Rachel E Short
Dr. Rachel E. Short is Assistant Professor of Music Theory at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA. Her specialties are choreomusical analysis, music pedagogy, rhythm and meter, and American musical theatre. Her interdisciplinary dissertation, “Musical Feet: The Interaction of Choreography and Music in Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins’s Ballet Fancy Free,” is an integrated reading of the musical score and the original choreography that investigates the relationship between complementary aspects of their creative artwork. An active scholar, Dr. Short has presented papers at various conferences including the national meeting of the Society for Music Theory Conference in St. Louis, and Music Theory Midwest—where her work received honorable mention for the Arthur J. Komar Award. She is currently co-authoring a chapter for the edited collection New Perspectives in Music and Dance.
Committed to teaching and mentoring, Dr. Short completed the Certificate in College and University Teaching at UCSB, earned a Certificate from the Summer Teaching Institute for Associates, and attends pedagogy workshops and conferences. She provided mentorship and support for graduate student teachers as Peer Facilitator in Arts & Humanities for UCSB’s Summer Teaching Institute for Associates, and oversaw and mentored teaching assistants at ASU. Her teaching goals center on developing students’ analytical abilities to appreciate and describe the music they perform and enjoy. She teaches courses for music majors in the music theory sequence, aural skills and keyboard, and electives such as Studies in 20th-Century Music, and Analyzing Songs from American Musical Theatre; she also has taught Music Appreciation and Fundamentals courses, giving non-music majors a chance to actively engage with music.
She has been active as a musical director and performer: as a solo singer and as a member of various choirs, notably UCSB Gospel Choir, Queens College Vocal Ensemble, Central City Chorus & Glad Tidings Tabernacle Choir in New York City. She has peformed onstage at regional theatres and in national tours, including a tour of Camelot starring Robert Goulet. Favorite performance arenas include Out of the Box Theatre, Lamb’s Players Theatre, the Lawrence Welk Resort Theatre, Starlight Musical Theatre, Sea World, North Carolina Theatre, and the Empire State Building as a singer, dancer, pianist, and actress.
Dr. Short received a Ph.D. in music theory from University of California, Santa Barbara, and a M.A. from Queens College, CUNY. Her interest in varied learning pathways began during her undergraduate studies at Point Loma Nazarene University, where she graduated summa cum laude after studying accounting and music theory/composition.
Address: Rachel Short
Shenandoah University
1460 University Drive, Ruebush
Winchester, VA 22601
Committed to teaching and mentoring, Dr. Short completed the Certificate in College and University Teaching at UCSB, earned a Certificate from the Summer Teaching Institute for Associates, and attends pedagogy workshops and conferences. She provided mentorship and support for graduate student teachers as Peer Facilitator in Arts & Humanities for UCSB’s Summer Teaching Institute for Associates, and oversaw and mentored teaching assistants at ASU. Her teaching goals center on developing students’ analytical abilities to appreciate and describe the music they perform and enjoy. She teaches courses for music majors in the music theory sequence, aural skills and keyboard, and electives such as Studies in 20th-Century Music, and Analyzing Songs from American Musical Theatre; she also has taught Music Appreciation and Fundamentals courses, giving non-music majors a chance to actively engage with music.
She has been active as a musical director and performer: as a solo singer and as a member of various choirs, notably UCSB Gospel Choir, Queens College Vocal Ensemble, Central City Chorus & Glad Tidings Tabernacle Choir in New York City. She has peformed onstage at regional theatres and in national tours, including a tour of Camelot starring Robert Goulet. Favorite performance arenas include Out of the Box Theatre, Lamb’s Players Theatre, the Lawrence Welk Resort Theatre, Starlight Musical Theatre, Sea World, North Carolina Theatre, and the Empire State Building as a singer, dancer, pianist, and actress.
Dr. Short received a Ph.D. in music theory from University of California, Santa Barbara, and a M.A. from Queens College, CUNY. Her interest in varied learning pathways began during her undergraduate studies at Point Loma Nazarene University, where she graduated summa cum laude after studying accounting and music theory/composition.
Address: Rachel Short
Shenandoah University
1460 University Drive, Ruebush
Winchester, VA 22601
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Conference Presentations by Rachel E Short
Since 1913, critics and music scholars alike have debated the aesthetic merits of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring from various musical standpoints, but they often overlook one critical aspect: ballet. Since this music was initially conceived to correspond with dance in a total artwork, exploring choreography can add additional depth to analysis and discussion. Rhythmic analysis of the original choreography of the Rite defends Stravinsky against those who take umbrage with his static displacements, repetitiveness, and supposed non-development. I show how “development” happens when the changing accents of the dancers’ steps provide a counterpoint against the metrical accents in the music.
First this paper contrasts various perspectives of Stravinsky’s music, drawing on discussions by music theorists Justin London and Pieter van den Toorn regarding cognitive aspects of disrupted entrainment possibilities. Next I use dance historian Millicent Hodson’s reconstruction score with detailed notes from Stravinsky’s score in conjunction with the Joffrey Ballet’s 1987 production to analyze the musical accents of the dancers’ steps. I focus on “Ritual of Two Rival Tribes,” discussing how the dancers’ phrases align or contradict the musical fragments, which are themselves metrically displaced against the underlying 4/4 meter. I take this in-depth look at a section of the original choreography to show how exploring dance steps provides a different perspective. Taking this inclusive approach today not only contributes to a richer musical discussion, it allows us to better understand the audience experience at the 1913 premiere.
Also presented at Pacific Northwest Music Graduate Student Conference (2014)
Building on recent discussions by music theorists and dance scholars, my analysis aligns the dance steps alongside musical analysis to see how they inform each other, paying close attention to choreographic and musical accents. The energetic first variation features the acrobatic, gregarious sailor, and the tension between choreographic and musical phrases depicts a man of vigor. I focus on the second variation, which while titled “Waltz” is not in a pure triple meter. I illustrate how the choreography can confirm or contradict the waltz topic, portraying the sailor’s unassuming playfulness. The third movement is the most metrically straightforward and the choreography matches effortlessly with the main motives, providing a slick characterization for the group’s suave leader. I take this in-depth look at the Fancy Free variations to illustrate how choreo-musical analysis can enrich our understanding of the synergy of music and movement.
Also presented at Music Theory Midwest’s 26th annual conference, Oakland University, MI (2015), honorable mention for the Arthur J. Komar Award
My methodology classifies diegetic movement into three main types: Gestures (with blatant narrative function), Diegetic Dance (indicating dance steps), and Ballet (crossing into continual movement), and subcategories that explore whether dancing and music concur. A noteworthy example of Diegetic Dance happens in the tender duet when both music and dance depict the transitory nature of the romance. The couple’s knowledge that they are dancing together changes their movements, creating poignant meaning when combined with transient musical phrases. My investigation into these combinations of dance types and exploration of the dancers’ awareness that they are “dancing” offers a clearer understanding of how music and choreography together construct meaning and tell a story.