My teaching at the Boston University School of Music ranges from chromatic harmony and form and analysis for 18th and 19th century music to topics in music theory for 20th century and contemporary music and musical traditions outside of Europe. In my teaching of the core theory topics, my approach is distinguished by the introduction of more recent theoretical paradigms into curricula (e.g., form-functional theory, neo-Riemannian theory, scale theory) and developing units dealing with rhythm to complement the traditional harmony-centered approach.
I have also developed a number of new courses and special-topic courses:
Music Theories of the World, MT411/MT711 (to be offered next Spring 2023): This course develops a global perspective on music theory by covering the theories of traditions from a wide ethnic and geographical range, from southeast Asia to the Middle East to Africa and African diaspora.
Music Perception and Cognition, MT472/MT772 (to be offered next Spring 2024): This course covers a flexible set of topics in music psychology and gives students the tools to interpret scientific literature on how we perceive, process, make, and listen to music.
Theories of Rhythm and Time (Taught as a special topic, MT751, in Spring 2018): This special topic course covers theories of meter, rhythm, and musical time from the middle ages to contemporary music, blending disciplinary approaches from music theory and analysis, history of theory, music psychology, and music composition.
Composers as Theorists in the Twentieth Century (To be taught as a special topic, MT751, semester TBA): Many influential composers in the twentieth century were also some of the most important theorists. This class investigates how a creative outlook leads to a distinctive approach to music theory by studying the theoretical writings and music of composers like Olivier Messiaen, Iannis Xenakis, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Milton Babbitt, Henry Cowell, Elliott Carter, Harry Partch, Gérard Grisey, and Fred Lerdahl.
Music and Text (Taught as special topic, MT302, Spring 2017): Analysis of music with text from the 18th century to the present. Methods of analyzing texts and relating them to composers’ melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic choices and musical forms. Covers conventions of aria, lied, partsong, and choral repertoire.
