The Music Theory program at the University at Buffalo is one of the most successful in the U.S., with recent graduates moving on to full-time jobs at Yale, Temple, Swarthmore, Bowling Green, Ithaca College, American University, Arizona State, and many other fine universities and colleges around the world. [For a list of all completed UB dissertations in Music Theory, and the current teaching positions of the recipients, click here.]

The UB Theory faculty offers a unique mix of traditional musical disciplines and individual creativity. Students are given a thorough grounding in the standard disciplines, such as history of theory, Schenkerian analysis, and set theory, while being expected to master promising new areas of research, such as Neo-Riemannian transformations, diatonic set theory, and intertextuality. Recent doctoral seminars have addressed such topics, as well as the music of Stravinsky, the music of Ives, and 19th- & 20th-century tonal chromaticism. Among recent completed dissertations are studies of microtonal music by Haba, form in Takemitsu's music, harmony in Schoenberg"s Gurrelieder, and gravitational space as a metaphor for analysis.

The lynchpin of the Buffalo program is the Slee Chair, the oldest fully endowed professorship of Music Theory in the country. Another central resource is the music library, conveniently located on site in the music building, which has unusually strong collections in the areas of jazz, rare editions, and contemporary music. The strong contemporary music presence and distinguished musicology faculty at UB also ensure a lively, interdisciplinary community of composers, performers, and scholars.

All application materials should arrive before January 1 to ensure full consideration for fellowship and/or assistantship awards.

Please contact Ms. Karen Sausner of the Student Programs Office if you desire further information about our program.

Charles J. Smith, Coordinator of Theory
Associate Professor & Ziegele Chair in Music Scholarship
Ph.D. University of Michigan

Alan Street
Slee Professor of Music Theory (Spring 2008)

Jonathan Dunsby
Visiting Professor (Fall 2007)
Ph.D. Oxford

Martha Hyde
Associate Professor
Ph.D. Yale University

Faculty Associated with the Music Theory Program

Michael Long
Associate Professor of Musicology
Graduate courses in Medieval and Renaissance Music Theory

Jeffrey Stadelman
Associate Professor of Composition
Graduate courses in Contemporary Music