Roe-Min Kok
Associate Professor, Area Coordinator (Musicology, Fall '24)
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BMus University of Texas at Austin
MA Duke University
PhD Harvard University
Roe-Min Kok鈥檚 wide-ranging, interdisciplinary research interests include the history of the European family and domesticity, nineteenth-century notions of childhood and children鈥檚 music, the family of Robert and Clara Schumann, and music colonialism in global history (western art music in non-western/ postcolonial/colonial settings, imperial music educational systems and decolonizing initiatives). Underlying her work is a fundamental curiosity about socio-cultural frameworks through which music is created, received, understood, and discussed. She employs a wide assortment of methods ranging from philology and autoethnography to critical cultural theories on race, gender, and class in pursuing answers to the query: 鈥淭o what questions can this musical work [or music phenomena] provide answers?鈥�
Ongoing projects include a monograph on music and domestic politics in the Schumann household; a major revision of the entry 鈥淩obert Schumann鈥� in Grove/ Oxford Music Online; Nineteeenth-Century Piano Music by Women; The Oxford Handbook of Music Colonialism (with Erin Johnson-Williams and Yvonne Liao), and Clara and Robert Schumann in Context (with Joe Davies). Kok has authored multiple articles, chapters, and reviews (see below). Her essay, 鈥淢usic for a Postcolonial Child鈥� (2006, reprinted 2011) analyzed her coming-of-age experiences learning Western art music in a former British colony. The essay received five requests for republication and was featured on BBC Radio 4. The New York Times interviewed her for the Clara Schumann Bicentennial 2019; more recently, she was invited to speak with WQXR (New York classical radio station), and to present keynotes.
A member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of the American Musicological Society, Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, and Rivista Chigiana, Kok has served as a peer reviewer for major publishers and journals. Conferences at which she has presented papers and chaired sessions include the American Musicological Society, International Musicological Society, International Conference on Nineteenth-Century Music, Society for Ethnomusicology, Royal Musical Association, Gesellschaft f眉r Musikforschung, and German Studies Association; and themed conferences in Italy, Greece, Germany, U.K., and U.S.A. Invited to colloquia and symposia in South Africa, Brazil, U.S.A., U.K., Germany, Switzerland, and Canada, Kok has received research funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the British Academy, Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst and the Mariann Steegmann Foundation. Currently she holds a SSHRC Insight Grant (2020-24). Kok has been elected a Visiting Fellow at St. Catherine鈥檚 College, University of Oxford.
Kok has contributed in many ways to the professional community. She served on the program committees of the international conferences 鈥淧erforming Classics Today: The Role of the Performer in the Actualization of Music鈥� and 鈥淢usic and Spirituality since the French Revolution鈥� (respectively 2024 and 2022, Accademia Chigiana, Siena, Italy) and on the adjudicating committee of the H. Robert Cohen/ RIPM publication award offered by the American Musicological Society (2019-2022; chair, 2020-21). As a result of interest generated by Kok鈥檚 research, a Study Group on Childhood and Youth was co-founded by Ryan Bunch and Sarah Tomlinson at AMS in 2020, partly under her mentorship. A former Co-Chair for the AMS Committee for Cultural Diversity, Kok has also served as an elected Member-at-Large and Nominations Committee Member of the Society鈥檚 Council, and on the Interdisciplinary Initiatives Committee of the German Studies Association. At 香蕉视频 she became the first woman and first visible minority to serve as Chair of the Department of Music Research, comprising 40 faculty members in six music subfields, 40-70 adjunct instructors, and 40-80 Teaching Assistants (2015-2018). She led the Department through an external review, recruited new faculty members, improved graduate student funding, and steered the Department through the unionization of adjunct instructors. She is a former Vice-Chair of McGill鈥檚 Committee on Staff Grievances and Disciplinary Procedures, the community court of the university.
An advocate for social and distributive justice, Kok has pioneered scholarly subfields that give voice to underrepresented ideas and repertoire: i) childhood and children鈥檚 music; and ii) colonialism鈥檚 role in the spread and practice of western art music worldwide. In 2017, she designed a course about music and colonialism in global history, which she offers regularly at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She also helped develop a multidisciplinary course on global citizenship for all McGill students.
As a graduate supervisor, Kok believes in honing independent, original, and creative ideas; critical thinking skills; good judgement and informed opinions; a solid base of information; and precise writing. A selection of theses and dissertations completed under her supervision reveals her openness to a wide range of topics alongside her commitment to helping students realize their own ideas: Western European or Oriental? Armenian 鈥淲estern Art Music鈥� and the Influence of Folksong at the Fin-de-Si猫cle; Transcultural Aesthetics in the Music of T艒ru Takemitsu; A Postcolonial Analysis of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra; Governing the Moscow Conservatory, 1889-1905; Gender Transitivity in Robert Schumann鈥檚 Female Dramatic Characters; Sistema in the News: Exploring Media Coverage of Sistema-Inspired Programs in Montreal and Kahnaw脿:ke; Rearticulating Scarlatti in the Context of Nationalism: Folklore and Neoclassicism in Granados and de Falla; Sephardic Influences in the Liturgy of Ashkenazi Orthodox Jews of London; and Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Between the Notes.
