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Timothy JohnsonAssociate Professor&Chair and Grad ChairMusic Theory, History, and Composition
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Timothy A. Johnson is associate professor of music theory at Ithaca College. He teaches in all areas of the theory and sightsinging curriculum, ranging from introductory courses for first-year students to upper-level and graduate courses. In 2005-2006 he was on leave from Ithaca College to teach at the University at Buffalo as the Visiting Frederick and Alice Slee Professor of Music Theory. In 2006-2007 he was on sabbatical, working on a new research project on John Adams's opera Nixon in China.
Nixon in China
Johnson's current project, when completed, will be a book on John Adams's opera Nixon in
China. This book will tie together analytical observations about the opera with cutural,
political, and historical aspects of the scenes, characters, and issues raised in the opera.
Ives and Baseball
Baseball and the Music of Charles Ives: A Proving Ground (Scarecrow Press, 2004), Johnson's latest book,
discusses the importance of baseball in Ives's life, including his participation during his youth as a
pitcher and shortstop, his baseball-related compositions musical depictions of ballplayers and baseball
situations), and his use of baseball analogies in his writings. Baseball was a place where Ives felt he
could prove himself as a man, and baseball provided a framework within which he could build new musical
ideas. Johnson was awarded the 2004 Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award for this book.
Diatonic Theory
His textbook,
Foundations
of Diatonic Theory: A Mathematically Based Approach to Music Fundamentals (Scarecrow
Press, forthcoming in 2008; originally Key College Publishing, 2003), is the first introductory,
undergraduate-level book published on diatonic set theory. This textbook introduces a strong link
between introductory pedagogy and recent scholarship in music theory by relating concepts in diatonic
set theory directly to the study of music fundamentals through pedagogical exercises and instructions.
This book is part of the Mathematics Across the Curriculum project at Dartmouth College, funded by the
National Science Foundation. This innovative project was developed to achieve the goal of allowing
students to concentrate on their disciplines while using and improving their mathematical skills.
He also has authored a chapter in "Some Pedagogical Implications of Diatonic and Neo-Riemannian Theory," in Music Theory and Mathematics: Chords, Collections, and Transformations. Edited by Jack Douthett, Martha M. Hyde, and Charles J. Smith (Rochester, N.Y.: University of Rochester Press, 2008).
Other Research Areas
In previous scholarship Johnson has focused on the songs of Charles Ives, on minimalist music, and on the music of John Adams (including the first dissertation written
about this enormously successful contemporary composer, as well as several related articles). In
addition, Johnson has published articles or presented papers in the areas of the history of music
theory, twelve-tone theory, music technology, and theory pedagogy. Johnson serves on the advisory board
of The Baseball Music Project,
which, in cooperation with major symphony orchestras and concert halls throughout the USA,
presents concerts celebrating the National Baseball Hall of Fame through the great lineage of
baseball music.
Recent Presentations
Johnson recently has given presentations at the First
International Conference on Music and Minimalism in Bangor, Wales; the Cooperstown Symposium on
Baseball and American Culture at the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Music Theory Society of New York State,
the Joint Mathematics Meetings of the American
Mathematical Society and Mathematics Association of
America, The Society for Music
Theory, and Music Theory Midwest.
