The UMKC Conservatory is pleased to welcome Matthew Bell as an Assistant Teaching Professor of Music Theory at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, Fall 2017. He will teach the core musicianship sequence for undergraduates, as well as graduate courses in music theory.
Bell received his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Graduate School Fellow and Assistant Instructor. His dissertation draws on theories of rhythm and meter to examine the relationship between music and dance in Tchaikovsky’s classical ballets. He also holds degrees from Florida State University (BM in Music Theory and Composition, MM in Music Theory).
He has presented his research at several regional and national conferences, including the Society for Music Theory, Music Theory Southeast, the Texas Society for Music Theory, Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic, and the New England Conference of Music Theorists. In addition to classical and modern ballet repertoire, he has also presented work on chromatic harmony and transformation in the twentieth-century works of Holst and Britten.
His current research is informed by his training and performance experience as a pianist, singer, and dancer. During his time in Florida and Texas, Matthew served as a pianist for the Florida State University Dance Department, Ballet Austin, and the University of Texas Dance Department, as well as a pre-concert lecturer for the Austin Opera. In his free time, he enjoys kayaking, camping, and traveling with his wife Megan and their two dogs.