Clifton Boyd is a music theorist and musicologist based in New York City.
His research lies at the intersection of (racial) identity, politics, and social justice in American popular music. He recently completed his Ph.D. in music theory at Yale University. He is Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at New York University, where he will begin as Assistant Professor of Music in 2024. His book project, Racial Dissonance: American Barbershop Harmony in the Age of Jim Crow, explores how institutions instrumentalize music theory to uphold discriminatory sociopolitical values within their communities. His work has been supported by fellowships from the American Musicological Society, the Society for American Music, and the American Council of Learned Societies, among others.
Boyd’s publications appear or are forthcoming in Music Theory and Analysis, Music Theory Online, Music Theory Spectrum, Theory and Practice, as well as the edited collections The Oxford Handbook for Public Music Theory and Being Black In The Ivory: Truth-Telling About Racism In Higher Education. He has also presented at the annual meetings of the Society for Music Theory, the American Musicological Society, the Society for American Music, the American Studies Association, and the U.S. chapter of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music. Secondary research interests include minimalism, form in nineteenth-century chamber music, musical meter, and Italian popular music.
Research
As chair (2017–19; co-chair, 2021–22) of Project Spectrum, a graduate student–led coalition committed to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in music academia, Boyd led the coalition in the organization of their inaugural national symposium, “Diversifying Music Academia: Strengthening the Pipeline” (2018). On behalf of Project Spectrum, he is twice a recipient of the Sphinx Organization’s MPower Artist Grant. At Yale, he led the founding of the Grant Hagan Society (2019–), a graduate student-led affinity group that supports people of color in the Department of Music. He has also written about his experience of “Being a Black Ph.D. Student Following George Floyd’s Murder” for Inside Higher Ed (2020).
Community Engagement
Etc.
Feel free to browse: his “About” page, his CV, and his compilation of academic resources related to professional development.