Chandler Blount (’17 BM Music Theory & BM Orchestral Instrument: Trombone), currently pursuing a Ph.D. in music theory from Florida State University, presented his research at the Music Theory Southeast Conference in March, 2022. Chandler’s paper is titled ““Bigger, Longer & Uncut”: Classifying Additions of Text in Broadway Musicals.” According to the abstract: 

“This paper considers how musical and textual structure interact at the phrase level in Broadway musicals by examining places where composers write passages of text that are too “big” to fit into an 8- or 16-bar phrase, focusing particularly on musicals by Matt Stone and Trey Parker (of South Park fame). In addition to developing a taxonomy to classify these text additions, I examine how the musical circumstances surrounding their appearances can reinforce their meaning.”