Jesse Pearlman Karlsberg

This weekend I’m presenting a paper at the GSIM Conference on Musical Spaces at CUNY. I’ll be co-presenting with Dana Borrelli, an anthropologist from University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Our paper is titled “Sounding the Hollow Square: Spatial Meaning in Sacred Harp Singing.” We will discuss how the hollow square seating arrangement of a Sacred Harp singing creates meaning for singers. Dana will talk about how the hollow square is a vital social institution that forms singers’ identities within the community. I will discuss how composers and artists working with Sacred Harp music utilize the spatial configuration of a Sacred Harp singing.

The conference is this Saturday, April 1, 2006, 9 AM to 5:00 PM. It’s at the CUNY Graduate Center, Martin Segal Theater, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10016-4309.