Kristina Knowles is an interdisciplinary scholar in music theory and music cognition. Her specialties are rhythm and meter, music perception and cognition, music theory pedagogy, music and time, and 20th c. music. Her dissertation combined research in music theory, philosophy, and psychology to argue for an in-time and processive approach to the study of rhythm and meter in contemporary compositions that are predominantly unmetered, with a focus on the perceptual effect these musical structures may have on the subjective experience of time while listening.
Knowles has presented at numerous regional, national, and international conferences in the fields of music theory and music cognition, including the European Music and Analysis Conference (2014, 2021), the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (2015, 2017, 2021, 2022), the Society of Music Theory (2015, 2018), and the International Conference on Making Time in Music (2016). Past publications include articles in Contemporary Music Review (2022), Engaging Students (2020), and Frontiers in Communication (2021), and book chapters in The Oxford Handbook of Time in Music (2021), Performing Time (2023), and Expanding the Canon (2023). She is currently working on a larger project exploring how the language and metaphors scholars and performers use when describing time in music reveal the kinds of temporal experiences music affords.
Professor Knowles received her master's and doctorate in music theory and cognition from Northwestern University, and received a bachelor's in music theory at Nazareth College, where she studied music theory, composition, voice, and piano. Knowles currenty teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music theory and cognition.
- Ph.D. Music Theory and Cognition, Northwestern University
- M.A. Music Theory and Cognition, Northwestern University
- B.M. Music Theory, Nazareth College
Rhythm and meter, temporality, music perception and cognition, music and memory, musical topics, George Crumb, Morton Feldman.
Book Chapters
Knowles, Kristina. 2020. “‘No Doubt They Are Dream-Images’: Meter and Memory in George Crumb’s ‘Dream-Images.’” In Proceedings of the 15th Annual Congress of the Gesellschaft Der Musiktheorie at the Hochschule Für Musik Hanns Eisler and the Universität Der Künste Berlin, edited by Marcus Aydintan, Florian Edler, Roger Graybill, and Laura Kramer, 238–48. Hildesheim; Zurich; New York: Verlag Olms.
Knowles, Kristina. (2021). “Music as Time, Music as Timeless.” In Oxford Handbook of Time in Music, edited by Mark Doffman, Toby Young, and Emily Payne. New York: Oxford University Press.
Knowles, Kristina and Nicholas Shea. (2023). “From Counterpoint to Small Forms: A Cross-Stylistic Approach to Incorporating BIPOC Composers in the Theory Core,” In, Black Composers in the Music Theory Classroom,edited by Melissa Hoag. New York, London: Routledge.
Knowles, Kristina and Richard Ashley. (2023). “Measuring Experienced Time While Listening to Music.” In Performing Time: Synchrony and Temporal Flow in Music and Dance, edited by Clemens Wöllner and Justin London. New York: Oxford University Press.
Journal Articles
Knowles, Kristina. (2017). “A Broken Idyll: Post-Pastoralism in the Works of George Crumb.” E-Rea, Pastoral Sounds, 14.2: 1–15.
Knowles, Kristina. (2020). “Beyond Post-Tonal: A Broader Approach to the Fourth Semester Course,” Engaging Students: Essays in Music Pedagogy Vol. 7.
Durojaye, Cecilia, Kristina L. Knowles, K. Jakob Patten, Mordecai J. Garcia, Michael K. McBeath. (2021). “When Music Speaks: An Acoustic Study of the Speech Surrogacy of the Nigerian Dùndún Talking Drum.” Frontiers in Communication 6. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2021.652690.
Knowles, Kristina. (2022). “Between the Beats: Metric Ambiguity and Rhythmic Gesture in the Works of George Crumb,” Contemporary Music Review Vol. 39.
Courses
2023 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
MTC 492 | Honors Directed Study |
MTC 493 | Honors Thesis |
MTC 584 | Internship |
MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
MTC 500 | Research Methods |
PSY 598 | Special Topics |
2022 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
MTC 496 | Theory Project |
MTC 492 | Honors Directed Study |
MTC 493 | Honors Thesis |
MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
PSY 598 | Special Topics |
MTC 500 | Research Methods |
MTC 584 | Internship |
MTC 520 | Analytical Techniques |
MTC 592 | Research |
2022 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
MTC 223 | Music Theory: 20th Century |
MTC 584 | Internship |
MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
MTC 500 | Research Methods |
PSY 598 | Special Topics |
MTC 591 | Seminar |
MTC 223 | Music Theory: 20th Century |
2021 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
MTC 222 | Music Theory: 19th Century |
MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
PSY 598 | Special Topics |
MTC 500 | Research Methods |
MTC 584 | Internship |
MTC 591 | Seminar |
MTC 222 | Music Theory: 19th Century |
2021 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
MTC 223 | Music Theory: 20th Century |
MTC 584 | Internship |
MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
MTC 500 | Research Methods |
MTC 598 | Special Topics |
PSY 598 | Special Topics |
MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
2020 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
MTC 222 | Music Theory: 19th Century |
MTC 525 | Pedagogy of Theory |
MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
PSY 598 | Special Topics |
MTC 500 | Research Methods |
MTC 584 | Internship |
2020 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
MTC 223 | Music Theory: 20th Century |
MTC 584 | Internship |
MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
PSY 598 | Special Topics |
MTC 500 | Research Methods |
2019 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
MTC 222 | Music Theory: 19th Century |
MTC 525 | Pedagogy of Theory |
MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
MTC 535 | Rhythm and Meter Studies |
PSY 598 | Special Topics |
MTC 500 | Research Methods |