Megan Lavengood

Academic Interests

Commons Groups

HC

Recent Commons Activity

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Please note the new posting guidelines for this group. All posts must adhere to these guidelines. https://societymusictheory.or…

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Commons Sites

HC

Society for Music Theory – Popular Music Interest Group

About

I am an Assistant Professor and Director 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 2020 article in Music Theory Online lays out my methodology for timbre analysis. You can read more about my research on my Research page and throughout my blog.

I am an active performer. Before COVID, I was a soprano 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.

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.

Work Shared in CORE

Articles

Book chapters

Dissertations

A New Approach to the Analysis of Timbre

Other Publications

Textbook

Gotham, Mark, Kyle Gullings, Chelsey Hamm, Bryn Hughes, Brian Jarvis, Megan Lavengood, and John Peterson. 2021. Open Music Theory. Version 2. https://viva.pressbooks.pub/openmusictheory.

Open-access articles

Lavengood, Megan L. 2021. “‘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.7.5.

Lavengood, Megan L. 2020. “The Cultural Significance of Timbre Analysis: A Case Study in 1980s Pop Music, Texture, and Narrative.” Music Theory Online 26 (3). https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.20.26.3/mto.20.26.3.lavengood.html.

Lavengood, Megan L. 2019. “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://engagingstudentsmusic.org/article/view/7362.

Lavengood, Megan L. 2018. “Review: Fink, Robert, Melinda Latour, and Zachary Wallmark (Eds). 2018. The Relentless Pursuit of Tone. New York: Oxford University Press.” Current Musicology 103: 121–30. https://doi.org/10.7916/cm.v0i103.5385.

Blog Posts

Memberships

Society of Music Theory
Music Theory Mid-Atlantic

Assistant Professor of Music Theory

George Mason University