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Music schools across the English-speaking world are attempting to become more broadly inclusive of different types of musics and students. This talk considers why theorists should—and how we can—incorporate timbre analysis into an undergraduate theory curriculum, and how this can contribute to a more equitable theory curriculum. I present some practical lessons and assessments and identify areas where timbre might fit most easily into a traditional or a modular curriculum. Timbre, instrumentation, and texture are inherent properties of all sound and thus can be studied in (nearly) all music; furthermore, these concepts do not rely on the complex systems of pitch that underlie most music-theoretical topics (and privilege students with access to classical training). While not a panacea, emphasizing the analysis of timbre, instrumentation, and texture is one way of developing a more inclusive pedagogy of music theory.

Megan Lavengood (she/her) is Associate Professor and Director of Music Theory at George Mason University. Her research primarily deals with popular music, timbre, synthesizers, and recording techniques. Her article on the iconic Yamaha DX7 electric piano sound appears in the Journal of Popular Music Studies, and her methodology for timbre analysis is described an article in Music Theory Online. Her current research project focuses on pedagogy of timbre analysis in the theory classroom. As a pedagogue, she focuses on incorporating popular music as a step toward inclusivity of music students from non-traditional backgrounds. She has headed teams that won grants to redesign GMU’s core theory curriculum to be modular instead of sequential and to substantially expand the open educational resource Open Music Theory. She is a soprano in the Schola Cantorum at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, D.C.