Curriculum Vitae
Link to PDF (updated April 2024)
Academic Appointments
New York University
Assistant Professor, Department of Music, 2024–
Visiting Assistant Professor (tenure track), Department of Music, 2022–24
Education
Yale University
Ph.D., Music Theory (2022)
Dissertation: “Keep It Barbershop: Stylistic Preservation and Whiteness in the Barbershop Harmony Society”
Committee: Ian Quinn (advisor), Michael Denning, Braxton D. Shelley, Michael E. Veal
M.A., M.Phil., Music Theory (2019)
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
M.M., Music Theory (2016)
University of Michigan
B.M., Viola Performance and Music Theory (with high honors) (2014)
Publications
Monograph
Racial Dissonance: American Barbershop Harmony in the Age of Jim Crow (in progress)
Journal Articles
“Barbershop’s Cautionary Tale for Academic Music Theory: A Response to Stephen Lett,” Music Theory Spectrum 45, no. 1 (2023): 120–24 (invited)
“Working Collectively: Thoughts toward a Better Music Studies from the Project Spectrum Graduate Student Committee” (co-authored with Anna Beatrice Gatdula, Hyeonjin Park, Carlo Aguilar González, Sinem Eylem Arslan, Hanisha Kulothparan, Gerardo Lopez, Brian Veasna Sengdala, and Renata Yazzie), American Music 40, no. 4 (2022): 444–52 (Special Issue: Marking Forty Years of American Music) (invited)
“Race, Retention, and Identity-Based Service in Music Theory,” Theory and Practice 46 (2021): 1–22 (invited)
“Metrical Ambiguity in the Scherzo of Brahms’s String Sextet, Op. 18,” Music Theory and Analysis 8, no. 1 (2021): 41–59
Book Chapters
“Music Theory, Race, and the Barbershop Harmony Society,” in The Oxford Handbook of Public Music Theory, ed. J. Daniel Jenkins (New York: Oxford University Press, 2022 [advance online publication]) (invited)
Reviews
Review of Philip Ewell, On Music Theory, and Making Music More Welcoming for Everyone (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2023), Music Theory Online 29, no. 4 (co-authored with Jade Conlee) (2023)
Short-Form Essays
“Strange Fruit, Familiar Tune,” in Being Black in the Ivory: Truth-Telling about Racism in Higher Education, ed. Shardé M. Davis (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2024), 73–74 (invited)
“Being a Black Ph.D. Student Following George Floyd’s Murder,” Inside Higher Ed, Career Advice (June 11, 2020)
Works in Progress
“Have You Got Good Barbershop Religion? Music Education, Evangelism, and Stylistic Gatekeeping in American Barbershop,” in the colloquy, “The Musicology of Education: From Text to Act to Acquisition,” convened by Michael Weinstein-Reiman and Lindsay Wright (essay under review of colloquy organizers)
“The Hidden Politics of Public Music Theory,” Music Theory Spectrum 47, no. 1 (2025) (special issue on public music theory; invited) (in preparation)
“Anche se piove la musica suona’: Virality and impegno in tormentoni estivi, 2016–19” (co-authored with Isabella Livorni) (in preparation)
Fellowships, Awards, & Grants
Fellowships
Faculty Fellowship, Center for the Humanities, New York University (2022–23)
Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship, American Council of Learned Societies (2021–22)
Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship (2021–22, declined)
Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, Institute for Citizens & Scholars (2021–22, declined)
Runner-Up, Robert Walser and Susan McClary Fellowship, Society for American Music (2021–22)
Howard Mayer Brown Fellowship, American Musicological Society (2020–21, accepted on a non-stipendiary basis)
Margery Morgan Lowens Dissertation Research Fellowship, Society for American Music (2020)
Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship (Italian), U.S. Department of Education (2020)
GSAS Dean’s Emerging Scholars Fellowship, Yale University (2016–19)
Research Awards and Grants
Working Group Grant (with Sarah Louden), Center for the Humanities, New York University (2023–25)
Cluster Initiative Collaborative Grant, Office of Inclusion, Arts and Science, New York University (2023)
Dena Epstein Award for Archival and Library Research in American Music, Music Library Association (2021)
Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration (RITM) Research and Conference Travel Award, Yale University (2020)
Grand Central Red Caps Scholarship, Barbershop Harmony Society (2019)
MacMillan Center International Conference Travel Grant (2x), Yale University (2019)
Graduate Student Assembly Conference Travel Fellowship (3x), Yale University (2018–19)
Research Grant, Four Freshmen Music Foundation (2018)
Minority Travel Grant, Society for Music Theory (2014)
Other Awards and Honors
Teaching Advancement Grant (with Sarah Louden), Center for Faculty Advancement, New York University (2023–24)
MPower Artist Grant (on behalf of Project Spectrum) (2x), Sphinx Organization (2018, 2020)
Student Grant for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (on behalf of the Grant Hagan Society), Yale University (2020)
Supplemental Academic Award, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (2014–16)
James B. Angell Scholar, University of Michigan (2014)
Merit-based music scholarship, University of Michigan (2011–14)
Tradition Scholarship, University of Michigan (2010–14)
Invited Presentations
“Uncovering (Anti-)Blackness in American Barbershop Harmony,” Department of Music and Theater Arts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, March 7, 2024
“Listening for Unsung Heroes: Black Life during Barbershop’s Segregated Era, 1938–1963,” Colloquium Series, Department of Music, Columbia University, New York, NY, April 14, 2023
“Methodology and Identity: A (Black) Music Theorist’s Perspective,” for “Music Theory and Ethnomusicology: Towards Methodological Synergy,” SMT Committee on Race and Ethnicity, SMT World Music Analysis Interest Group, and SEM Music Analysis Special Interest Group; AMS/SEM/SMT Joint Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, November 10–13
“‘Stay in Your Own Backyard’: Race, Purity, and the Cost of ‘Keeping it Barbershop’”
—Department of Music (Arts & Science), New York University, New York, NY, September 20, 2021
—Musicology Colloquium Series, Department of Music, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, April 30, 2021 (online)
—Visiting Artist & Scholars Series, Department of Music, Utah State University, Logan, UT, January 29, 2021 (online)
—Colloquium Series, Department of Music, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, November 5, 2020 (online)
“Equity and Activism in the Arts: The Case of Music Studies,” Caine Scholars for Excellence Program, Utah State University, Logan, UT, March 11, 2021 (online)
“The Role of the Privileged: Labor, Service, and How to Be an Effective Ally” (for Project Spectrum’s keynote address, “After ‘Reframing Music Theory’: Doing the Work”), Music Theory Society of New York State Annual Meeting, online, August 9, 2019
“Presses and Journals Receiving SMT Publication Awards, 1999–2018” (for roundtable, “SMT Award Demographics, Past and Present”), Scholars for Social Responsibility Interest Group, Society for Music Theory Annual Meeting, Columbus, OH, November 7–10, 2019
“Harmony and Voice Leading in the Music of The Four Freshmen, 1955–1961,” Four Freshmen Annual Convention, South Bend, IN, October 18–20, 2018
Conference Presentations
“Music in the Blood: Race Pseudoscience in Barbershop Harmony,” American Musicological Society and Society for Music Theory Joint Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, November 9–12, 2023
“Black Barbershop by Another Name: Gatekeeping and Genre in Close Harmony,” Theorizing African American Music, University of Colorado, Denver, CO, November 8, 2023
“Barbershop Harmony, Racial Dissonance: The Case of ‘Project N’”
—American Musicological Society Annual Meeting, online, November 11–12, 20–21, 2021
—American Studies Association Annual Meeting, online, October 7–10, 2021
“Race, Recreation, and Family in the Barbershop Harmony Society,” Association for the Study of African American Life and History Annual Meeting, online, September 13–30, 2021
“‘What Are We Trying to Preserve?’ Race, Segregation, and Music Theory in the Barbershop Harmony Society”
