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Florida State / College of Music / Areas of Study / Music Theory & Composition
Music Theory & Composition
The Florida State University College of Music features one of the largest and most distinguished theory and composition faculties in the United States. Our students gain valuable experience in teaching and research, working with faculty members who care deeply about both pursuits.
Mark your calenders for the following events.
- Joseph Straus (City University of New York Graduate Center) was in Tallahassee from October 12-14, 2011 as this year's Housewright Scholar. He gave four public lectures, guest-taught two classes, and met with many students individually.
- The Society of Composers at FSU hosted Lansing McLoskey (University of Miami) for a lecture and master class on October 26-27.
- Stephen Montague visited on November 30. He presented to our Composers' Forum and a concert by the New Music Ensemble that same night featuring some of his works.
- Lawrence Zbikowski (University of Chicago) keynoted the 29th annual FSU Music Theory Forum on January 14, 2012 with a talk entitled "Remembering Music."
- Daniel Asia (University of Arizona) will visit on February 8, offering individual composition lessons and a lecture to our Composers' Forum from 4:30-5:30.
- Steven Rings (University of Chicago) will be our guest scholar on February 28-29. He will meet with students and guest lecture. Stay tuned for details!
- Outside of Tallahassee, we had a great showing (and a wonderful and crowded party with many alumni, students, and faculty) at the Society for Music Theory annual meeting in Minneapolis, MN on October 27-30, 2011. This spring, we are looking forward to the Music Theory Southeast annual meeting at Emory University in Atlanta on March 9-10, 2012. Presenters include Prof. Michael Buchler; our current doctoral students, Emily Gertsch and Jennifer Smith; and FSU graduates, Greg Decker, Sean Atkinson, Brett Clement, and Chelsey Hamm. Additionally, Prof. Nancy Rogers will be leading a workshop for graduate students at the MTSE meeting.
Our record for job placement continues to be outstanding. Six of our graduates and ABDs began new faculty positions this year:
- Greg Decker (Ph.D. music theory, 2011) has joined the faculty of Bowling Green State University (Ohio) this fall as Assistant Professor of Music Theory.
- Dave Easley (Ph.D. music theory, 2011) has joined the faculty of Oklahoma City University as Assistant Professor of Music Theory.
- Bryn Hughes (Ph.D music theory, 2011) has joined the faculty of Ithaca College as Assistant Professor of Music Theory.
- Alan Theisen (Ph.D. music theory, 2010) has joined the faculty of Mars Hill College (NC) this fall as Assistant Professor of Music. Al was previously Resident Scholar and Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
- Crystal Peebles (Ph.D. music theory, Fall 2011) has joined the faculty of Northern Arizona University as Instructor of Music Theory.
- Rob Bennett (ABD, music theory) has joined the faculty of the University of Oklahoma as Instructor of Music Theory.
Congratulations to:
- Composition doctoral student Joshua Keeling, on having his piece Draconids accepted for the 2012 CMS Southern Regional Conference and the 2012 SEAMUS National Conference.
- FSU doctoral students Jennifer Smith and Emily Gertsch and recent graduates Matthew Bell, Dave Easley, and Crystal Peebles will be presenting at the 2012 Texas Society for Music Theory in March. That's five of the twelve TSMT conference papers (a pentatonic subset)!
- Doctoral theory students Emily Gerstch and Jennifer Smith and theory professor Michael Buchler will be presenting at Music Theory Southeast this March.
- Doctoral theory student, Andrew Gades will be presenting a paper at the Redlands American Music Symposium in March.
- Composition doctoral student, Sotiris Melissis, whose composition Arrival was selected by the Dallas Wind Symphony in their 2011 Call for Fanfares.
- Composition MM student, Michael Broder, whose piece That's Entertainment was selected as a winner of the 2011 Duo Fujin One-Day Composition Competition.
- Music theory doctoral student, Andrew Gades, whose article, "What's in a Title? Setting, Narrator, and Mimesis in Del Tredici's 'A Memory of the Players in a Mirror at Midnight,'" appears in the journal Mosaic: Journal of Music Research.
- Music theory doctoral student Megan Trenck, who presented at the Society for Music Perception and Cognition in August in Rochester, NY.
- Current doctoral students and very recently graduates Greg Decker, David Easley, Andrew Gades, and Judith Ofcarcik, who presented papers at regional music theory conferences this spring.
- Crystal Peebles (ABD in music theory) for winning a 2010-2011 FSU Graduate Student Research and Creativity Award (a highly competitive university-wide award for the top graduate-student researchers).
- David Easley (Ph.D. music theory, 2011) for winning the best student paper award at the 2011 joint conference of Music Theory Southeast and the South Central Society for Music Theory.
- Greg Decker (Ph.D. music theory, 2011) for winning the best student paper award at the 2011 meeting of the Texas Society for Music Theory.
- Recent graduate, Neil Anderson-Himmelspach (D.M. composition) who was awarded State of Maryland Individual Artist Award.
- Recent graduate, Jose Bevia (D.M. composition) who won the 2011 Lee Ettelson Composer's Award.
- Prof. Clifton Callender for wining the Journal of Music Theory's inaugural David Kraehenbuehl Prize! Prof. Callender won for his article "Continuous Harmonic Spaces" that was published in volume 51 of JMT.
- Prof. Evan Jones for winning the Society for Music Theory's Citation of Special Merit for his two-volume book, Intimate Voices.
- Profs. Joseph Kraus and Evan Jones for being elected to the Society for Music Theory's Executive Board.
- Prof. Ladislav Kubik on winning a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship!
