Curriculum Vitae
Cli on Boyd
Department of Music
Faculty of Arts and Science
New York University
24 Waverly Place, Room 268, New York, NY 10003
updated October 2023
cli on.boyd@nyu.edu
cli on-boyd.com
Academic Appointments
2024–
2022–24
Assistant Professor, Department of Music, New York University
Visiting Assistant Professor (tenure track), Department of Music, New York University
Education
2022
Ph.D., Music Theory, Yale University
Dissertation: “Keep It Barbershop: Stylistic Preservation and Whiteness in the
Barbershop Harmony Society”
Committee: Ian Quinn (advisor), Michael Denning, Braxton D. Shelley, Michael E. Veal
2019
M.A., M.Phil., Music Theory, Yale University
2016
M.M., Music Theory, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
2014
B.M., Viola Performance and Music Theory (with high honors), University of Michigan
Publications
Monograph
in progress
Racial Dissonance: American Barbershop Harmony in the Age of Jim Crow
Journal Articles
2023
“Barbershop’s Cautionary Tale for Academic Music Theory: A Response to Stephen
Lett,” Music Theory Spectrum 45, no. 1: 120–24 (invited)
2022
“Working Collectively: Thoughts toward a Better Music Studies from the Project
Spectrum Graduate Student Committee” (co-authored with Anna Beatrice Gatdula,
Hyeonjin Park, Carlo Aguilar González, Sinem Eylem Arslan, Hanisha Kulothparan,
Gerardo Lopez, Brian Veasna Sengdala, and Renata Yazzie), American Music 40, no. 4:
444–52 (Special Issue: Marking Forty Years of American Music) (invited)
2021
“Race, Retention, and Identity-Based Service in Music Theory,” Theory and Practice 46:
1–22 (invited)
2021
“Metrical Ambiguity in the Scherzo of Brahms’s String Sextet, Op. 18,” Music Theory
and Analysis 8, no. 1: 41–59
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Book Chapters
2022
(advance online
publication)
“Music Theory, Race, and the Barbershop Harmony Society,” in The Oxford Handbook
of Public Music Theory, ed. J. Daniel Jenkins (New York: Oxford University Press)
(invited)
Reviews
2023
(forthcoming)
Review of Philip Ewell, On Music Theory, and Making Music More Welcoming for Everyone
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2023), Music Theory Online 29, no. 4
(co-authored with Jade Conlee)
Short-Form Essays
2020
“Being a Black Ph.D. Student Following George Floyd’s Murder,” Inside Higher Ed,
Career Advice, June 11
2024
(forthcoming)
“Strange Fruit, Familiar Tune,” in Being Black In The Ivory: Truth-Telling About Racism In
Higher Education, ed. Shardé M. Davis (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina
Press) (invited)
Works in Progress
—
“Have You Got Good Barbershop Religion? Music Education, Evangelism, and
Stylistic Gatekeeping in American Barbershop,” in the colloquy, “Toward a Critical
Musicology of Education” (essay under review of colloquy organizers; colloquy to be
submitted to the Journal for the American Musicological Society by December 2023)
—
“Black Life during Barbershop’s Segregated Era, 1938–1963” (to be submitted in
November 2023)
—
“‘Anche se piove la musica suona’: Virality and impegno in tormentoni estivi, 2016–19”
(co-authored with Isabella Livorni)
Fellowships, Awards, & Grants
Fellowships
2022–23
2021–22
2021–22
2021–22
2021–22
2020–21
2020
2020
2016–19
Faculty Fellowship, Center for the Humanities, New York University
Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship, American Council of Learned
Societies
Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship (declined)
Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, Institute for Citizens &
Scholars (declined)
Runner-Up, Robert Walser and Susan McClary Fellowship, Society for American
Music
Howard Mayer Brown Fellowship, American Musicological Society
Margery Lowens Dissertation Research Fellowship, Society for American Music
Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship (Italian), U.S. Department of
Education
GSAS Dean’s Emerging Scholars Fellowship, Yale University
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Research Awards and Grants
2023–25
2023
2021
2020
2019
2019
2018–19
2018
2014