If you are a prospective graduate student with similar research interests and beliefs, please get in touch. Kok鈥檚 supervisees have secured awards from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; Fonds de recherche du Qu茅bec - Soci茅t茅 et culture; William Georgetti Scholarship (New Zealand); Ida White Scholarship (New Zealand); Sir Edward Youde Foundation (Hong Kong, PRC); the National Arts Council of Singapore; Conseil r茅gional Nakonha:ka Regional Council; and 香蕉视频鈥檚 Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Office.
- October 2024
Books/ Volumes/ Special Issues
Composing the Symbolic Family Schumann, in progress.
Nineteenth-Century Piano Music by Women, Routledge, in progress.
The Oxford Handbook of Music Colonialism (with Erin Johnson-Williams and Yvonne Liao), Oxford University Press, forthcoming c.2025.
Clara and Robert Schumann in Context (with Joe Davies), Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2025.
Special issue 鈥淢usic and Spirituality since the French Revolution,鈥� Chigiana: Journal of Musicological Studies 53 (2023 [2024]) (with Susanna Pasticci).
Schumann, in The Early Romantic Composers Series, Routledge, 2019.
Rethinking Schumann (with Laura Tunbridge), Oxford University Press, 2011.
Musical Childhoods and the Cultures of Youth (with Susan Boynton), Wesleyan University Press, 2006.
Editions of Music
Neue Robert Schumann Ausgabe III/1/4: Klavierwerke 4. Kreisleriana Op. 16, Schott-Verlag, 2016.
Felix Mendelssohn, Herr Gott, dich loben wir, Carus-Verlag, 1996 (republished 2008).
Book Chapters
鈥淭he Model Minority Music Student: Interrogating a Neocolonial Stereotype,鈥� in The Oxford Handbook on Music Colonialism, ed. Erin Johnson Williams, Roe-Min Kok and Yvonne Liao. Oxford University Press. Forthcoming c.2025.
鈥淐lara鈥檚 Perspectives on Other Virtuosas,鈥� in Clara and Robert Schumann in Context, ed. Joe Davies and Roe-Min Kok. Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2025.
鈥淐lara 鈥� Robert鈥檚 Posthumous Androgyne,鈥� in Clara Schumann Studies, ed. Joe Davis. Cambridge University Press, 2021. 223-245.
鈥淩obert Schumann鈥檚 Choral Music,鈥� in Nineteenth-Century Choral Music, ed. Donna Di Grazia. Routledge, 2013. 150-168.
鈥淲ho was Mignon? What was she? Popular Catholicism and Schumann鈥檚 Requiem Op. 98b,鈥� in Rethinking Schumann, ed. Roe-Min Kok and Laura Tunbridge. Oxford University Press, 2011. 88-108.
鈥淢usic for a Postcolonial Child: Theorizing Malaysian Memories,鈥� in Musical Childhoods and the Cultures of Youth, ed. Susan Boynton and Roe-Min Kok. Wesleyan University Press, 2006. 89-104. Reprinted in Learning, Teaching, and Musical Identity: Voices across Cultures, ed. Lucy Green. Indiana University Press, 2011. 73-90.
Journal Articles
鈥淗补耻蝉尘耻蝉颈办 e spiritualizzazione del genere.鈥� Chigiana: Journal of Musicological Studies 53 (2023 [2024]): 109-130.
鈥淭eaching Music Colonialism in Global History: Pedagogical Pathways and Student Responses,鈥� in 鈥淭eaching Global Music History: Practices and Challenges,鈥� ed. Hedy Law, Daniel F. Castro-Pantoja and Hyun Kyong Hannah Chang. Journal of Music History Pedagogy 13 No. 1 (2023): 64-82.
鈥淚mperial Music Examinations in South Asia: Colonial Imaginaries, Postcolonial Realities,鈥� in 鈥淢usic, Empire, Colonialism: Sounding the Archives,鈥� ed. Philip Burnett, Erin Johnson Williams and Yvonne Liao. Postcolonial Studies 26 No. 3 (2023): 386-405.
鈥淣egotiating Children鈥檚 Music: New Evidence for Schumann鈥檚 鈥楥harming鈥� Late Style,鈥� Acta musicologica LXXX/1 (2008): 99-128.
鈥淔alling Asleep: Schumann, Lessing and Death in a Wunderhorn Lullaby,鈥� in 鈥淰erwandlungsmusik: 脺ber komponierte Transfigurationen,鈥� ed. Andreas Dorschel. Studien zur Wertungsforschung 48 (2007): 236-272. Reprinted in Schumann, in The Early Romantic Composers Series, Routledge, 2019.
鈥淥f Kindergarten, Cultural Nationalism and Schumann鈥檚 Album for the Young,鈥� in 鈥淢usic and Childhood: Creativity, Socialization, and Representation,鈥� ed. Amanda Minks. the world of music 48/1 (2006): 111-133.
