Professor and Area Chair of Music Theory
Moores School of Music, University of Houston
email: tkoozin@uh.edu
Forthcoming book: Embodied Expression in Popular Music: A Theory of Musical Gesture and Agency, Oxford University Press.
“Gloria: Counterpoint and Expression in the Music of U2.” In Analyzing Recorded Music, William Moylan, Lori Burns, and Mike Alleyne, eds. (Routledge Press, 2023).
“Musical Gesture in the Songs of Nick Drake” in The Cambridge Companion to the Singer-Songwriter, eds. Justin A. Williams and Katherine A. Williams (Cambridge University Press, 2016).
“Irony, Myth, and Temporal Organization in the Early Songs of Bob Dylan” in This is the Sound of Irony: Music, Politics and the Public Sphere, ed. Katherine L. Turner (Ashgate, 2015).
“Guitar Voicing in Pop-Rock Music: A Performance-Based Analytical Approach.” Music Theory Online 17.3 (2011).
“Fumbling Towards Ecstasy: Voice Leading, Tonal Structure, and the Theme of Self-Realization in the Music of Sarah McLachlan” in Expression in Pop-Rock Music: A Collection of Critical and Analytical Essays, ed. Walter Everett (Routledge, second edition, 2007).
“Music in Akira Kurosawa’s Filmic Adaptations of Shakespeare: Throne of Blood (1957), The Bad Sleep Well (1960), and Ran (1985)” in The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Music, eds. Mervyn Cooke and Christopher Wilson (Oxford University Press, 2022).
“Toru Takemitsu's Collaborations with Masahiro Shinoda: The Music for Pale Flower, Samurai Spy and Ballad of Orin” in The Cambridge Companion to Film Music, eds. Mervyn Cooke and Fiona Ford (Cambridge University Press, 2016).
The Film Music of Fumio Hayasaka and Toru Takemitsu. An edited volume of essays for the Journal of Film Music, 3/1 (2010). Includes two authored articles:
“Expressive Meaning and Historical Grounding in the Film Music of Fumio Hayasaka and Toru Takemitsu.” Journal of Film Music 3/1 (2010).
“Parody and Ironic Juxtaposition in Toru Takemitsu’s Music for the Film, Rising Sun (1993).” Journal of Film Music 3/1 (2010).
“Traversing Distances: Pitch Organization, Gesture, and Imagery in the Late Works of Toru Takemitsu.” Contemporary Music Review 21/4 (2003).
“Three Recent Scores by Toru Takemitsu.” Invited music review in Notes (1997).
“Spiritual-Temporal Imagery in Music of Olivier Messiaen and Toru Takemitsu.” Contemporary Music Review 7/2 (1993).
“Octatonicism and Large-Scale Structure in Recent Solo Piano Music of Toru Takemitsu.” Perspectives of New Music 29/1 (1991).
“Toru Takemitsu and the Unity of Opposites.” College Music Symposium 30 (1990).
Music for Sight Singing, seventh edition, co-authored with Thomas Benjamin, Michael Horvit and Robert Nelson (Cengage, 2022).
“Review of The Norton Guide to Teaching Music Theory, Part III: Expanding the Canon.” Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy 32 (2019).
Music for Analysis, anthology co-authored with Thomas Benjamin, Michael Horvit and Robert Nelson (Oxford University Press, 8th ed., 2018). Audio playlists for Naxos and Spotify
Techniques and Materials of Music, textbook co-authored with Thomas Benjamin, Michael Horvit and Robert Nelson (Cengage, enhanced 7th ed., 2014)
Music for Ear Training, aural skills workbook and streaming audio co-authored with Michael Horvit and Robert Nelson (Cengage, 4th ed., 2012).
“The History and Future of Music Theory Online: Evolving Content and Design.” Music Theory Online 20.1 (2014).
The Film Music of Fumio Hayasaka and Toru Takemitsu. A volume of essays for the Journal of Film Music, 3/1 (2010).
Editor of Music Theory Online, the electronic refereed journal published by the Society of Music Theory, 2001-2008.
“Aretha Franklin as Singer-Songwriter: Rhetorical Design in Soul and Funk Music.” Annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory, 2022.
