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Welcome to the Division of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology


Frank Heidlberger, Chair

The Division of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology is a vibrant contributor to the College of Music. MHTE maintains a full range of academic programs from the bachelor's to the doctorate. In fact, the Ph.D. program, celebrating more than a half-century of activity, was the first in the university. Today more than 70 students are enrolled in its graduate programs.

The division offers the B.A. in Music with an emphasis in Music History; the B.M. in Music Theory, the Master of Arts in Music with concentrations in musicology, ethnomusicology, music theory, and musicology with an emphasis in early music performance; the Ph.D. in Music with concentrations in music theory, musicology, and ethnomusicology.

As a hub of academic activity, the division fosters a wide range of projects and initiatives. Students are encouraged to take advantage of our faculty's vast expertise in historical musicology, theory, and ethnomusicology. Division faculty members have been recognized with significant awards for outstanding teaching, research, service and the promotion of diversity in teaching and across campus. Read More

 

Area Coordinators:
David Bard-Schwarz, Music Theory
Steven Friedson, Ethnomusicology
Margaret Notley, Music History

For additional information about our programs, please contact Prof. Frank M. Heidlberger, division chair, at frank.heidlberger@unt.edu.

MHTE Announcements, News and Events

Recent Events

Wednesday, April 27, 5pm,
Recital Hall (Music Building)

Guest Lecture and Retirement Tribute to Dr. Gene Cho


Mark Spicer, guest speaker

The Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology Division pays tribute to Professor Gene Cho upon his retirement after 42 years of teaching at the University of North Texas College of Music.

Mark Spicer is Professor of Music Theory at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. He specializes in the reception history and analysis of popular music, especially British pop and rock since the 1960s, and his writings have appeared in a number of scholarly journals and essay collections. His book Sounding Out Pop, co-edited with John Covach, was published by the University of Michigan Press in 2010, and he has since edited the volume on Rock Music for the Library of Essays on Popular Music series from Ashgate. Most recently, he completed a three-year term (2013–15) as Associate Editor of Music Theory Spectrum. Among his current and ongoing research projects, he is working on a book that will explore how certain pop and rock musicians since the early 1970s have confronted their anxiety of influence towards the Beatles, provisionally titled In the Beatles’ Wake.

Prof. Spicer served for ten years (2005–15) as Director of Undergraduate Studies in Music at Hunter College, and was the 2015 recipient of Hunter’s Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching. In addition to his scholarship and teaching, he maintains an active parallel career as a professional keyboardist and vocalist, having worked with several groups in the US and the UK since the 1980s. In the early 1990s, he was a founding member of the critically acclaimed group Little Jack Melody and His Young Turks, and can be heard on their first two CDs, On the Blank Generation (1991) and World of Fireworks (1994). He continues to take the stage most weekends with his own “electric R&B” group, the Bernadettes, and with the Christ Church Choir in New Haven. 

MHTE News Archive (2012-present)

GAMuT: Graduate Association of Musicologists und Music Theorists


The Graduate Association of Musicologists und Theorists (GAMuT) is a graduate student organization dedicated to providing a forum for the presentation of original research by its members. Recent research presentations have included "From Outward Appearance to Inner Reality: A Brief Journey Through Copland's Inscape," "Dropping the Beat: Formal Devices of Buildups in Trance and House Music," and “Smuggling, Betrayal, and the Handle of a Gun: Death and Autonomy in Two Narcocorridos." In addition, GAMuT offers a forum for discussion of matters relevant to the academic lives of its members and serves as an organized liaison between students and faculty in the Division of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology. Each year, GAMuT publishes a journal, Harmonia, that features papers written by graduate students.