Her Music Academia

In this bonus episode, I chat with Dr. Brad Osborn (University of Kansas) about his musical upbringing, his experience in grad school at Florida State and the University of Washington, and how he got into popular music research. We also discuss his latest work on MTV Buzz Clips from the 90's and the music of his metal band, D'Archipelago. Brad's podcast about music and mental health Br...

In this special bonus episode, I chat with Jair Gallardo, the official editor for Her Music Academia! We discuss his musical upbringing inspired by video game music, how we met in community college, and his experiences as a multi-instrumentalist and teacher. We also chat about how he got into audio editing and engineering, his creative process, and some of his current creative projects. Connect wi...

In this solo episode, I chat all about my last semester of classes, my final papers, and my experience teaching aural skills at the sophomore level. I also discuss embarking on my first archival trips and balancing my research with my various singing endeavors. Finally, I contemplate my yearly theme of imagination and give an update on the podcast's new release schedule. "The Captive Mate...

In our last episode for Women's History Month, I chat with Dr. Rachel Lumsden (Florida State University) about her experiences as a flautist, her time in grad school at CUNY, and the music theory curriculum at FSU. We also discuss how she got into music theory and feminist studies, as well as her award winning MTO article "Music Theory for the 'Weaker Sex': Oliveria Prescott’s Col...

Our third episode for Women's History Month, in which I chat with Dr. Candace Bailey (North Carolina Central University) about her musical upbringing as a pianist, her path to historical musicology, and her time in graduate school at Duke. We also discuss her current music history curriculum at NCCU and her 2021 book Unbinding Gentility: Women Making Music in the 19th Century South . Unbinding...

In our second episode for Women's History Month, I chat with Dr. Jan Miyake (Oberlin Conservatory) about her musical upbringing, her path to music theory, and her current tenure as the president of the Society for Music Theory. We also discuss her course "Questioning Genius," which challenges students to analyze a wide range of music and introduces "ungrading" into the clas...

Our first episode for Women's History Month! I chat with Dr. Louise Toppin (University of Michigan) about her musical upbringing, her experience studying piano and voice, and her time as a graduate student at Michigan. We also discuss her current book project with the Humanities Collaboratory and her African American art song class. Humanities Collaboratory Our Florence Price radio episode Get...

For our last episode of Black History Month, I chat with Willard Jenkins about his early interest in record collecting, how he began writing reviews of jazz, and his time in festival management, specifically with the DC Jazz Festival. We also discuss his book project Ain't But A Few Of Us , which features several Black writers, critics, and music academics who write about Black music. Ain'...

On our third episode for Black History Month, I chat with musician, entrepreneur, poet, and spoken word artist Aaron Dworkin (University of Michigan) all about his musical upbringing, his work in arts leadership, and his experience founding the Sphinx Organization. We also chat about his 2023 spoken word album The Poetjournalist , and explore the various intersections of art, storytelling, and Bla...

In this episode, I chat with Jerome Bell (Eastman School of Music) about his musical upbringing in the church, his experiences in performance and composition, and how he ended up in a music theory PhD program. We also chat about his recent paper that he presented at the Society for Music Theory annual meeting in November 2023, titled "Modal Fluidity in Millennial Gospel," about shifting...

Welcome back to a new season of the show! On our first episode of Black History Month, I chat with pop music critic and commentator Henny all about their musical upbringing, when they began thinking critically about music, and how they got into content creation. We also discuss the use of different scales, modes, and instrumentation in pop music to elicit a sense of promiscuity, danger, or rebelli...

A special bonus episode, in which I chat with composer, pianist, conductor, and coach Raphael Fusco. We talk about his musical upbringing, how he fashioned such a multifaceted career in music, and his time on the faculty at Opera Lucca, an Italian summer young artist program for singers, pianists, and composers (which I got to attend!). We also discuss and listen to his composition La Contesa Cano...

HMA's last episode of the year, in which I review my fall semester! I chat about the classes I took, give an update on my teaching, discuss my big preliminary exam, and contemplate the conversation surrounding the public music theory plenary session at SMT's annual meeting. I also look back at my theme for 2023 and pick a new theme for 2024. Stay tuned for our new season of HMA beginning F...

