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Academic Teaching
Selected Courses at the University of Montana
Fall 2022
MUSI 416.01
American Roots Music
This course explores the foundational “roots” musics of North America, tracing early regional music practices throughout their development and intersection with history, culture, industry, and identity across the 19th, 20th, and 21stcenturies. We begin with inquiry into early “American” music and follow its complex paths through a melting pot of global influences, investigating the many factors leading to a multi-faceted formulation of the American music and popular culture industries, with emphasis on the nuances of the local, regional, and the individual. Adjacent to this course (though not required) is a participatory American Roots Music ensemble, where students will play, sing, and make music from several pan-American genres roughly following the progression of the lecture course.
MUSI 162A
American Roots Music Ensemble
In this ensemble, students will play, sing, listen to, and make music from several pan-American genres, engaging in musical practices that may include playing or learning by ear, improvisation, creative interpretation/ornamentation, musical collaboration and communication, and community and place-informed musical practice. We will also, throughout our course meetings, briefly discuss the history and cultural contexts of these musics and their past and present modes of transmission, performance, and reception.
Spring 2022
HONR 391.84
Ecomusicology: Music, Climate, and Culture
This course provides an introduction to the field of ecomusicology, an area of study that explores the relationships between music, sound, nature, and the environment. Specifically, this course explores music practices as tools for collective climate action and sustainability movements, ethical issues surrounding the use of natural materials and energy or fuel resources for music production and performance, and the impacts of a changing climate on local, national, and global soundscapes. Students will combine ethnographic and interdisciplinary research practices with hands-on, participatory activities that include collaborations with UM’s music department, local and regional soundscape mapping, and upcycled and sustainable instrument-making activities.
Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022
HONR 320E
Art of Inquiry
Offered autumn and occasionally spring, Art of Inquiry is a research methods and ethics-based course designed to assist undergraduate students with their independent research projects, honors capstone completion, and self-directed scholarship. This seminar focuses on intellectual and creative strategies for completing research in most disciplines, and grounds this scholarship in ethical concerns foundational to academic research. Students will learn and practice a variety of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research methods along with interdisciplinary tenets of ethical inquiry and effective peer review/editing strategies as they craft a scholarly research proposal tailored to their area of interest.
Other Courses
Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2020
MUN 2800/4803/5806
Irish Music and Fiddling
Fall 2019, Spring 2020
MUH 2512
Music in World Cultures
Fall 2018, Spring 2019
MUH 2019 Modern Popular Music
Fall 2017, Spring 2019
MUH 3053
American Roots Music
Workshops and Community Teaching
2015-2022
Riley Studios (Private Studio)
Summer 2018, Summer 2019
Ocobo Music Festival (Ibague, Tolima)
2016-2020 (Offered Winter and Fall most years)
Spirit of the Suwannee Kids Music Camp
2015-2020 (Offered Fall and Spring)
Suwannee Spring Reunion Festival
Suwannee Roots Revival Festival
Workshop Instructor
Tallahassee Acoustic Ensemble
Boys and Girls Club of Greensboro
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