Nicholas Shea
Assistant Professor,
School of Music, Dance and Theatre
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Mail code: 0405Campus: Tempe
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Long Bio
Nicholas Shea is an assistant professor of music theory in the School of Music, Dance and Theatre. As co-director of the CACTUS Music Lab, he primarily studies how musicians from diverse backgrounds conceptualize and generate music's organizational components through performance, using techniques such as behavioral experiments, corpus studies, and theoretical analysis.
Recent open-access publications:
- "Diversity in Music Corpus Studies." Music Theory Online 30.1
- "'Guitar Thinking' and 'Genre Thinking' among an Online Community of Guitarists." IASPM Journal 13, no. 1.
- "Gestural Perspectives on Popular-Music Performance." Music Theory Online 28.3
- "The Feel of the Guitar in Popular-Music Performance." SMT-V 08.3
Videos below:
- "The Feel of the Guitar in Popular-Music Performance." SMT-V 08.3
- NASM Region 1 Session presentation: Research-backed Strategies for Building Musical Fluency in Diverse Populations of Undergraduate Music Majors
Education
- Ph.D. The Ohio State University
- M.M. University of Massachusetts Amherst
- B. Music Ed. University of Missouri – St. Louis.
Video
Courses
2025 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
| MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
| MTC 225 | Popular Music Theory |
| MTC 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| MTC 493 | Honors Thesis |
| MTC 496 | Theory Project |
| MTC 428 | Form and Analysis II |
| MTC 598 | Special Topics |
2024 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| MTC 496 | Theory Project |
| MTC 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| MTC 493 | Honors Thesis |
| MTC 125 | Music Theory I |
| MTC 525 | Pedagogy of Theory |
| MTC 584 | Internship |
| MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
| MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
| MTC 484 | Internship |
2024 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| MTC 496 | Theory Project |
| MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
| MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
2023 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| MTC 496 | Theory Project |
| MTC 492 | Honors Directed Study |
| MTC 493 | Honors Thesis |
| MTC 525 | Pedagogy of Theory |
| MTC 584 | Internship |
| MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
| MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
2023 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
| MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
| MTC 225 | Popular Music Theory |
| MTC 591 | Seminar |
2022 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| MTC 125 | Basic Music Theory |
| MTC 525 | Pedagogy of Theory |
| MTC 584 | Internship |
| MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
| MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
2022 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| MTC 221 | Music Theory: 18th Century |
| MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
| MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
| MTC 591 | Seminar |
| MTC 221 | Music Theory: 18th Century |
| MTC 496 | Theory Project |
2021 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| MTC 125 | Basic Music Theory |
| MTC 525 | Pedagogy of Theory |
| MTC 584 | Internship |
| MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
| MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
| MTC 125 | Basic Music Theory |
2021 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| MTC 221 | Music Theory: 18th Century |
| MTC 591 | Seminar |
| MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
| MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |
2020 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| MTC 125 | Basic Music Theory |
| MTC 520 | Analytical Techniques |
| MTC 584 | Internship |
| MTC 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| MTC 590 | Reading and Conference |
| MTC 790 | Reading and Conference |