Supplemental Information: Episode 8
One Block to Rule Them All: The Single-Block Form in African Music
Alice (Bai) Xue (Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University)
Release Date: Thursday, June 11, 2026
Production Credits
Team Lead: Caitlin Martinkus
Production Lead: Mark Micchelli
Peer Reviewers: Martin Scherzinger
Acknowledgements: SMT-Pod editorial and production team, Megan Lyons, Martin Scherzinger, Robert Komaniecki, Mark Micchelli
Music Credits
SMT-Pod Theme Music: Maria Tartaglia
Closing Music: Yike Zhang
See discography in Supplemental Materials
Bio: Alice (Bai) Xue earned her PhD in Music Theory from the CUNY Graduate Center and currently teaches at New York University. Her research spans a wide range of interests, with a current focus on form and structure in African traditional music. Outside of her academic work, Alice is an active musician, a trumpet player who performs in the vibrant music scenes of New York City.
Keywords: African music; musical form; repetition; single-block form; call-and-response