09/15/2026
Music Theory Down Under!
Music theory was the top priority down under as Johanna Frymoyer, assistant professor of music theory, journeyed to Australia to share her research with international scholars and students.
A trip highlight was a visit to the world-famous Sydney Opera House with sixteen Notre Dame study abroad students to hear Mozart's Requiem and other sacred works. The event was co-sponsored by ND Study Abroad and the Department of Music. She also gave research talks at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Second International Symposium on Musical Topics and Performance Practice hosted by the University of Melbourne. At both venues, she presented material from her book-in-progress, Metronomic Modernism, a study of the ideologies and actualities of performance timing in early twentieth-century music. Her travel was supported by a Franco Family International Conference Travel Grant.
Despite similarities in language and culture between the U.S. and Australia, the trip was not without culture shock. Australian Rules Football is a bewildering mix of American football, basketball, soccer, and Quidditch. Nonetheless, Frymoyer was delighted to discover an unexpected connection: the Sydney Swans AFL team uses the Notre Dame Victory March as their official fight song—arranged as a Broadway-meets-country mashup and featuring, improbably, an extended banjo solo.
Embracing Aussie culture, Frymoyer also balanced work with fun, catching waves at the legendary Bondi Beach. Comparing learning to surf with learning music theory, Frymoyer explained, "As professors, we're expected to be the experts in the room. But to be an effective teacher, it's important to remember what it's like to be a beginner at something really difficult, and get knocked around a bit while trying. It reminds me how our challenging classes might feel to our students and of the relationship between resilience and learning." Pressed if the two disciplines really had that much in common, Frymoyer continued, "Music theory has all sorts of dangerous hazards: doubled leading tones, incorrectly resolved chordal sevenths, and parallel fifths. Like great white sharks and riptides, these are best avoided."
https://www.sydneyswans.com.au/club/fan-hq/club-song
