UBC Assistant Professor Dr. Anabel Maler and UBC Lecturer Dr. Robert Komaniecki have received the Emerging Scholar Article Award for their coauthored article, “Rhythmic Techniques in Deaf Hip Hop” from the Society for Music Theory.
Their research looks at the rhythmic techniques of ‘dip hop’. A subgenre of hip hop that emerged in the 1990s that involves a Deaf or hard-of-hearing artists simultaneously performing vocalized and signed rapping over a looped background beat.
“In this paper, we combine techniques adapted from analyzing rhythm in non-signed rap music with techniques adapted from analyzing signed songs and sign language poetry in order to analyze the rhythmic flow of tracks by dip hop artists Sean Forbes, Wawa, and Signmark. Specifically, we ask how the paradigms of vocal hip hop, signed songs, and signed poetry interact and intersect in signed rap songs.”
Warren “Wawa” Snipe on Dip-Hop and how he wants to challenge the myths of Deaf musicians.
Society for Music Theory
The Society for Music Theory promotes the development of and engagement with music theory as a scholarly and pedagogical discipline. We construe this discipline broadly as embracing all approaches, from conceptual to practical, and all perspectives, including those of the scholar, listener, composer, performer, teacher, and student. The Society is committed to fostering diversity, inclusivity, and gender equity in the field.