“The Music of Leanne La Havas: Embodiment and Mediation in Neo-Soul.” Annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory, 2021.
“Counterpoint and Embodied Expression in the Music of Joni Mitchell.” Joni Mitchell's “Blue' at 50.” University of Connecticut, 2021.
“Keyboard Playing in the Beatles’ Abbey Road: Topic, Persona, and Social Discourse.” Come Together: Fifty Years of Abbey Road. University of Rochester Institute for Popular Music and the Eastman School of Music, 2019.
“Counterpoint and Expression in the Music of U2.” The U2 Conference, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 2018.
“Debussy’s Pastoralism and the Music of Toru Takemitsu,” joint session of the Society for Music Theory and the American Musicological Association, panel: The Debussy Sound and the Cultural Imagination, San Antonio, 2018.
“Toward a Theory of Irony and Musical Gesture in Popular Music,” joint meeting of the Gesellschaft für Popularmusikforschung and the Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie, Graz, Austria, 2017.
“Musical Topic and Ironic Gesture in the Songs of Steely Dan,” Annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory, Arlington, 2017.
“The History and Future of Music Theory Online: Evolving Content and Design.” Panel presentation at the Annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory, Charlotte, NC, 2013.
“Musical Gesture and Mythical Narrative in the Songs of Bob Dylan.” International Conference on Music Since 1900, Liverpool, England, 2013.
“Embodied Expression in Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks." International Conference on Analyzing Popular Music, Liverpool, England, 2013.
“Reading Tabs and Playing Rock: A Study of Pop-Rock Guitar Tablature.” Conference on Interdisciplinary Musicology, Sheffield, England, 2010.
“Musical Form and Guitar Voicing in Pop-Rock Music: A Performance-Based Analytical Approach,” Annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory, Indianapolis, 2010.
“Gestural Representation in Toru Takemitsu’s Music for the Film, Rising Sun.” Semiotic Society of America annual meeting, Houston 2009.
“The Film Music of Toru Takemitsu,” panel presentation, Annual Conference of the College Music Society, Atlanta, 2008.
“Research and Electronic Publication in Music Theory.” An invited paper for the SMT Committee on Professional Development. Annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory, 2004.
“A Cross-Disciplinary Perspective on Electronic Publishing for Music Theory.” Invited paper for the SMT Music Informatics Group, annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory, 2003.
“Imagination, Authorship, and Participation: A Narrative Approach to the Study of Funk and Rock Music.” The International Popular Music Studies Conference of the Experience Music Project, Seattle, 2002.
“Instructional Technology: Past, Present, and Future.” Invited paper presented at the Annual Conference of the College Music Society, Association for Technology in Music Instruction, Kansas City, 2002.
“Rhythm and Meter in Funk Music.” Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Texas Society of Music Theory, Waco, 2002.
“Delivering a Web-Based Archive for Aural Dictation: A Third-Year Report.” International Conference for Technological Developments in Music Learning, San Antonio, 2001.
“Pitch Organization in the Late Works of Toru Takemitsu.” Annual Conference of the Texas Society of Music Theory, Houston, 2001.
“Voice Leading, Tonal Structure, and the Theme of Self-Realization in the Music of Sarah McLachlan.” National Meeting of the Society for Music Theory, Atlanta, 1999.
“Modeling Musical Processes in a Real-Time Computer Environment.” Conference on Musical Imagery, International Conference on Systematic and Comparative Musicology, Oslo, Norway, 1999.
“Creating a Computer-Based Archive for Aural Dictation using the Yamaha MIDXtra. National Meeting of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction, Denver, 1999.
“Music Instructional Technology.” Panelist and moderator, International Meeting of the College Music Society, Vienna, 1997.
“Computer Environments for Schenkerian Analysis.” Joint special session, National Conference of the American Musicological Society and the Society for Music Theory, Phoenix, 1997.
“An Approach to Structure and Modal Mixture in the Music of Jimi Hendrix.” International Meeting of the College Music Society, Vienna, 1997.
“A Computer-Assisted Approach to the Study of Schenkerian Analysis.” National Meeting of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction, Atlanta, 1996.
“Assessing Process and Outcome in Multimedia–Based Music Learning.” National Meeting of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction, Portland, 1995.
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