Dr. Michael Callahan

Biography

Michael Callahan is an Associate Professor of Music Theory at the College of Music at Michigan State University. He has been teaching since 2010 and served as area chairperson for music theory in 2014. Callahan coordinates the first-year aural skills curriculum, teaches core music theory courses, and leads graduate courses in music theory pedagogy, keyboard skills, and counterpoint. In 2020, he published a book co-edited with Gordon Sly, titled 'Twentieth- Twenty-First-Century Song Cycles for Voice and Piano', which features essays and live performances of post-1900 song cycles. He is also a co-author of the undergraduate music theory textbook 'The Complete Musician', with the fifth edition expected early 2022. His research focuses on music theory pedagogy, improvisation, eighteenth-century counterpoint, and music from the Great American Songbook. Callahan's scholarly work has been published in prominent journals including Music Theory Spectrum and Music Theory Online. He has received several teaching awards such as the Teacher-Scholar Award and Lilly Teaching Fellowship. Active in outreach efforts, Callahan performs on piano and harpsichord, specializing in improvised continuo playing.

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Awards