The Theory program has a diverse faculty that encourages its graduate students to pursue a wide range of scholarly interests. In addition to more traditional offerings such as Schenkerian theory, atonal theory, and theory pedagogy, our faculty offer special courses in areas such as musical narrative, music and popular culture, music cognition, computer applications, and rhythmic theory, as well as occasional seminars in the works of individual composers.
One of the strengths of the theory program is the accessibility of our faculty and the close personal attention given to each graduate student. With six full-time theory faculty and approximately ten to fifteen graduate students in residence, the theory program enjoys an unusually low teacher-student ratio. Moreover, our job placement rate is excellent, with nearly all of our Ph.D. graduates procuring college/university teaching positions the year after graduation.
Each week a theory forum is held that is attended by both students and faculty. Roughly half of the forums are devoted either to guest speakers or to talks by our own students or faculty, while the other sessions typically feature pedagogical issues, readings from the scholarly literature, or professional development (e.g., how to write effective proposals for conferences, how to apply for jobs, etc.). In addition, several times a semester we join with the Musicology/Ethnomusicology Division for their colloquia series.
All Ph.D. students (and the great majority of M.M. students) acquire substantial teaching experience by the time they graduate. The division places a high priority on providing a quality education for undergraduates (for instance, class sizes in the core theory sequence rarely exceed twenty-five, and each core course has at least one section taught by a faculty member.) Because of this commitment to the undergraduate curriculum, the faculty coordinators work closely with teaching assistants, and our graduate students typically leave UT with strong pedagogical skills.
Graduate students in music theory often choose to pursue studies in performance or composition in addition to their studies in music theory. The Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music has excellent resources in this regard, and we support the efforts of our graduate students who wish to continue developing their skills as applied musicians. Ultimately, we see the ideal graduate student in music theory as one who is a well-rounded musician.
Faculty