Working Group Grant (with Sarah Louden), Center for the Humanities, New York
University
NYU Nominee, Summer Stipend, National Endowment for the Humanities
(application under review at NEH)
Dena Epstein Award for Archival and Library Research in American Music, Music
Library Association
Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration (RITM) Research and Conference
Travel Award, Yale University
Grand Central Red Caps Scholarship, Barbershop Harmony Society
MacMillan Center International Conference Travel Grant (2x), Yale University
Graduate Student Assembly Conference Travel Fellowship (3x), Yale University
Research Grant, Four Freshmen Music Foundation
Minority Travel Grant, Society for Music Theory
Other Awards and Honors
2023–24
2020
2018, 2020
2014–16
2014
2011–14
2010–14
Teaching Advancement Grant (with Sarah Louden), Center for Faculty Advancement,
New York University
Student Grant for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (on behalf of the Grant
Hagan Society), Yale University
MPower Artist Grant (on behalf of Project Spectrum) (2x), Sphinx Organization
Supplemental Academic Award, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
James B. Angell Scholar, University of Michigan
Merit-based music scholarship, University of Michigan
Tradition Scholarship, University of Michigan
Invited Presentations
2023
“Listening for Unsung Heroes: Black Life during Barbershop’s Segregated Era,
1938–1963,” Colloquium Series, Department of Music, Columbia University, New
York, NY, April 14
2022
“Methodology and Identity: A (Black) Music Theorist’s Perspective,” for “Music
Theory and Ethnomusicology: Towards Methodological Synergy,” SMT Committee on
Race and Ethnicity, SMT World Music Analysis Interest Group, and SEM Music
Analysis Special Interest Group; AMS/SEM/SMT Joint Annual Meeting, New Orleans,
LA, November 10–13
2021
“‘Stay in Your Own Backyard’: Race, Purity, and the Cost of ‘Keeping it Barbershop’”
● Musicology Colloquium Series, Department of Music, Princeton University,
Princeton, NJ, April 30 (online)
● Visiting Artist & Scholars Series, Department of Music, Utah State University,
Logan, UT, January 29 (online)
● Colloquium Series, Department of Music, Wesleyan University, Middletown,
CT, November 5, 2020 (online)
2021
“Equity and Activism in the Arts: The Case of Music Studies,” Caine Scholars for
Excellence Program, Utah State University, Logan, UT, March 11 (online)
Boyd 4
2021
“The Role of the Privileged: Labor, Service, and How to Be an Effective Ally” (for
Project Spectrum’s keynote address, “A er ‘Reframing Music Theory’: Doing the
Work”), Music Theory Society of New York State Annual Meeting, online, August 9
2020
“Presses and Journals Receiving SMT Publication Awards, 1999–2018” (for roundtable,
“SMT Award Demographics, Past and Present”), Scholars for Social Responsibility
Interest Group, Society for Music Theory Annual Meeting, Columbus, OH, November
7–10
2019
“Harmony and Voice Leading in the Music of The Four Freshmen, 1955–1961,” Four
Freshmen Annual Convention, South Bend, IN, October 18–20
Conference Presentations
2023
“Music in the Blood: Race Pseudoscience in Barbershop Harmony,” American
Musicological Society and Society for Music Theory Joint Annual Meeting, Denver,
CO, November 9–12
2023
“Black Barbershop by Another Name: Gatekeeping and Genre in Close Harmony,”
Theorizing African American Music, University of Colorado, Denver, CO, November 8
2021
“Barbershop Harmony, Racial Dissonance: The Case of ‘Project N’”
● American Musicological Society Annual Meeting, online, November 11–12,
20–21
● American Studies Association Annual Meeting, San Juan, Puerto Rico,
October 7–10
2021
“Race, Recreation, and Family in the Barbershop Harmony Society,” Association for
the Study of African American Life and History Annual Meeting, online, September
13–30
2021
“‘What Are We Trying to Preserve?’ Race, Segregation, and Music Theory in the
Barbershop Harmony Society”
● International Association for the Study of Popular Music–United States
Annual Meeting, online, May 19–22, 2021 (originally scheduled for May 2020)
● Society for Music Theory Annual Meeting, online, November 7–8, 14–15, 2020
