs were composed and produced during Chicago Blues era of the 1950s.  In particular, it shows the impact of recording technology on song composition, and forces one to consider the difference between a song and an improvisation.

As a part of the V-Day global movement to end violence against women, Carleton presented “Vagina Monologues,” a benefit performance to raise awareness and funds for the movement. The performance featured a mix of humorous and moving monologues presented by student performers.

The Carleton Choir and the Minnesota Baroque Orchestra presented highlights from Handel’s “Messiah” to a full audience of students, parents, and Northfield residents.

Three Carleton students and Gao Hong Dice, lecturer in Chinese Musical Instruments, have been awarded funds from ASIANetwork for their project “Exploration and Preservation: Temple Music in the Chinese Diaspora.” This “ASIANetwork Freeman Student-Faculty Fellows” grant, one of only thirteen given this year, supports extensive travel and research in Taiwan and Singapore for Gao Hong Dice and students Kim Bauer ’13, Yawen Chen ’15, and Joseph Concannon ’13. The project continues a focus on temple music first pursued with a 2010 award for “In Search of Ancient Melodies.”

Alex Freeman, assistant professor of music, had his composition “Blueshift” performed in the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Music Room by Ensemble 61 on February 16. Ensemble 61 is a Saint Paul based contemporary music group that brings new and experimental works to the public through concerts at traditional and non-traditional venues, web-based broadcasts, education/outreach programs and community engagement. The performance also features Matthew McCright, lecturer in piano, at Carleton. The program includes 20th century masterpieces by Olivier Messiaen and George Crumb.

Alex Freeman, assistant professor of music, will have his new composition work, “Aerial Voices (Variations on a Theme of Charles Fussell),” premiered in the new Helsinki Music Center in Helsinki, Finland on February 5. The music is inspired by the work of Charles Fussell – one of Freeman’s former teachers, a friend and a mentor. Freeman’s work is inspired the clarity, freshness, and emotional impact of Fussell’s music and includes twelve variations on a theme from the choral/symphonic work of Fussell’s, Specimen Days. Finnish pianist Salla Karakorpi will premiere the new work along with works by Bartók and Brahms to a sold-out hall in the new music center in Finland. The event will be live-streamed at the Weitz Center Cinema at 11:00 a.m.

Associate Professor of Theater David Wiles is a cast member of “Johnny Baseball” at Park Square Theater in St Paul. The new musical looks at life and love through the lens of America’s favorite pastime: baseball. The play is the story of Johnny O’Brien, a hard-luck right-hander on the 1919 Red Sox and traces the American institution of baseball from the “Curse of the Bambino” through the Red Sox 2004 World Series win. The playwrights have taken a few liberties with their story, bending history a bit in order to effectively tell a love story set in the backdrop of a racially integrating Major League Baseball League.

Each term, Carls shake, leap, and twirl to student-choreographed dances in the ever-popular Ebony II show. This winter brought more cheer-worthy dances and crazy costumes galore.

In conjunction with the popular Northfield Arts Guild Gallery exhibit “NRTHFLD: The Nirthfolde Visitors’ Bureau,” professor of art David Lefkowitz will unravel the mysteries of this “slightly askew” take on Northfield in a public lecture on Wednesday, Jan. 30 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in the Weitz Center for Creativity Cinema. Entitled “Quasi-Fictional Places: The Nirthfolde Visitors’ Bureau and Other Original Facsimilies,” Lefkowitz’s talk will introduce audiences to “Nirthfolde…a bucolic, yet bustling burg situated in a parallel universe that neatly overlaps Northfield, Minnesota, and that has existed relatively unnoticed for over a century and a half.”