—International Association for the Study of Popular Music–United States Annual Meeting, online, May 19–22, 2021 (originally scheduled for May 21–23, 2020)
—Society for Music Theory Annual Meeting, online, November 7–8, 14–15, 2020
“Everyone in Harmony? Preservation, Inclusivity and Musical Style in the Barbershop Harmony Society,” Society for American Music Annual Meeting, online, July 16–18, 2020
“The Imposition of Meter in John Adams’s Shaker Loops”
—Society for Music Theory Annual Meeting, Columbus, OH, November 7–10, 2019
—Music Theory Midwest Annual Meeting, London, ON, Canada, May 18–19, 2018
“‘Anche se piove la musica suona’: Satire and impegno in Recent tormentoni estivi”
—American Musicological Society Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, October 31–November 3, 2019
—Viral Italian Sounds, University of California, Berkeley, CA, May 9–10, 2019
Invited Participation in Panels, Roundtables, and Workshops
Respondent, Matthew D. Morrison on Blacksound: Making Race and Popular Music in the United States, Seminar in American Studies, Columbia University, April 3, 2024
Panelist, “Colors of Italy: Exploring Race and Identities through Music,” Consulate General of Italy in New York, February 8, 2024
Respondent, Ann Morning on An Ugly Word: Rethinking Race in Italy and the United States, Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, New York University, January 31, 2024
Panelist, “Reimagining the Music Theory Curriculum: A Cross-School Collaboration Towards Anti-Racism, Decolonization, and Globalization at NYU” (annual NYU/AMS lecture), New York University, New York, NY, May 1, 2023
Accelerator Workshop Participant, “A Music Theory Curriculum for the 21st Century,” Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, January 19–20, 2023
Panelist, “An Ugly Word: Rethinking ‘Race’ In Italy—and Worldwide” (book event for Ann Morning), NYU Abu Dhabi Institute in New York, October 11, 2022
Panelist, “Let’s Start From the Beginning: Equity in Music Theory and History,” Longy School of Music of Bard College, Cambridge, MA, March 1, 2022 (online)
Discussant, “White Stories, Black Histories, and Desegregating the Music Curriculum,” lecture by Philip A. Ewell, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, October 19, 2021 (online)
Respondent, “Jim Crow and Zip Coon: Racial Stereotypes in American Popular Music,” lecture by Susan Hellauer, Music Before 1800, April 11, 2021 (online)
Participant (on behalf of the Society for Music Theory), Intention Foundry, American Council of Learned Societies, April 8–9, 2021 (online)
Panelist, “Young and Bold: Examples of Youth Activism and Early Successes in Student-Led Initiatives,” SphinxConnect 2021: Unity, Sphinx Organization, January 28–30, 2021 (online)
Conferences, Panels, and Workshops Organized (selected)
Co-Organizer (until May 2022), “In Discomfort,” symposium organized by Project Spectrum (founder and co-chair), pre-conference to the American Musicological Society, Society for Music Theory, and Society for Ethnomusicology Joint Annual Meeting, November 9–10, 2022
Lead Organizer and Presenter, “Segregated Voices: Oppression and Self-Determination in the Jim Crow Era,” session organized with A. Kori Hill and Carol J. Oja, chaired by Tammy L. Kernodle, American Musicological Society Annual Meeting, online, November 11–12, 20–21, 2021
Co-Organizer and Chair, “Scholars as Community Activists: Abolition and Anti-Racism in Practice,” workshop organized by Project Spectrum (founder and co-chair) in collaboration with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, Society for Music Theory Annual Meeting, online, November 4–7, 2021 (invited)
Co-Organizer and Moderator, “Diversifying Music Academia: Building the Coalition,” organized by Project Spectrum (founder and committee member), virtual pre-conference to the American Musicological Society and Society for Music Theory Joint Annual Meeting, October 11, 18, 25, & November 1, 2020
Co-Organizer and Panelist, “After ‘Reframing Music Theory’: Doing the Work,” organized by Project Spectrum (founder and committee member), keynote address for the Music Theory Society of New York State Annual Meeting, online, July 2020 (originally scheduled for April 4–5) (invited)
Co-Organizer and Moderator, “Diversifying Music Academia: Strengthening the Pipeline,” organized by Project Spectrum (founder and chair), pre-conference to the American Musicological Society and Society for Music Theory Joint Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, October 31–November 1, 2018
Teaching Experience
New York University
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Music (2022–)
Critical Work in Race and Music Theory (graduate), Spring 2024
Race and Vocal Harmony in the United States (undergraduate), Fall 2022
Yale University
Instructor of Record, Department of Music (2018–20)
Elementary Musicianship II, Spring 2020
Elementary Studies in Analysis and Model Composition II, Fall 2019
Elementary Studies in Analysis and Model Composition I, Spring 2019
Elementary Musicianship I, Fall 2018
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
Teaching Assistant, Department of Music Theory (2014–16)
Musical Skills II, Spring 2016
Musical Skills IV, Fall 2015
Music Theory and Literature II, Spring 2015
Music Theory and Literature I, Fall 2014
Sphinx Organization
Instructor of Record, Sphinx Performance Academy (string quartet camp) (2016–17)
Proposed and developed curriculum to introduce music theory fundamentals during two-week string quartet summer camp for Black and Latinx musicians ages 12–17 (two sessions each summer)
Invited Guest Lectures
Presenter and discussant on barbershop music theory and culture, Analytical Perspectives (course taught by Jonathan A. Gómez), University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, March 2, 2023 (online)
“Harmony and Form in Stevie Wonder’s ‘Overjoyed’” and “Toward Dismantling the White Racial Frame,” Popular Music Recorded by African Americans (course taught by Walter Everett), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, October 25, 2021 (online); Analysis of Pop-Rock Music (Everett), October 15, 2020 (online)
Presenter and discussant on race in music theory scholarship, Proseminar in Music Theory (course taught by Edward Klorman), McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, September 28, 2021 (online)
Presentation (in Italian) on Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Italian through Opera and Film (course taught by Anna Iacovella), Yale University, New Haven, CT, September 21
“From Barbershop to the Beach Boys: Brian Wilson’s Vocal Influences,” The Beach Boys in American Culture and Counterculture (course taught by Daniel Harrison), Yale University, New Haven, CT, March 17, 2021 (online)
Presenter and discussant on “Critical Work in Race and Music Theory,” Music Theory Proseminar (course taught by Ellie M. Hisama), Columbia University, New York, NY, February 22, 2021 (online)
“Harmony and Form in Stevie Wonder’s ‘Overjoyed,’” Music Theory III (course taught by Sara Bakker), Utah State University, Logan, UT, February 5, 2021 (online)
Discussant on music theory and culture in the Barbershop Harmony Society, Contemporary Pop A Cappella (course taught by Timothy Chenette), Utah State University, Logan, UT, February 1, 2021 (online)
Related Experience
Professional
Fellow, Office for Graduate Student Development and Diversity, Yale University (2018–20)
Assistant Concert Producer, “Africa into Jazz/Jazz into Africa” Concert Series, Yale University (2016–17)
Senior Strings Semi-Finalist Liaison, Grand Prize Liaison; M-Prize Competition, University of Michigan (2016)
Semi-Finalist/Finalist Liaison, 18th–20th Annual Sphinx Competitions (2015–17)
Mentorship
Mentor, Office for Graduate Student Development and Diversity, Yale University (2018–20)
Dorm Parent, Sphinx Performance Academy (string quartet camp) (2015–17)
High School Boys Counselor, Interlochen Arts Camp (2013)
Mentor, Ypsilanti Youth Orchestra (Saturday-morning music program) (2011–14)
Creative
Arranger/orchestrator (soundcloud.com/cliffviola) (2010–16)
Studied orchestration with Paul Schoenfeld (University of Michigan; 2012, 2014) and Aaron Travers (Indiana University Jacobs School of Music; 2015–16)
