BRENT AUERBACH

auerbach@music.umass.edu
149D Fine Arts Center
(413) 545-0521

THEORY; ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Brent Auerbach is currently Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He previously taught at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. A pianist and oboist, he attended Harvard University as an undergraduate and received his Ph.D. in music theory from the Eastman School of Music.

Dr. Auerbach's research focuses on applying Arnold Schoenberg's analytical theory to the music of Johannes Brahms. For work in this area, he was awarded the American Brahms Society's prestigious Karl Geiringer Scholarship in 2004. Other active research projects involve studying counterpoint, the intersection of aesthetics with music theory, and the role of technology in teaching.

In 2006, Dr. Auerbach established a groundbreaking lab at UMass for undergraduates to drill rhythm and sight-reading skills using the video game Dance Dance Revolution. He presented his methods and philosophy of integrating DDR into the undergraduate aural skills curriculum at the 2006 meeting of the Society for Music Theory.

Dr. Auerbach is published in the journal Methodology of Music Research and has a review of The Musician's Guide to Aural Skills (Phillips, Clendinning, and Marvin 2005) forthcoming in the journal Gamut. In addition to SMT, he has presented papers at annual meetings of the New England Conference of Music Theorists, the Music Theory Society of New York State, and the Texas Society for Music Theory.

Appointed 2005