interests
My research specializations are in timbre, technology, and popular music. I have developed a new approach to the analysis of timbre that blends spectrogram analysis with cultural studies and ethnographies. I focused there on 1980s popular music and the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer. Since that article, I've given several invited talks on timbre, pop music, and the teaching of those subjects.
The Sega Genesis uses the YM2612 sound chip, which shares most its technology as the Yamaha DX7. This (plus a lifelong love of video games) led me to an interest in ludomusiology, especially video game soundtracks from games released for the Sega Genesis, and multimedia analysis more generally.
My current projects include a collaboration with a percussionist theorizing and analyzing orchestral percussion excerpts. Since beginning this project, I've grown ever increasingly interested in the peculiarities of (especially non-pitched) percussion, both acoustic and electronic. I am also working on an edited collection about methodologies for studying instruments in popular music, under contract with Palgrave Macmillan.
Featured research
Below are some highlights of my output. A complete list of publications and talks can be found on my CV.
_interior_(88_Key)_pic._b2.jpg){kind=link}
Analyzing Musical Instruments: Approaches from Popular Music Studies
Book co-edited with Brian F. Wright. Under contract with Palgrave Macmillan.
The Timbre Is the Instrument: The Imagined DX7 and 1980s Nostalgia
Presented at Society for American Music 52nd Annual Conference; 4th International Conference on Timbre.
Orchestrating for Tambourine: A Timbral Guide for Conductors, Composers, and Performers
Co-authored with Michael Barranco. Forthcoming.
In Oxford Handbook of Orchestration Studies, ed. Robert Hasegawa.
EDM as Timbre Learning Lab
Presented at American Musicological Society and Society for Music Theory Joint Annual Meeting.
The Common Cold: Using Data Science to Define the Winter Topic in Video Game Music
/r/musictheory: Making Music Theory on Reddit
Co-authored with Nathaniel Mitchell.
In Oxford Handbook of Public Music Theory, ed. J. Daniel Jenkins.
Timbre, Rhythm, and Texture within Music Theory's White Racial Frame
In Oxford Handbook of Electronic Dance Music, ed. Luis-Manuel Garcia and Robin James.
Open Music Theory v. 2
Co-authored with Mark Gotham, Kyle Gullings, Chelsey Hamm, Bryn Hughes, Brian Jarvis, and John Peterson. New version adds roughly 100 new chapters to OMT version 1.
“Oops!... I Did It Again”: The Complement Chorus in Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys, and *NSYNC
In SMT-V 7/6, 2021.
The Cultural Significance of Timbre Analysis: A Case Study in 1980s Pop Music, Texture, and Narrative
In Music Theory Online 26/3, 2020.
Timbre, Genre, and Polystylism in Sonic the Hedgehog 3
In Music and Its Unruly Entanglements, ed. Nick Braae and Kai Arne Hansen.
“What Makes It Sound ’80s?”: The Yamaha DX7 Electric Piano Sound
In Journal of Popular Music Studies 31/3, 2019.
Bespoke Music Theory: A Modular Core Curriculum Designed for Audio Engineers, Classical Violinists, and Everyone in Between
In Engaging Students 7, 2019.