Service to the Profession
Committees
Member-at-Large, Council, American Musicological Society (2023–26)
Affiliate Board, Project Spectrum (2022–)
SMT-40 Dissertation Fellowship Committee, Society for Music Theory (2022–24; Chair, 2023–24)
Engaged Music Theory Working Group (2020–; Blog Post Editor, 2022–; Mentor, Publication Program, 2023–)
Committee on Cultural Diversity, American Musicological Society (2021–23)
Mentor, Proposal Mentoring Program, Committee on the Status of Women, Society for Music Theory (2021–22)
Program Committee, Society for American Music 2022 Annual Meeting, Tuscon, AZ (2021)
Founder, Project Spectrum (2017–22; Chair, 2017–19; Co-Chair, 2021–22)
Committee on Race and Ethnicity, Society for Music Theory (2017–20; Mentorship Coordinator, 2019–20)
Editorial Boards
Scholarship and Research, College Music Symposium (2022–25)
Peer Review
College Music Symposium (2x); Engaging Students: Essays in Music Pedagogy; Music Theory and Analysis; Open Access Musicology; Theory and Practice
Sessions Chaired
“Isochrony,” Music Theory Society of New York State Annual Meeting, New York University, New York, NY, April 1–2, 2023
“Appropriation and the Designs of White Identity,” AMS/SEM/SMT Joint Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, November 10–13, 2022
Mentorship
Mentor, Proposal Mentoring Program, Committee on the Status of Women, Society for Music Theory
Service to the University
New York University
Co-Convener (with Sarah Louden), “Music Theory for Whom? A Comprehensive Reform of Music Theory Curricula Across NYU” (working group), Department of Music (FAS) and Music and Performing Arts Professions (Steinhardt) (2023–25)
Faculty Advisor, Graduate Student Conference, Department of Music (2023–24)
Mentor, Proud to be First (Faculty Connect), College of Arts and Science (2023)
Workshop Leader (CV and Cover Letters), Faculty First Look, Faculty of Arts and Science (2023)
Workshop Organizer, “Preparing for the Academic Job Market,” Department of Music (2022–23)
Yale University
Co-Founder, Grant Hagan Society, Department of Music (2017–; Co-Chair, 2019–20)
Founder, Fellowship Application Working Group, Department of Music (2019–; Co-Convener, 2019–20)
Professional Development Committee, Department of Music (2016–20; Chair, 2017–19)
Website Co-Manager, Graduate Music Symposium, Department of Music (2018)
Guest Lecture Committee, Department of Music (2016–17)
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
Circulation Manager, Indiana Theory Review (2015–16)
Treasurer, Graduate Theory Association (GTA) (2015–16)
Session Chair (“Romantic Forms”), GTA Annual Research Symposium (2016)
Program Committee, GTA Annual Research Symposium (2015)
Hospitality Chair, GTA Annual Research Symposium (2015)
Professional Memberships
American Musicological Society
American Studies Association
Association for the Study of African American Life and History
International Association for the Study of Popular Music–United States
Music Theory Society of New York State
Society for American Music
Society for Music Theory
Languages
English: native
Italian: fluent (Certificate of Knowledge of the Italian Language, Level C1, CELI 4)
German: reading knowledge
Select Performance Experience
Yale Camerata Chamber Chorus, Yale Institute of Sacred Music (2016–18)
University Singers (chamber choir), Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (2015–16)
Symphony Orchestra, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (2014–15)
University Philharmonia and Symphony Orchestras, University of Michigan (2010–14)
References
Ian Quinn
Professor of Music Theory
Yale University
(203) 436-5123
ian.quinn@yale.edu
Brigid Cohen
Associate Professor of Music
New York University
(646) 771-3448
bc64@nyu.edu
Braxton D. Shelley
Associate Professor of Music, Sacred Music, and of Divinity
Yale University
(203) 432-2267
braxton.shelley@yale.edu
Matthew D. Morrison
Associate Professor, Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music
New York University
(212) 992-6642
matthew.morrison@nyu.edu