Alyssa Barna Named Assistant Professor of Music Theory

We are pleased to announce that Ms. Alyssa Barna has been named Assistant Professor of Music Theory effective August 26, 2019. Ms. Barna brings a wealth of experience to the U of M School of Music, and we warmly welcome her into our community. 

About Alyssa Barna

Alyssa Barna is a PhD candidate in music theory at the Eastman School of Music. Her current research centers on the study of form in popular music. Her dissertation seeks to define and categorize contrast relationships in music from the 1960s through recent Top-40 songs. Additionally, she is interested in 20th- and 21st-century serial music and post-tonal analytical techniques. Committed to the transmission of music theory to public audiences, she has recently published in The Washington Post. Alyssa has presented her research at the Society for Music Theory annual conference, the European Music Analysis Conference (EuroMAC), and various regional conferences including Music Theory Southeast, where she was awarded the Irna Priore Prize for Best Student Paper. 

Committed to pedagogy, she has enjoyed teaching a variety of written and aural skills courses covering fundamentals through post-tonal analysis and popular music studies, and has recently served as Visiting Instructor of Music Theory at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. In addition to her doctoral studies at Eastman, she completed a MM in music theory at Indiana University and a BM in music theory and a BM in music education and clarinet performance from Ithaca College.