Dr. Nancy Murphy

Biography

Nancy Murphy is a music theorist whose research explores singer-songwriter music, focusing on themes such as metric flexibility, self-expression, vocal production, and music-text relations. She is the author of "A-Changin’: Flexible Meter Self-Expression Singer-Songwriter Music" published by Oxford University Press in 2023, which received the 2024 Society for Music Theory Emerging Scholar Award. Her notable published works include articles in Music Theory Online, Music Theory Spectrum, and Music Analysis that delve into areas such as flexible meter, metric transcription, and the techniques of self-expression in popular singing. Nancy has presented her research at various national and international conferences, including the Society for Music Theory annual conference and the Joni Mitchell’s Blue 50 Virtual Conference. Her teaching experience includes positions at the University of Chicago and the University of Houston, where she worked as an Assistant Professor of Music Theory. Nancy earned her PhD from the University of British Columbia in 2016 and holds both BMus and MA degrees in Music Theory from the University of Western Ontario. She currently serves as the associate editor for Music Theory Online and has been actively involved in several editorial boards and committees within the field of music theory.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards