John Roeder

John Roeder (A.B., Harvard, 1979; Ph.D., Yale, 1984) is a Professor in the School of Music at the University of British Columbia, where he serves as Associate Director and head of the Theory Division. He teaches theories of tonal and nontonal music, analysis, the history of music theory, music since 1950, and rhythmic theory. In 1992 his distinguished teaching was honored with a University Teaching prize.

His research focuses on theories of rhythm and pitch in recent art music, but extends also to computer applications, musical semiotics, and rhythm in earlier music. He is currently a member of the InterPARES project, directing research into strategies for preserving digitally created music. In November 1995 he received the Outstanding Publication Award of the Society for Music Theory for his article "Interacting Pulse Streams in Schoenberg's Atonal Polyphony." He sits on the editorial boards of Perspectives of New Music and the Journal of Music Theory, has been a member of the editorial board of Music Theory Spectrum, and he has chaired the Publications Committee of the Society for Music Theory.

He founded the School of Music Multimedia Centre, which includes a facility for ear training, score notation, sequencing, and web surfing, and which funds the development of software for college music instruction.

His email address is available through the UBC on-line faculty directory.

Selected Publications

  • Roeder, John. 2003. "Beat-Class Modulation in Steve Reich's Recent Music." Music Theory Spectrum 25/2: 275-304. Abstract.
  • Roeder, John. 2001. "Pulse Streams and Problems of Grouping and Metrical Dissonance in Bartók's 'With Drums and Pipes'" Music Theory Online 7/1.
  • Roeder, John. 2001. "Set" (2000 words); "Interval Class" (400 words); "Pitch Class" (250 words). Invited contributions to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2d ed. London: Macmillan Reference, Ltd.
  • Roeder, John. 1998. [Review of Christoper F. Hasty, Meter as Rhythm]. Music Theory Online 4.4: 1.1-5.7.
  • Roeder, John. 1995. "A Calculus of Accent." Journal of Music Theory 39/1: 1-46.
  • Roeder, John. 1994. "Formal Functions of Hypermeter in the Dies iræ of Verdi's Messa da Requiem." Theory and Practice 19: 83-104.
  • Roeder, John. 1994. "Voice Leading as Transformation." In Musical Transformation and Musical Intuition: Essays in Honor of David Lewin. Ed. Raphael Atlas and Michael Cherlin. Roxbury, MA: Ovenbird Press. Pp. 41-58.
  • Roeder, John. 1994. "Interacting Pulse Streams in Schoenberg's Atonal Polyphony." Music Theory Spectrum 16/2: 231-249.
  • Roeder, John. 1993. [Review of Eugene Narmour's The Analysis and Cognition of Basic Melodic Structures]. Music Theory Spectrum 15/2: 267-272.
  • Roeder, John. 1993. "A MaMuTh Achievement" [Review of Guerino Mazzola's Geometrie der Töne and Gruppen und Kategorien in der Musik]. Perspectives of New Music 31/2: 294-312.
  • Roeder, John. 1993. "Toward a Semiotic Evaluation of Music Analyses." Music Theory Online 0.5: 1-22.
  • Roeder, John. 1991. "Logic-Programming Models of Music: A Semiotic Evaluation." Music and Science. Seattle: Center for the Creation and Interdisciplinary Study of Music, University of Washington. Pp. 16-36.
  • Roeder, John. 1990. "Pitch and Rhythmic Dramaturgy in Verdi's Lux æterna." 19th-Century Music 14/2: 169-185.
  • Roeder, John. 1990. "A Prolog Program for Music Segmentation." Musicus 1/2: 165-176.
  • Roeder, John. 1989. [Review of Composition with Pitch-Classes by Robert D. Morris]. Music Theory Spectrum 11/2: 240 - 251.
  • Roeder, John. 1989. "Harmonic Implications of Schoenberg's Observations of Atonal Voice Leading." Journal of Music Theory 33/1: 27 - 62.
  • Roeder, John and Keith Hamel. 1989. "A General-Purpose Object System for Musical Graphics." Proceedings of the 1989 International Computer Music Conference. San Francisco: Computer Music Association. Pp. 260 - 263.
  • Roeder, John. 1988. "Issues of Representation in the Analysis of Atonal Music." Proceedings of the First Workshop on Artificial Intelligence and Music, St. Paul, Minnesota. Menlo Park: American Association for Artificial Intelligence. Pp. 138 - 147.
  • Roeder, John. 1988. "A Declarative Model of Atonal Analysis." Music Perception 6/1: 21 - 34.
  • Roeder, John. 1987. "Música y Teoria de Grupos Finitos: A Review." Perspectives of New Music 25: 638 - 641.
  • Roeder, John. 1987. "A Geometric Representation of Pitch-Class Series." Perspectives of New Music 25: 362 - 409.

In press:

  • Roeder, John. 2003. "The Art of Hybrid Composition: Meter, Tonality, and Form in Michael Torke's Adjustable Wrench." Perspectives of New Music 41/2.

Recent unpublished papers:

  • "The Transformational Organization of Avro Pärt's Music". Presented at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Society for Music Theory, November 7, 2003, Madison, WI.
  • "Cooperative Rhythmic Continuities in Music of Thomas Adès". Presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the Society for Music Theory, November 8, 2001, Philadelphia.
  • "Rhythmic Process and Form in Bartók's 'Syncopation'". Read the preprint.
  • "Second Thoughts: Protension and Form in Fauré's Prelude, Op. 103, No. 9". Presented at the Distinguished Lecture Series of the University of California at Santa Barbara, February 1997, at the University of Buffalo in February 2000, and at the Eastman School of Music in 2001. For a version of part one, see the Music Analysis through New Media home page.
  • "Overload: Competing Practical and Academic Demands in Music at UBC." Paper presented at Round Table, "Balancing Professional Training and the Liberal Arts in Canadian Music Programs", at the Canadian University Music Society meeting in Toronto, May, 2002.
    Roeder, John. "Rhythmic Process and Form in Bartok's 'Syncopation'".
  • "Polyphonic Adjustments to Meter in Torke's Adjustable Wrench." Presented at the West Coast Conference on Music Theory and Analysis, Stanford, CA, April 1999; and at the Society for Music Theory conference in Toronto, Nov. 2000
  • "The challenge of digital musical archives: research within the InterPARES project." (co-author) Digital Resources for the Humanities 2001. July 8 10, 2001, School of Archival Studies, University of London, London, England. Organized by: School of Archival Studies (SOAS), University of London
  • "A Processive Model of Rhythmic Groups in Atonal Polyphony." Presented at the Society for Music Theory annual meeting, Baton Rouge, LA, November 1996 .Abstract.

Works outside music theory:

  • Soukas, A., P. Wanderer,..., J. Roeder, et al. 1980. "Search for Prompt Neutrinos and New Penetrating Particles from 28-Gev Proton-Nucleus Collisions." Physical Review Letters 44/9: 564-567.
  • Roeder, John [composer] and Kathryn Kimball [librettist]. 1980. Saints in Boston 1844. [A dramatic musical commissioned for the sequicentennial of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.] Performed 1980 in Wellesley, MA, 1991 in Cambridge, MA, and 1992 in Hamden, CT.

Research Grants: