Dr. Joshua Pilzer

Professor

Build a Statement of Purpose

Generate a tailored SOP for Dr. Joshua Pilzer. Improve your application with a focused, well-structured draft.

Biography

Joshua D. Pilzer is a Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Toronto. His research and teaching focus on the anthropology of sound and music, particularly in modern Korea and Japan, with a keen interest in voice studies, gender, trauma, and the study of everyday life. Pilzer's ethnographic work explores the connections between music forms and social expression, examining how music operates within cultural and social contexts. He authored the book 'Hearts Pine,' which delves into the singing lives of Korean survivors of the Japanese 'comfort women' system, published in 2012. His most recent book, 'Quietude,' published in 2022, presents an ethnography on the arts of survival among Korean survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and it won the Alan Merriam Prize from the Society for Ethnomusicology. Pilzer is currently conducting fieldwork for an ethnography on the voice in everyday life in contemporary Japan, focusing on the pedagogical uses of speaking and singing voices and their implications for propriety and authority.

Research Interests

Requirements for University of Toronto

Master Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3.3
IELTS
Listening
Required:6.5
Reading
Required:6.5
Writing
Required:6.5
Speaking
Required:6.5
Overall
Required:7
TOEFL
Listening
Required:22
Reading
Required:22
Writing
Required:22
Speaking
Required:22
Total
Required:93
Prerequisites
Appropriate four-year bachelor's degree Background in sociological theory and statistics preferred
Application Checklist
  • Transcripts
  • Two letters of reference
  • Statement of intent
  • Writing sample
  • Curriculum Vitae
Specialization Notes

Department of Sociology