Music Theory

Assistant Professor of Music Theory Leah Frederick will join the College of Music in fall 2024.

Associate Professor of Music Theory Steven Bruns and the late, renowned composer George Crumb shared a close, long-lasting professional relationship and a deep friendship that began in 1992. As Bruns nears retirement this spring, he reflects on his role as Crumb’s archivist and biographer.

Alumnus Dylan Fixmer’s variegated and prolific career aims to inspire empathy and advance community engagement.

When it comes to 20th- and 21st-century music, Professor of Music Theory Daphne Leong—along with her colleagues in the world of rhythm in music performance and scholarship—engages in intense research and endless experimentation which brought her to Montreal’s McGill University for a recent residency.

Congratulations to Izzy Fincher—the College of Music’s Outstanding Graduating Senior this spring—who will graduate with a BM in classical guitar performance, a BA in journalism, a business minor with a Music Entrepreneurship Certificate and a Music Theory Certificate, exemplifying the College of Music’s universal musician mission.

Venezuelan Andres Orco is a DMA guitar student in our Thompson Jazz Studies Program with a special interest in advanced rhythm and meter in jazz; as such, he’s also pursuing a Certificate in Music Theory. “Through the certificate program, I received a multidisciplinary education that I think has made me a more well-rounded musician and educator.”

New master’s student Julia Sills—a teaching assistant in the College of Music’s theory department—is researching popular music with a special focus on harmony and rhythm. “I believe music that is relevant to modern popular culture should have a space in academic literature.”