The School of Music at the University of Utah will host a forum that will bring together two unique yet complimentary fields of study: disability and music.

Coming up March 16-18, a series of events titled “Understanding Disability Through Music” will take place on campus, featuring three artist-scholars who will offer a series of talks and performances that will culminate on Friday, March 18, in the Gould Auditorium of the Marriott Library.

Joseph N. Straus, professor of music at the City University of New York Graduate Center; Alex Lubet, a Morse Distinguished Professor of Music at University of Minnesota; and Stefan Honisch, acclaimed pianist and faculty member at the University of British Columbia, will be joining the faculty and students of the School of Music for two days of teaching and performing before appearing at the forum.

Here is the schedule for March 18, which is free to the public:

10 a.m.: Welcome and background on Disability Studies

10:30 a.m.: Panel Discussion: “Representing Disability in Music and the Arts,” featuring Joseph N. Straus, Alex Lubet and Stefan Honisch. Panelists will explore how disability is represented by music, in language and cognitive structure surrounding music and its history.

12:15 p.m.: Disability Studies Poster Session

1:30 p.m.: Lecture/Recital: “Performing Disability” by pianist Stefan Honisch (above), which includes his reflections about the impact that moving through the world has had upon his life as a performer and how this difference in mobility informs his musical conception.

2 p.m.: Keynote Address – “Normal Hearing,” by Joseph N. Straus. For people with disabilities, including people who are deaf, blind, autistic and mobility impaired, the perception of music is shaped by physical differences of structure and functioning of their extraordinary bodies. The same is true for people whose musical abilities are either exceptional or “normal” – musical hearing and understanding arise from the body.

3:30 p.m.: Concert – “Multiple Senses: Music Inspired by the Deaf,” featuring musical performance by composer David Snedegar, followed by discussion of audience experience of perceiving and enjoying music with multiple senses.

Before the final forum on Friday, March 18, the visiting scholars/artists will present other events that are free and open to the public. On Wednesday, March 16 at 2 p.m., Alex Lubet will offer a colloquium titled “A Musical Model of Disability” in David Gardner Hall, Room 302. At 7 p.m. the same night, Lubet will offer a lecture/recital titled “Broken Chords: Music for Impaired Hands” in Thompson Chamber Music Hall. The following day, Thursday, March 17, Joseph N. Straus will offer a colloquium at 2 p.m. titled “Twelve-Tone Music is Wrong (and the truth is much more interesting),” which relates to his 2009 book of the same title. Later that night, Stefan Honisch will present a lecture and recital titled “Performing Disability” at 7:30 p.m. in Dumke Recital Hall.

For more information on this forum, visit www.disabilitystudies.utah.edu.