HAMMOND — A Southeastern Louisiana University music instructor has been selected by the Society for American Music to deliver a lecture as part of a nationwide series marking the 250 anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Everette Scott Smith, instructor of double reeds and historical musicology, was chosen to represent Louisiana in the Society for American Music's "Sounding the Nation at 250" series. The organization selected only one music historian from each state.

The event is scheduled Sept. 17 at 5 p.m. at the Hammond Regional Arts Center, located at 217 E. Thomas St. in Hammond. It is titled "John Cage's Rock Music: Ryoanji and the Art of Graphic Notation."

Smith said the lecture-performance introduces audiences to the visual art of graphic musical notation, environmental listening and participatory music-making through a collaborative performance of John Cage's 'Ryoanji' (1983) for oboe and percussion obbligato.

Following Cage's suggestion that the obbligato may be performed by a single player, a group or even an orchestra, audience members will be invited to contribute sounds using simple percussion instruments provided at the event.

"In this way, listeners become collaborators, transforming the performance space into an immersive sonic environment surrounding the oboe soloist and echoing the spatial experience of the Ryoan-ji garden," Smith explained.

Following the lecture-performance, visitors may view a select display of graphic notation scores created by students in Smith's graduate music history seminar on Modernism.

For more information about the lecture-performance, contact Smith at everette.smith@southeastern.edu.