Summary
My background is in musicology and my current work is focused on analysis and interpretation, the phenomenological study of musical engagement, and the ethics of musical experience. I am particularly interested in how senses of self (including agency, ownership, affirmation, and affiliation) manifest when listeners are engaged with—in—rhythm and musical time. A combination of hermeneutics, phenomenology, and 4E cognition forms the theoretic framework of my research fellowship project. Several big questions drive my research including, what mechanisms enable us to make sense of rhythmic-temporal structures and engage with them in meaningful ways? How can we robustly document such phenomena? Why does experiencing self in musical encounters (existentially, socially, ethically) matter?
I am co-author of the musicology title Rock: The Primary Text: Developing a Musicology of Rock (3rd Edition) with Professor Allan F. Moore. The book was published in 2019 by Routledge. In my interdisciplinary PhD thesis—supervised by Professor Allan F. Moore (University of Surrey) and Dr Nanette Nielsen (University of Oslo)—I examined ‘authenticating’ popular music listening experiences drawing from musicology, phenomenology, social theory, ethics, and cognitive science.
Prior to joining the University of Oslo as a researcher, I was Senior Lecturer and then Curriculum Manager at Leeds Conservatoire, where I helped oversee the design, delivery, and development of the BA Music (Popular Music) programme. I taught across the Popular Music and Songwriting pathways and delivered lectures, seminars, and workshops on a range of topics and styles from analytical, cultural, and creative perspectives. In 2018 I received the student-led Leeds Conservatoire 'Most Inspiring Teaching' award. I also previously led the teaching of popular music analysis and hermeneutics as an Associate Lecturer at the University of Surrey.
I have given several invited talks on higher education music pedagogy and have acted as an expert advisor on programme validations. I currently hold External Examiner and Award Examiner positions at the University of Gloucestershire. Before turning to musicological study, I specialised in guitar performance and have gigged as a rock, pop, folk, and country guitarist.
PhD Supervision
Martin Peter Pleiss / Project title: Towards a phenomenology of novelty: perceiving and engaging with Virtual Reality
Teaching
Methods in Music Studies (PhD course, Department of Musicology)
MUS3090 Bacheloroppgave i musikkvitenskap
MUS4007 Gender and Music
MUS2445 Musikkens Historie 2