Our last episode in the HMA fall season! I chat with Megan Ihnen, a New Orleans based mezzo soprano who collaborates with living composers to commission new works. We discuss her musical upbringing, her work in coaching and entrepreneurship, and her touring duo with alto saxophonist Alan Theisen. We also dive into her workshops on creative placemaking and the role that music making plays in commun...

Episode seven of our fall season, in which I chat with San Fransisco based soprano Chelsea Hollow about her musical upbringing, our shared experiences in community college, and how she's built her current singing career. We also discuss her 2023 debut album Cycles of Resistance , for which she commissioned twenty-two songs about resistance in eight different languages. Finally, we dive into th...

Part two of my conversation with Dr. Owen Belcher (University of Missouri Kansas City), Dr. Catrina Kim, and Dr. Alan Reese (University of Massachusetts Amherst), where we discuss music entrepreneurship, the "usefulness" of music theory, and their recent MTO article, "Public Music Theory's Neoliberal Learning Outcomes." ⁠Public Music Theory's Neoliberal Learning Outcome...

In part one of this episode, I chat with Dr. Owen Belcher (University of Missouri Kansas City), Dr. Catrina Kim, and Dr. Alan Reese (University of Massachusetts Amherst) about their musical upbringings, their time together in grad school at Eastman, and their advice to current music grad students. Stay tuned for part two of our conversation when we chat about their recent MTO article, "Public...

In episode four of our fall season, I chat with Chris Jenkins (Oberlin College) about his musical upbringing in New York, his career as a violist, his current work as the Associate Dean of Academic Support at Oberlin Conservatory, and our shared experiences as Black musicians. We also discuss his new book Assimilation vs. Integration in Music Education: Leading Change Toward Greater Equity . The u...

In episode three of our fall season, I chat with Dr. Patrick Nickleson (University of Alberta) about his musical upbringing in Canada, his background as a guitarist, and his path to musicology. We also discuss his 2023 book The Names of Minimalism: Authorship, Art Music, and Historiography in Dispute , available now through the University of Michigan Press. The Names of Minimalism Philip Ewell&#39...

In the second episode of this season, I chat with Dr. Michael Buchler (Florida State University) about his musical upbringing, his time in grad school at Michigan (go blue!) and Eastman, his research on musical theatre, and his current tenure as the President of the Society for Music Theory. We also discuss his current union work and how that led to his research on the intersection of music and la...

In our first episode of our new season, I chat with YouTuber Cory Arnold (12Tone) all about their musical upbringing, their experiences as a singer, and their journey to making YouTube videos about music theory. Come see Cory and I speak on the Public Music Theory plenary session panel at the Society for Music Theory's annual meeting in November! This episode was edited by Jair G with  ⁠ExpMed...

In this recap episode, I chat all about everything I did this summer, from traveling to Italy to sing opera for a month (!!!), to seeing Beyoncé on the Renaissance World Tour in London (!!!!), to the grad student strike at Michigan officially ending (!!!!!). I also discuss what I've been doing for fun this summer (including some book, music, and podcast recommendations) and give an update on w...

In this episode, I chat with Dr. Teresa Reed (University of Louisville) about her early experiences with music in the Black church, her path to studying music theory at Indiana University, and her time as the dean of music at the University of Louisville. We also chat about her published scholarship, diving into her first book The Holy Profane: Religion in Black Popular Music as well as her latest...

In this episode, I chat with Dr. Daniel Barolsky (Beloit College) about his early experiences as a double bassist, coming to musicology through listening to recordings, and the current music curriculum at his college. We also discuss his work with Open Access Musicology and Daniel Leech-Wilkinson's book Challenging Performance: Classical Music Performance Norms and How to Escape Them . Daniel&...

In part two of our conversation, YouTuber and musician Tayo Omisore (COLORMIND.mp4 on YouTube) and I continue our conversation about "rap covers" and how rap is developing into a canon. We also discuss Tayo's songwriting and production process for his musical interlude segments in his YouTube videos. Tayo's YouTube channel Tayo's Male Friendship video Tayo's Himbo video T...