TCC 32. Key Constellations - Professor Táhirih Motazedian
This episode of the Theorist Composer Collaboration features the music theorist Professor Táhirih Motazedian alongside her award-winning book Key Constellations: Interpreting Tonality in Film. Music theorist Aaron D’Zurilla talks with Professor Motazedian about her background as a NASA planetary scientist, work as a music theorist, Key Constellations, the future of the Society for Music Theory and much more!
Key Constellations: https://www.amazon.com/Key-Constellations-Interpreting-Tonality-California/dp/0520382161/
Donate to the TCC: https://buymeacoffee.com/tccollaboration
A full episode transcript is also available on our host website on the corresponding episode page a few weeks after the initial upload at https://www.tccollaboration.com/
Make sure to follow the TCC social media and hosting accounts on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557900086297
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tc_collaboration/
Website: https://www.tccollaboration.com/
Aaron D'Zurilla
Theorist/TCC Founder
He/Him
Aaron D'Zurilla is the primary host and founder of the Theorist Composer Collaboration. Aaron holds a Bachelor's of Music in Music Theory from the University of Florida, and is a current Graduate Music Theory student at Florida State University.
Contact:
acdzurilla@yahoo.com
941-773-1394
Professor Táhirih Motazedian
Theorist
She/Her
Táhirih Motazedian is an Associate Professor of Music at Vassar College. Her book, Key Constellations: Interpreting Tonality in Film (University of California Press, 2023) explores how key and pitch relationships in film soundtracks tell a story, and was awarded the Society for Music Theory’s Emerging Scholar Book Award. She has published (and forthcoming) articles and chapters on a range of topics, including Sergei Eisenstein’s production of Die Walküre, the “heartstring schema” in film and nineteenth-century music, Holst’s Planets, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake in the film Black Swan, Shostakovich’s second violin concerto, and plagal half cadences in pop music. She earned her PhD in music theory from Yale University, and she currently serves as Associate Editor of the SMT-V journal. Before her career in music theory, Táhirih was a planetary scientist at NASA, working with lunar samples, solar samples, and serving as a Downlink Operations Lead for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Email: tmotazedian@vassar.edu
