UMass Amherst Scholars Christopher White and Catrina Kim Receive Awards from Society of Music Theory

Christopher White, associate professor of music theory, and Catrina Kim, assistant professor of music theory, both of the Department of Music and Dance, were each recognized with Emerging Scholar Awards at the Society of Music Theory’s Annual Conference in early November in Jacksonville, Fla.

Each year, the Society of Music Theory recognizes the authors of books and peer-reviewed articles that make significant contributions to the discipline of music theory.

Kim received her award for her article, “Issues in Teaching Music Theory Ethically: Reframing University Directives of Antiracist and Decolonized Curricula,” which originally appeared in the Music Theory Society of New York State’s journal, Theory and Practice. Kim also writes on the intersections of music theory pedagogy with service, labor, diversity and feminist thought. Her work has also appeared in publications such as Music Theory Spectrum, and the book “Expanding the Canon: Black Composers in the Music Theory Classroom.”

White was recognized for his book, “The Music in the Data: Corpus Analysis, Music Analysis, and Tonal Traditions,” published by Routledge Press in 2022, which explores the use of “big data” techniques to study how we hear and write music. His articles have appeared in such venues as Music Perception, Music Theory Online and Music Theory Spectrum. White has also contributed essays to Slate, The Daily Beast and The Chicago Tribune on a wide range of topics, including music analysis, computational modeling and artificial intelligence.