Alumnus Elizabeth West Marvin to give music lecture

Elizabeth West Marvin, professor of music theory and chair of the music theory department at the Eastman School of Music, will present “In Their Own Words: Analyzing the Extents and Origins of Absolute Pitch” on Thursday, March 2 at noon in room 204 of Scheide Music Center at 525 E. University St. on the campus of the College of Wooster. The lecture is free and open to the public, and guests are welcome to bring their lunch.Marvin’s presentation will describe the mystery and science of absolute pitch, a rare ability to name or produce musical tones without reference to an instrument or other standard. A 1977 graduate of Wooster, Marvin earned her master’s and Ph.D. from Eastman. In addition to her position at Eastman, she also holds a secondary appointment in the department of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester.Her research interests include the study of cognitive differences among musicians, nonmusicians and absolute-pitch listeners; the effect of tonal and nontonal musical contexts on cognitive processing; and comparisons between language and music processing. Marvin is a past president of the Society for Music Theory and the Music Theory Society of New York State. Her articles on music analysis, theory pedagogy and music cognition appear in Music Theory Spectrum, Journal of Music Theory, Music Perception and Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, among others. In 2013 she was awarded the Gail Boyd de Stwolinski Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Music Theory Teaching and Scholarship. For more information call Jonathan Guez at 330-287-1957 or email jguez@wooster.edu.