Dr. Martin Ross

Biography

Martin Ross is an Assistant Professor in Music Theory at Western University. He received his Ph.D. from Western in 2023, with a dissertation titled 'Gesture in Steve Reich’s Music Signification,' which employs Peircean semiotics to investigate the levels of attention, influence, and understanding in Reich's work from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s. He also holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Clarinet Performance with distinction from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a Master of Music degree in Music Theory from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Ross specializes in modernist musical trends of the twentieth century, particularly minimalist music. His analytical focus includes semiotics, gesture, musical meaning, and subjective frameworks. He has presented papers at various scholarly conferences across North America and Europe and currently serves as the Secretary of the Society for Minimalist Music. In April 2024, he contributed to an edited volume titled 'Music Narrative Potential' with a piece titled 'Indexing Narrative: Gestural Patterns, Plentitude, Cultural Metonymy in Steve Reich’s Music Pieces for Wood,' which explores the narrative possibilities of Reich's purely rhythmic work. Ongoing research by Ross includes the sonic iconicity in Arvo Pärt's tintinnabuli music and the phenomenological experience of video game music.

Research Interests