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  • posted an update in the group Society for Music Theory (SMT):

    We are working to create a new edition of Open Music Theory [Version 2]. As a part of this process, we’re gathering feedback from those using the current version about what doesn’t work and if anything is missing.
    While we welcome any feedback, we are especially hoping for feedback on:

    The flow of the text
    Consistency across chapters
    Gaps in the…[Read more]

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About

I am an Associate Professor of Music Theory at George Mason University, where I teach undergraduate core theory and graduate courses in advanced theory topics.

My research primarily deals with popular music, timbre, synthesizers, and recording techniques. My methodology is presented in my Music Theory Online article “The Cultural Significance of Timbre Analysis: A Case Study in 1980s Pop Music, Texture, and Narrative.” I proceed from a technical analysis of timbre via spectrograms and incorporate cultural and sociological research. I also dabble in music and media (particularly video game music). You can read more about my research on my Research page and throughout my blog.

I am also a professional choral singer (soprano). I was in the Schola Cantorum at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, DC from 2023–2024. Prior, I was in the St. Gregory Choir in McLean, Virginia. In New York, I sang in the Renaissance Street Singers chorus, which performs in New York City every other Sunday (all concerts are free and open to the public), as well as in a quartet at the Church of the Holy Innocents in midtown New York City. I am also a pianist.

I am originally from Cincinnati.

Education

Ph.D. in music theory, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, 2017.

M.M. in music theory, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 2012.

B.M. in music theory, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 2010.

Blog Posts

    Publications

    See an up-to-date list at https://www.zotero.org/mlavengood/publications


    • Gotham, Mark, Kyle Gullings, Chelsey Hamm, Bryn Hughes, Brian Jarvis, Megan Lavengood, and John Peterson. 2021. Open Music Theoryhttps://viva.pressbooks.pub/openmusictheory/.

    • Kattenbeck, Chris, Megan Lavengood, and Sean Peterson. 2024. “Begging to Be Seen: Beyoncé’s »Partition«.” SAMPLES 22. https://gfpm-samples.de/index.php/samples/article/view/332.

    • Lavengood, Megan. 2024. “Layers of Meaning: Teaching Instrumentation and Texture.” Keynote lecture presented at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Texas Society for Music Theory, Arlington, TX, February 24. https://presentations.meganlavengood.com/2024-teaching-timbre.html.

    • Lavengood, Megan L. 2018. Review of The Relentless Pursuit of Tone, by Robert Fink, Melinda Latour, and Zachary Wallmark. Current Musicology 103: 121–30. https://doi.org/10.7916/cm.v0i103.5385.



    • ———. 2019a. “Bespoke Music Theory: A Modular Core Curriculum Designed for Audio Engineers, Classical Violinists, and Everyone in Between.” Engaging Students: Essays in Music Pedagogy 7. https://doi.org/10.18061/es.v7i0.7362.

    • ———. 2019b. “Timbre, Genre, and Polystylism in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.” In On Popular Music and Its Unruly Entanglements, edited by Nick Braae and Kai Arne Hansen, 209–34. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18099-7.

    • ———. 2019c. “”What Makes It Sound ’80s?”: The Yamaha DX7 Electric Piano Sound.” Journal of Popular Music Studies 31 (3): 73–94. https://doi.org/10.1525/jpms.2019.313009.

    • ———. 2020. “The Cultural Significance of Timbre Analysis: A Case Study in 1980s Pop Music, Texture, and Narrative.” Music Theory Online 26 (3). https://doi.org/10.30535/mto.26.3.3.

    • ———. 2021a. “‘Oops!… I Did It Again’: The Complement Chorus in Britney Spears, The Backstreet Boys, and *NSYNC.” SMT-V 7 (6). https://doi.org/10.30535/smtv.7.6.

    • ———. 2021b. “Timbre, Rhythm, and Texture within Music Theory’s White Racial Frame.” In The Oxford Handbook of Electronic Dance Music, edited by Luis-Manuel Garcia and Robin James. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190093723.013.17.

    • ———. 2024. “Harassment and Public Music Theory.” Music Theory Spectrum 47 (1). https://doi.org/10.1093/mts/mtae019.

    • ———. 2025. Letter to the editor. Music Analysis 44 (1). Accessed April 29, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/musa.12244.

    • Lavengood, Megan L., and Michael Barranco. Forthcoming. “Nuances of Orchestration for Tambourines, Triangles, and Crash Cymbals.” In Oxford Handbook of Orchestration Studies, edited by Robert Hasegawa, Julie Delisle, Jason Noble, and Moe Touizrar. New York: Oxford University Press.

    • Lavengood, Megan L, and Nathaniel Mitchell. 2022. “/R/Musictheory: Making Music Theory on Reddit.” In The Oxford Handbook of Public Music Theory, edited by J. Daniel Jenkins. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197551554.013.6.

    • Lavengood, Megan, and Evan Williams. 2023. “The Common Cold: Using Computational Musicology to Define the Winter Topic in Video Game Music.” Music Theory Online 29 (1). https://doi.org/10.30535/mto.29.1.0.

    • Waksman, Steve, Megan Lavengood, Zachary Wallmark, Robert Fink, and Catherine Provenzano. 2019. “Timbre Is a Many-Splendored Thing.” Journal of Popular Music Studies 31 (1): 29–40. https://doi.org/10.1525/jpms.2019.311004.

    Projects


    • Edited collection on the study of instruments in popular music

    • Timbre/texture pedagogy, especially connecting to EDM and hip-hop

    Upcoming Talks and Conferences

    https://www.mcgill.ca/tops2025/

    Memberships

    Society of Music Theory
    Music Theory Mid-Atlantic

    Megan Lavengood

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    @mlavengood

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