Homepage for mcclelland

Ryan McClelland—Associate Professor of Music Theory, University of Toronto

This site provides some information on research activities, course offerings as well as links to a few music theory and professional development sites (from within and outside U of T).

For my University of Toronto web bio (includes email address), click here.

For the Faculty of Music at University of Toronto, click here.

Publications Papers Awards Premieres Courses

Music Theory Links Professional Development Links

Publications:

Book

Brahms and the Scherzo: Studies in Musical Narrative. Ashgate, 2010 (320pp., 173 musical examples).

Table of Contents

Index

Excerpts from Google Books

“McClelland’s book is unquestionably an essential milestone in Brahms studies that will surely be lasting and much cited.”

Michael Vaillancourt, Notes 68/1 (September 2011). Vaillancourt’s full review is accessible on thefreelibrary.com

BookCover ....... BookCover2

Textbook

Analysis of 18th- and 19th-Century Musical Works in the Classical Tradition. Co-authored with David Beach. Routledge, 2012 (368pp., 150 musical examples).

Peer-Reviewed Articles

“Brahms and the Principle of Destabilised Beginnings.” Music Analysis 28/1 (2009): 3–61.

“Discontinuity and Performance: The Allegro appassionato from Brahms’s Sonata Op. 120, No. 2.” Dutch Journal of Music Theory 12/2 (2007): 200–14.

“Metric Dissonance in Brahms’s Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 101.” Intégral 20 (2006): 1–42.

“Extended Upbeats in the Classical Minuet: Interactions with Hypermeter and Phrase Structure.” Music Theory Spectrum 28/1 (2006): 23–56.

“Teaching Phrase Rhythm through Minuets from Haydn’s String Quartets.” Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy 20 (2006): 5–35.

“Tonal and Rhythmic-Metric Process in Brahms’s Early C-Minor Scherzos.” Intersections: Canadian Journal of Music 26/1 (2005): 123–47.

“Brahms’s Capriccio Op. 76, No. 8: Ambiguity, Conflict, Musical Meaning, and Performance.” Theory and Practice 29 (2004): 69–94.

Invited Articles

“Form and Hypermeter in Brahms’s ‘Tiny’ Scherzo for the Piano Concerto Op. 83.” The American Brahms Society Newsletter XXVI/1 (2008): 1–5.

“Performance and Analysis Studies: An Overview and a Bibliography.” Indiana Theory Review 24 (2003): 95–106.

Essay in Collection

“Sequence as Expressive Culmination in the Chamber Music of Brahms.” In Expressive Intersections in Brahms: Essays in Analysis and Meaning, ed. Heather Platt and Peter H. Smith, 147–85. Indiana University Press, 2012.

Conference Proceedings

“Brahms’s Op. 111 and the 8-line Urlinie.” In Essays from the Fourth International Schenker Symposium, ed. L. Poundie Burstein, Lynne Rogers, and Karen Bottge. Olms, forthcoming.

“Hypermeter, Phrase Length, and Temporal Disjuncture in Schubert’s Klavierstück D. 946, No. 3.” In The Unknown Schubert, ed. Lorraine Byrne Bodley and Barbara Reul, 157–75. Ashgate, 2008.

Other Publications

Review of Peter Smith, Expressive Forms in Brahms’s Instrumental Music. Theory and Practice 31 (2006): 209–24.

Translation of Márta Grabócz, “Les théories du récit d’après Paul Ricoeur et leurs correspondences avec la narrativité musicale,” in Le récit et les arts (Paris: L’Harmattan, 1998), 75–98. Published as “Paul Ricoeur’s Theories of Narrative and Their Relevance for Musical Narrativity,” Indiana Theory Review 20/2 (1999): 19–39.

Papers:

“Half-Diminished-Seventh Openings in Brahms’s Lieder.” Fifth International Schenker Symposium, Mannes College, New York, March 2013.

“Brahms’s Half-Diminished Seventh Chords as Agents of Tonal Motion.” 17th Biennial Conference on Nineteenth-Century Music, University of Edinburgh, June 2012.

“Brahms and Fauxbourdon.” Canadian University Music Society Conference, Wilfrid Laurier University, May 2012.

“Hemiola as Agent of Metric Resolution in the Music of Brahms.” Brahms in the New Century, New York, March 2012.

“Metric Dissonance in the Scherzo of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony.” Society for Music Theory National Conference, Minneapolis, October 2011.

“Tonal Recollection in Third Movements from Schubert’s Late Instrumental Music.” Thanatos as Muse: Schubert and Concepts of Late Style, National University of Ireland Maynooth, October 2011.

“Sequence as Culmination in the Chamber Music of Brahms.” Society for Music Theory National Conference, Montréal, November 2009; also delivered at Music Colloquium Series, University of Notre Dame, November 2009.

“Brahms oder Dietrich? An Analytic Perspective on the Piano Trio in A Major.” Canadian University Music Society Conference, Carleton University, Ottawa, May 2009; also delivered at Music Theory Midwest Conference, Minneapolis, May 2009.

“Schenkerian Sonata Theory and Brahms’s String Quintet Op. 111.” Colloquium Series, Don Wright Faculty of Music, University of Western Ontario, October 2006.

“Brahms and the Principle of Destabilized Beginnings.” Canadian University Music Society Conference, York University, Toronto, May 2006.

“The First Movement of Brahms’s String Quintet Op. 111 and Sonata-Form Tradition.” Fourth International Schenker Symposium, Mannes College, New York, March 2006.

“Extended Upbeats in the Minuet: Interactions with Hypermeter and Phrase Structure.” Graduate Music Theory and Musicology Colloquium, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, November 2005.

“Teaching Phrase Rhythm and Hypermeter through Haydn’s Minuets.” College Music Society National Conference, Québec City, November 2005.

“Hypermeter, Phrase Length, and Temporal Disjuncture in Schubert’s Klavierstück D. 946, No. 3.” The Unknown Schubert: New Insights, New Perspectives, Luther College, University of Regina, December 2004.

“Recreating Beethoven’s Dramas: Metric Dissonance in Brahms’s Early C-Minor Scherzos.” Society for Music Theory National Conference, Seattle, WA, November 2004.

“Metric Dissonance in the Second Movement of Brahms’s Piano Trio, Op. 101.” Music Theory Society of New York State Meeting, Rochester, NY, April 2004; also delivered at Music Theory Midwest Conference, Bloomington, IN, May 2003.

“Melodic Process and Parallelism in Joan Tower’s Silver Ladders.” Society for Music Theory National Conference, Columbus, OH, November 2002.

“A Metrical Narrative in Brahms: Implications for Performance.” Music Theory Midwest Conference, Minneapolis, MN, May 2002.

“Rhythm, Meter, Motive, Lewin, and Brahms’s Capriccio Op. 76, No. 8.” Indiana University Graduate Theory Association’s Twelfth Biennial Symposium of Research in Music Theory, February 2002.

“Continuity as Process: Directionality in the Music of Joan Tower.” Music Theory Colloquium Series, Indiana University, January 2002.

Awards:

Standard Research Grant from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)

Project: “The Scherzo-Type Movement in Nineteenth-Century Austro-German Music”

Duration: April 1, 2006–March 31, 2010

Connaught Award (University of Toronto)

Project: “Issues in Rhythm and Meter in Tonal Music”

Duration: July 1, 2004–June 30, 2006

Premieres:

Recent premiere performances include solo piano and chamber works by Jason Gray (2008), Hiroki Tsurumoto (2007), Fuhong Shi (2007), Troy Ducharme (2006, 2005), Jackie Shin (2006), Andrew Staniland (2006), and Jordan Pal (2006).