Samels was a doctoral student in choral conducting and an associate professor in the music theory department.
He was among five Jacobs School of Music Students who died in a plane crash in 2006.
The Five Friends Master Class Series honors the students killed in the crash: Chris Carducci, Garth Eppley, Georgina Joshi, Zachary Novak and Samels.
McCreless’ lecture is called “You Are the Music, While the Music Lasts.”
The lecture will take place at 4 p.m. Friday in Ford-Crawford Hall.
The Five Friends Master Class Series was created in 2012 with an endowment from the families of the students.
It’s an annual series of lectures, master classes and residencies in the music school.
Associate professor of music Julian Hook said the series features several distinguished guests throughout the semester and McCreless was invited to speak because he has written extensively about music theory and other areas of music that are relevant to Jacobs students.
In addition to Friday’s lecture, McCreless’ visit to IU involves lectures in graduate classes at Jacobs and a lecture for the Music Theory Colloquium Series on Wednesday, Sept. 16.
However, McCreless said Friday’s lecture is aimed at music students in general, rather than just music theory students.
McCreless said his lecture focuses on a variety of topics, but the main idea is to show connections between music and cultural figures that would not normally be grouped together.
“I think what ties it together is the idea of serendipity,” McCreless said.
He said he connects two things that do not seem to have anything to do with each other and finds their similarity.
McCreless said the first part of his presentation is about the connection he found between musings by poet T.S. Eliot, “you are the music/ While the music lasts,” and jazz musician Louis Armstrong, “Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them.”
Eliot is a central figure of highbrow, elitist culture, while Armstrong represents popular culture, McCreless said.
McCreless said he makes another connection between the classical composer Franz Schubert and singer Johnny Cash.
“As an abstraction, think of two cultural figures that you have always put in completely separate boxes, and then something happens that makes you think, ‘Oh my gosh, this could actually be in the same box, at least in certain respects,’” McCreless said.
McCreless said it is his first time presenting a lecture at IU.
“It’s one of the great music schools,” he said.
He said although it seems like an odd lecture because of the broad range of topics, its focus on the idea of happy accidents can be an educational experience for musicians.
McCreless said he would like his lecture to be both enjoyable and thought-provoking for students who attend.
“What I’m looking forward to is the possibility of speaking to a wide range of music students and musicians and to share some of my experiences that have been really meaningful to me and putting them out there,” McCreless said.
