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 Gentility

Candace's new article

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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 classroom. Finally, we finish with a conversation about mentorship.

Running To The Noise podcast

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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

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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't But A Few Of Us: Black Music Writers Tell Their Story

Open Sky Jazz

DC Jazz Festival

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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 Black history.

Stream The Poetjournalist

Aaron's website

Arts Engines

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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 harmony in the music of Tye Tribbett and Richard Smallwood.

Jerome's website

Jerome's paper

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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 rebellion. Check out Henny's work on all the platforms!

Henny's YouTube channel

Henny's Substack

Henny's Instagram

Henny's Patreon

Megan Lavengood's MTO article about timbre in 1980's pop music

Why Pipe Organ Sound Scary video essay

Get in touch with me at: [email protected]

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 Canora and dive into his compositional process.

Raphael's website

Opera Lucca

Raphael's YouTube Channel

Le parole dei mesi

Raphael's opera inSOMNIA

"Quarantine Camp"

An American Requiem

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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 February 5! Happy holidays to you and yours!

Sphinx Connect

Music Journalism Insider with Todd L. Burns

CGP Grey video about themes

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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 communities.

Megan's website

Megan's Instagram

Megan Ihnen and Alan Theisen presents...

Live Music Project

The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenburg

"Researching Music- and Place-Making Through Engaged Practice" by Aoife Kavanagh

Get in touch with me at: [email protected]