The editors of Analytical Approaches to World Music are pleased to present the following set of invited responses to Andrew Killick’s article “Global Notation as a Tool for Cross-Cultural and Comparative Music Analysis.” While Andrew Killick has been developing global notation since 2016, the present article stems from his presentation at the Fifth International Conference on Analytical Approaches to World Music in Thessaloniki in 2018. The presentation generated lively discussion at the conference, and when Killick subsequently submitted the paper to the journal, one of the peer reviewers recommended publishing responses alongside the article.

In compiling these responses, we have sought to include perspectives from scholars with a range of backgrounds and identities in terms of academic discipline, area of expertise, race, gender, age, and nationality. The set of responses does not fully live up to these goals insofar as the majority of respondents are men, are white, and are based in the US, Canada, or the UK. The fact that most of the women and Black, Asian, and Latinx scholars whom we invited were not able to spare the time to contribute responses may partly reflect the pervasive inequities within and beyond academia that have only been deepened by the ongoing public health crisis. In any case, our failure to attract a more diverse group of respondents should not reflect on the responses themselves, which offer thought-provoking and creative commentaries on the promise and challenges of Killick’s innovation to music notation, and we are grateful to all respondents for their contributions to the project. The responses are linked below in alphabetical order by author’s name.

Response to “Global Notation as a Tool for Cross-Cultural and Comparative Music Analysis”
Amy Bauer

Response to “Global Notation as a Tool for Cross-Cultural and Comparative Music Analysis”
Tara Browner

Response to “Global Notation as a Tool for Cross-Cultural and Comparative Music Analysis”
James Burns

Response to “Global Notation as a Tool for Cross-Cultural and Comparative Music Analysis”
George Worlasi Kwasi Dor

The Dream of a Universal Notation: An Appreciation
Alexander Rehding

Andrew Killick’s “Global Notation” and the Paradox of Universal Specificity
Michael Schachter

Global Notation: Swapping Freedoms
Michael Tenzer

From Staff to Global: A Response to Killick
Richard Widdess

Contributor Information:

Amy Bauer is Associate Professor of Music Theory at the University of California, Irvine.

Tara Browner holds a joint appointment in American Indian Studies and Ethnomusicology at UCLA. She is the author of Heartbeat of the People: Music and Dance of the Northern Pow-Wow (University of Illinois Press, 2002), editor of Music of the First Nations: Tradition and Innovation in Native North American Music (University of Illinois Press, 2009), editor of Songs from “A New Circle of Voices”: The 16th Annual Pow-wow at UCLA (Music of the United States of America [MUSA], A-R Editions, Madison, Wisconsin, 2008), and co-editor of Rethinking American Music (University of Illinois Press, 2019).

James Burns is Associate Professor of Music and Africana Studies at Binghamton University.

George Worlasi Kwasi Dor is the holder of the McDonnell-Barksdale Chair of Ethnomusicology, Professor of Music, and the founder and director of the African Drum and Dance Ensemble (OMADDE) at the University of Mississippi.

Alexander Rehding is Fanny Peabody Professor of Music at Harvard University.

Michael Schachter is a Junior Fellow in the Harvard University Society of Fellows.

Michael Tenzer is Professor of Music at the University of British Columbia.

Richard Widdess is Emeritus Professor of Musicology in the Department of Music, School of Arts, SOAS University of London.

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