2020
“Everyone in Harmony? Preservation, Inclusivity and Musical Style in the Barbershop
Harmony Society,” Society for American Music Annual Meeting, online, July 16–18
2019
“The Imposition of Meter in John Adams’s Shaker Loops”
● Society for Music Theory Annual Meeting, Columbus, OH, November 7–10
● Music Theory Midwest Annual Meeting, London, ON, Canada, May 18–19,
2018
2019
“‘Anche se piove la musica suona’: Satire and impegno in Recent tormentoni estivi”
(co-authored with Isabella Livorni)
● American Musicological Society Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, October
31–November 3
● Viral Italian Sounds, University of California, Berkeley, CA, May 9–10
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Invited Participation in Panels, Roundtables, and Workshops
2023
Panelist, “Reimagining the Music Theory Curriculum: A Cross-School Collaboration
Towards Anti-Racism, Decolonization, and Globalization at NYU” (annual NYU/AMS
lecture), New York University, New York, NY, May 1
2023
Accelerator Workshop Participant, “A Music Theory Curriculum for the 21st
Century,” Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA,
January 19–20
2022
Panelist, “An Ugly Word: Rethinking ‘Race’ In Italy—and Worldwide” (book event for
Ann Morning), NYU Abu Dhabi Institute in New York, October 11
2022
Panelist, “Let’s Start From the Beginning: Equity in Music Theory and History,” Longy
School of Music of Bard College, Cambridge, MA, March 1 (online)
2021
Discussant, “White Stories, Black Histories, and Desegregating the Music
Curriculum,” lecture by Philip A. Ewell, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, October 19
(online)
2021
Respondent, “Jim Crow and Zip Coon: Racial Stereotypes in American Popular
Music,” lecture by Susan Hellauer, Music Before 1800, April 11 (online)
2021
Participant (on behalf of the Society for Music Theory), Intention Foundry, American
Council of Learned Societies, April 8–9 (online)
2021
Panelist, “Young and Bold: Examples of Youth Activism and Early Successes in
Student-Led Initiatives,” SphinxConnect 2021: Unity, Sphinx Organization, January
28–30 (online)
Conferences, Panels, & Workshops Organized
2022
Co-Organizer (until May 2022), “In Discomfort,” symposium organized by Project
Spectrum (founder and co-chair), pre-conference to the American Musicological
Society, Society for Music Theory, and Society for Ethnomusicology Joint Annual
Meeting, November 9–10
2021
Lead Organizer and Presenter, “Segregated Voices: Oppression and
Self-Determination in the Jim Crow Era,” conference session, American Musicological
Society Annual Meeting, online, November 11–12, 20–21
2021
Co-Organizer and Chair, “Scholars as Community Activists: Abolition and
Anti-Racism in Practice,” workshop organized by Project Spectrum (founder and
co-chair) in collaboration with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee,
Society for Music Theory Annual Meeting, online, November 4–7 (invited)
2020
Co-Organizer and Moderator, “Diversifying Music Academia: Building the Coalition,”
symposium organized by Project Spectrum (founder and committee member), virtual
pre-conference to the American Musicological Society and Society for Music Theory
Joint Annual Meeting, October 11, 18, 25, & November 1
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2020
Co-Organizer and Panelist, “A er ‘Reframing Music Theory’: Doing the Work,” panel
organized by Project Spectrum (founder and committee member), keynote address for
the Music Theory Society of New York State Annual Meeting, online, July (invited)
2018
Co-Organizer and Moderator, “Diversifying Music Academia: Strengthening the
Pipeline,” symposium organized by Project Spectrum (founder and chair),
pre-conference to the American Musicological Society and Society for Music Theory
Joint Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, October 31–November 1
Teaching Experience
New York University
2024 (spring)
2022 (fall)
Critical Work in Race and Music Theory (graduate)
Race and Vocal Harmony in the United States (undergraduate)
Yale University (Instructor of Record)
2020 (spring)
