USU Honors Presents 46th Annual Honors Last Lecture with Timothy Chenette

The Utah State University Honors Program presents the 46th Annual Honors Last Lecture featuring Timothy Chenette, the 2021 Honors Outstanding Professor. Chenette will deliver a lecture titled “Listening to Dissonance” via Zoom on Wednesday, Nov. 3, from 3:30-4:30 p.m., followed by a live Q&A.

Chenette is an associate professor in the Caine College of the Arts, where he teaches music theory and aural skills in the Department of Music. Chenette’s research involves early music and music-theory pedagogy, focusing primarily on the improvement of aural-skills instruction and accessibility through a better understanding of the brain. In this year’s Honors Last Lecture, Chenette explores the specific effects of musical dissonance and the broader value of attending to life’s various dissonances.

“The more we learn about any given topic, the more we will hear dissonances—ideas, forces or objects that seem to work at cross-purposes,” Chenette said. “It’s tempting to ignore them or get annoyed at them, but our lives will be richer and more meaningful when we really listen to them.”

Chenette has presented research at the national conference for the Society of Music Theory, regional music theory societies and the Gesualdo 400th Anniversary Conference in York, England. Chenette has also published in journals including Music Theory Online and Engaging Students: Essays in Music Pedagogy.

Initiated in 1976, the Honors Last Lecture is a long-standing USU tradition that showcases one Honors Outstanding Professor each year. Honors students nominate tenured faculty whose teaching and mentoring have made marked impacts on their lives. A committee of Honors students interviews nominees and selects one exceptional professor to imagine and deliver a “last lecture” at USU, if there were only one more to give.

“This event engages the entire community — students, faculty, alumni, friends and other stakeholders — in celebrating the teachers and mentors who have transformed the experience of our students here at USU,” said Kristine Miller, professor of English and executive director of the Utah State University Honors Program.

Throughout the event, audience members are invited to use the Zoom Q&A tool to ask questions, which Chenette will address after the lecture in a live Q&A moderated by Christopher Scheer, associate professor of music at USU.

This lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.usu.edu/honors/last-lecture. To join the Zoom lecture on Nov. 3, visit tinyurl.com/LastLecture2021.