Articles (invited, peer-reviewed)
鈥淚s it Music for Small or Big Children? What the Sources Say,鈥� in Festschrift f眉r Bernhard R. Appel zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. Julia Ronge and Jens Dufner. Bonn 2015. 47-59.
鈥淐辞谤迟辞迟鈥檚 Kreisleriana,鈥� in Schumann interpretieren, ed. Jean-Jacques D眉nki and Anette M眉ller. Studiopunkt Verlag, 2014. 377-394.
鈥淔antasie C-Dur op. 17,鈥� in Robert Schumann: Interpretation seiner Werke, ed. Helmut Loos. Laaber-Verlag, 2006, Vol. 1. 99-105.
Book Reviews
Alison McQueen Tokita and Joys H.Y. Cheung, ed., The Art Song in East Asia and Australia, 1900-1950. Routledge, 2023. Music & Letters. In progress.
Holger M. St眉we, ed., Robert Schumann, Arabeske Op. 18/ Blumenst眉ck Op. 19 for Piano. B盲renreiter, 2021. Nineteenth-Century Music Review. In progress.
Alexander Stefaniak. Schumann鈥檚 Virtuosity: Criticism, Composition, and Performance in Nineteenth Century Germany. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2016. Journal of the American Musicological Society 73 No. 1 (2020): 183-187.
Patricia Shehan Campbell, Songs in their Heads. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Music & Letters 95/3 (2014): 499-502.
Erika Reiman. Schumann鈥檚 Piano Cycles and the Novels of Jean Paul. Rochester, New York and Suffolk, England: University of Rochester Press, 2004. 19th Century Music Review 2/2 (2005): 182-186.
John Daverio. Crossing Paths: Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Music & Letters 86/1 (February 2005): 135-139.
Conference Proceedings
鈥溾�榁on fremden L盲ndern und Menschen 鈥︹�� Western Classical Music, Colonialism and Identity Formation: A Case-Study in Southeast Asia,鈥� in Musik und kulturelle Identit盲t. Bericht des XIII. Internationalen Kongresses der Gesellschaft f眉r Musikforschung 16.鈥�21.9.2004 in Weimar, ed. Detlef Altenburg and Rainer Bayreuther. 3 vols. Kassel: B盲renreiter, 2012. Vol. 1. 498-505. Reprinted online (Open Access), 2019.
鈥淪chumann im anglophonen Kontext,鈥� in Robert Schumann: Pers枚nlichkeit, Werk und Wirkung: Bericht 眉ber die Internationale Musikwissenschaftliche Konferenz vom 22. bis 24. April 2010 in Leipzig, ed. Helmut Loos. Leipzig: Gudrun Schr枚der Verlag, 2011. 434-442.
鈥淔amily and Gender in Imaginative Children's Music,鈥� in 鈥淚nstrumental Music and the Industrial Revolution: International Conference Proceedings, Cremona, 1-3 July 2006,鈥� ed. Roberto Illiano and Luca Sala. Bologna: Ut Orpheus Edizioni. Ad Parnassum Studies 5, 2010. 269-277.
鈥淢盲rchen-Musik,鈥� in 脺berg盲nge: Zwischen K眉nsten und Kulturen, Internationaler Kongress zum 150. Todesjahr von Heinrich Heine und Robert Schumann, ed. Henriette Herwig, Volker Kalisch, Bernd Kortl盲nder, Joseph A. Kruse and Bernd Witte. Stuttgart and Weimar: J.B. Metzler, 2007. 337-46.
鈥淔anny Hensel, Mignon and the Harper from the Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre.鈥� Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Duke University Women鈥檚 Studies Conference, 1995.
Short Writings
鈥淜laviermusik (Gattung, musikalische),鈥� 226-28; 鈥淗ilary Hahn,鈥� 276; 鈥淟iza Lim,鈥� 340-41; 鈥淢idori,鈥� 368-69; 鈥淵ounghi Pagh-Paan,鈥� 425-26; 鈥淢iki Yui,鈥� 533-34, in Lexikon Musik und Gender, ed. Annette Kreutziger-Herr and Melanie Unseld. Kassel and Stuttgart: B盲renreiter Metzler, 2010. Published online with additional reading lists, 2011.
鈥淛ournals鈥� and 鈥淲omen-Identified Music,鈥� in Women and Music in America Since 1900: An Encyclopedia, ed. Kristin Burns. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood-Heinemann Press, 2002. Respectively: Vol. 1, 340-43; Vol. 2, 674-676.
鈥淩obert Schumann, Carnaval Op. 9 and Piano Sonata Op. 11.鈥� CD liner notes for Evgeny Kissin. New York: RCA Victor Records, 2002.
鈥淯kulele,鈥� 鈥淢ariachi Band,鈥� 鈥淭he Western Orchestra,鈥� 鈥淛azz Band,鈥� 鈥淭he 鈥楿d,鈥� and 鈥淰ocal Ensembles,鈥� in Soundscapes: Exploring Music in a Changing World by Kay K. Shelemay. New York: W. W. Norton, 2001.