2019 (fall)
2019 (spring)
2018 (fall)
Elementary Musicianship II
Elementary Studies in Analysis and Model Composition II
Elementary Studies in Analysis and Model Composition I
Elementary Musicianship I
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (Teaching Assistant)
2016 (spring)
2015 (fall)
2015 (spring)
2014 (fall)
Musical Skills II
Musical Skills IV
Music Theory and Literature II
Music Theory and Literature I
Sphinx Performance Academy, Sphinx Organization (Instructor of Record)
2016–17
(summers)
Proposed and developed curriculum to introduce music theory fundamentals during
two-week string quartet summer camp for Black and Latinx musicians ages 12–17 (two
sessions each summer)
Invited Guest Lectures
2023
Presenter and discussant on barbershop music theory and culture, Analytical
Perspectives (course taught by Jonathan A. Gómez), University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, CA, March 2 (online)
2021
“Harmony and Form in Stevie Wonder’s ‘Overjoyed’” and “Toward Dismantling the
White Racial Frame,” Popular Music Recorded by African Americans (course taught by
Walter Everett), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, October 25 (online); Analysis
of Pop-Rock Music (Everett), October 15, 2020 (online)
2021
Presenter and discussant on race in music theory scholarship, Proseminar in Music
Theory (course taught by Edward Klorman), McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada,
September 28 (online)
2021
Presentation (in Italian) on Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Italian through Opera and
Film (course taught by Anna Iacovella), Yale University, New Haven, CT, September 21
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2021
“From Barbershop to the Beach Boys: Brian Wilson’s Vocal Influences,” The Beach
Boys in American Culture and Counterculture (course taught by Daniel Harrison), Yale
University, New Haven, CT, March 17 (online)
2021
Presenter and discussant on “Critical Work in Race and Music Theory,” Music Theory
Proseminar (course taught by Ellie M. Hisama), Columbia University, New York, NY,
February 22 (online)
2021
“Harmony and Form in Stevie Wonder’s ‘Overjoyed,’” Music Theory III (course taught
by Sara Bakker), Utah State University, Logan, UT, February 5 (online)
2021
Discussant on music theory and culture in the Barbershop Harmony Society,
Contemporary Pop A Cappella (course taught by Timothy Chenette), Utah State
University, Logan, UT, February 1 (online)
Related Experience
Professional
2018–20
2016–17
2016
2015–17
Fellow, Office for Graduate Student Development and Diversity, Yale University
Assistant Concert Producer, “Africa into Jazz/Jazz into Africa” Concert Series, Yale
University
Senior Strings Semi-Finalist Liaison, Grand Prize Liaison; M-Prize Competition,
University of Michigan
Semi-Finalist/Finalist Liaison, 18th–20th Annual Sphinx Competitions
Mentorship
2018–20
2015–17
2013
2011–14
Mentor, Office for Graduate Student Development and Diversity, Yale University
Dorm Parent, Sphinx Performance Academy (string quartet camp)
High School Boys Counselor, Interlochen Arts Camp
Mentor, Ypsilanti Youth Orchestra (Saturday-morning music program)
● Taught beginning and intermediate strings classes for children ages 5–15
Creative
2010–16
Arranger/orchestrator (soundcloud.com/cliffviola)
● Studied orchestration with Paul Schoenfeld (University of Michigan; 2012,
2014) and Aaron Travers (Indiana University Jacobs School of Music; 2015–16)
Service to the Profession
Committees
2023–26
2022–
2022–24
2022–23
2021–23
2021
Member-at-Large, Council, American Musicological Society
Affiliate Board, Project Spectrum
SMT-40 Dissertation Fellowship Committee, Society for Music Theory
● Chair, 2023–24
Program Committee, Music Theory Society of New York State Annual Meeting (2023),
New York University, New York, NY
Committee on Cultural Diversity, American Musicological Society
Program Committee, Society for American Music Annual Meeting (2022), Tucson, AZ
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2020–
2017–22
2017–20
Engaged Music Theory Working Group
