Nicole Biamonte
Associate Professor
Ph.D., Music Theory (Yale University)
M.Phil., Music Theory (Yale University)
B.F.A., Piano (State University of New York at Purchase)
Dr. Biamonte鈥檚 primary research area concerns the theory and analysis of popular music, with a focus on rhythmic and聽metric聽functions in rock music. She is also interested in form and harmony in popular music, music theory pedagogy,聽and musical historicism in the nineteenth century, which was the topic of her dissertation, 鈥淭he Modes in the Music of Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms: Historical Context and Musical Function.鈥�
Nicole Biamonte has studied music theory, piano, and choral conducting. Before coming to McGill, she taught at Yale University, Skidmore College, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and the University of Iowa. She has presented papers at numerous regional, national and international conferences, including keynote addresses at the Music Theory Society of New York State (2013),聽University of Ottawa Graduate Student Music Conference (2014), New England Conference of Music Theorists (2017),聽and a joint meeting of the Gesellschaft f眉r Musiktheorie and the Gesellschaft f眉r Popularmusikforschung (2017).聽 She will also present keynote addresses at the Texas Society for Music Theory (2019) and the Indiana University Annual Symposium for Research in Music.聽She has led workshops at聽Music Theory Midwest (2014), the Universit盲t Mozarteum in聽Salzburg (2017), the Society for Music Analysis in the UK (2018), and the Society for Music Theory (2018). She has served as chair of the music theory area and of the SMT Popular Music Interest Group.聽 She recently completed a 3-year term as editor of Music Theory Online. She currently serves on the editorial board of Indiana Theory Review and is an international advisory editor for the journal Popular Music.
Rhythm and Meter in Popular Music
Rhythm and Meter
Popular Music Analysis
The Music of the Beatles
Music Theory Pedagogy
Tonal Counterpoint 1 and 2
Form in Popular Music
Basic Materials of Western Music
Undergraduate Core Theory
(some available for download at )
鈥淩hythmic and Metric Theorisation in Rock Music,鈥� in The Bloomsbury Handbook of Rock Music Research, ed. Allan F. Moore, Routledge (forthcoming 2019)
鈥淩hythmic Functions in Pop-Rock Music,鈥� in The Routledge Companion to Popular Music Analysis, ed. Smith, Scotto, and Brackett (Routledge, 2018)
鈥淧op/Rock Tonalities,鈥� in Tonality Since 1950, ed. W枚rner, Scheideler, and Rupprecht, Franz Steiner Verlag (2017)
Conference report on 鈥淎 Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Beatles鈥� Sgt. Pepper鈥檚 Lonely Hearts Club Band,鈥� Univ. of Michigan, June 2017, Music Theory Online 23.2 (2017)
鈥淥nline Music Theory in Music Theory Online,鈥� Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft f眉r Musiktheorie 13/2 (2016)
鈥淟es fonctions modales dans le rock et la musique metal,鈥� L鈥檃nalyse musicale aujourd鈥檋ui, ed. Mondher Ayari, Jean-Michel Bardez, and Xavier Hascher (Universit茅 de Strasbourg, 2015)
鈥淔ormal Functions of Metric Dissonance in Rock Music,鈥� Music Theory Online 20.2 (2014)
Review of Jeremy Day-O鈥機onnell, Pentatonicism from the Eighteenth Century to Debussy,
Theory and Practice 37/38 (2013)
鈥淰ariations on a Scheme: Bach鈥檚 鈥楥rucifixus鈥� and Chopin鈥檚 and Scriabin鈥檚 E-Minor Preludes,鈥�
滨苍迟茅驳谤补濒 26 (2012)
鈥淚ntroduction,鈥� special issue on Form in Rock Music, Music Theory Online 17.3 (2011)
Review of David Damschroder, Listening to Harmony, Nineteenth-Century Music Review 8/2 (2011)
鈥淢usical Otherness in Rush,鈥� in Rush and Philosophy, ed. Durrell Bowman (Open Court Press, 2011)
鈥淭riadic Modal and Pentatonic Patterns in Rock Music,鈥� Music Theory Spectrum 32/2 (2010), repr. Ashgate Library of Essays on Popular Music: Rock, ed. Mark Spicer (2011)
Editor, Pop-Culture Pedagogy in the Music Classroom: Teaching Tools from American Idol to YouTube (Scarecrow Press, 2010); author, introduction and chapter on 鈥淢usical Representation in the Video Games Guitar Hero and Rock Band鈥�
鈥淎ugmented-Sixth Chords vs. Tritone Substitutes,鈥� Music Theory Online 14.2 (2008)
Review of Allan Moore, ed., Analyzing Popular Music, Journal of Musicological Research 26/4 (2007)
鈥淢odality in Beethoven鈥檚 Folksong Settings,鈥� Beethoven Forum 13/1 (2006)