● Blog Post Editor, 2022–; Mentor, Publication Program, 2023–
Founder, Project Spectrum
● Graduate student–led coalition committed to increasing diversity, equity,
accessibility, and inclusion in music academia
● Biennial national symposia starting in 2018; publications in Current Musicology
(2021), Theory and Practice (2021), and American Music (2023)
● Chair, 2017–19; Co-Chair, 2021–22
○ Oversaw organization of national symposium, “Diversifying Music
Academia: Strengthening the Pipeline” (2018)
Committee on Race and Ethnicity, Society for Music Theory
● Mentorship Coordinator, 2019–20 (50+ participants total)
Editorial Boards
2022–25
Scholarship and Research, College Music Symposium
Peer Review
College Music Symposium, Engaging Students: Essays in Music Pedagogy, Intégral, Music Theory and Analysis,
Open Access Musicology, Theory and Practice
Sessions Chaired
2023
2022
“Isochrony,” Music Theory Society of New York State Annual Meeting, New York
University, New York, NY, April 1–2
“Appropriation and the Designs of White Identity,” AMS/SEM/SMT Joint Annual
Meeting, New Orleans, LA, November 10–13
Mentorship
2021–
Mentor, Proposal Mentoring Program, Committee on the Status of Women, Society
for Music Theory
Service to the University
New York University
2023–25
2023–24
2023
2023
2023
2022–23
Co-Convener (with Sarah Louden), “Music Theory for Whom? A Comprehensive
Reform of Music Theory Curricula Across NYU” (working group), Department of
Music (FAS) and Music and Performing Arts Professions (Steinhardt)
● Supported by a Center for the Humanities Working Group Grant and a
Teaching Advancement Grant
Faculty Advisor, Graduate Student Conference, Department of Music
Second Reader, Soraya Garcia (M.A. thesis, Italian Studies)
Mentor, Proud to be First (Faculty Connect), College of Arts and Science
Workshop Leader (CV and Cover Letters), Faculty First Look, Faculty of Arts and
Science
Workshop Organizer (2x), “Preparing for the Academic Job Market,” Department of
Music
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Yale University
2019–22
Co-Founder, Grant Hagan Society, Department of Music
● Graduate student-led affinity group for people of color
● Co-Chair, 2019–20
Co-Founder, Fellowship Application Working Group, Department of Music
● Co-Convener, 2019–20
Website Co-Manager, Graduate Music Symposium, Department of Music
Professional Development Committee, Department of Music
● Chair, 2017–19
Guest Lecture Committee, Department of Music
2019–21
2018
2016–20
2016–17
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
2016
2015–16
2015–16
2015
2015
Session Chair (“Romantic Forms”), GTA Annual Research Symposium
Circulation Manager, Indiana Theory Review
Treasurer, Graduate Theory Association (GTA)
Program Committee, GTA Annual Research Symposium
Hospitality Chair, GTA Annual Research Symposium
Professional Memberships
American Musicological Society
American Studies Association
Association for the Study of African American Life and History
International Association for the Study of Popular Music–United States
Music Theory Society of New York State
Society for American Music
Society for Music Theory
Languages
English: native
Italian: fluent (Certificate of Knowledge of the Italian Language, Level C1, CELI 4)
German: reading knowledge
Select Performance Experience
2016–18
2015–16
2014–15
2010–14
Yale Camerata Chamber Chorus, Yale Institute of Sacred Music
University Singers (chamber choir), Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
Symphony Orchestra, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
University Philharmonia and Symphony Orchestras, University of Michigan
References
Ian Quinn
Professor of Music Theory
Yale University
(203) 436-5123
ian.quinn@yale.edu
Brigid Cohen
Associate Professor of Music
New York University
(646) 771-3448
bc64@nyu.edu
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Braxton D. Shelley
Associate Professor of Music, Sacred Music, and of
Divinity
Yale University
(203) 432-2267
braxton.shelley@yale.edu
Matthew D. Morrison
Assistant Professor, Clive Davis Institute of
Recorded Music
New York University
(212) 992-6642
matthew.morrison@nyu.edu