David Smooke
Music Theory
Chair, Department of Music Theory: Teaching Music Theory classes, Minor Field Lessons in Music Composition, and Introduction to Popular Music (History of Rock and Roll—on the Homewood campus).
B.A. magna cum laude in music with minors in theater arts and comparative literature, University of Pennsylvania; M.M. in composition, Peabody Conservatory; Ph.D. in composition with music theory minor, University of Chicago. Studies in music composition with Shulamit Ran, Marta Ptaszynska, John Eaton, Andrew Imbrie, David Rakowski, Robert Hall Lewis, Ronald Caltabiano, Morris Moshe Cotel, and Richard Wernick. Former faculty, Ohio University, the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, Columbia College Chicago, the Merit School of Music; and lecturer, the University of Chicago. Composition awards include Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award, the William Schuman Prize for most outstanding score in the B.M.I. Student Composer Awards, and residencies at the MacDowell Colony, the Ragdale Foundation and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Performers include the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), eighth blackbird, California EAR Unit, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Pacifica String Quartet, Ensemble Dal Niente, Syzygy, the SKIN Ensemble, Dark in the Song, Verge Ensemble, Great Noise Ensemble, Rhymes With Opera, ACME, ai ensemble, Duo Vita, The Nucleus Ensemble (and the Definiens Project), Quintet Attacca, CUBE Ensemble, Collide-O-Scope Ensemble, Pictures on Silence, pianists (and/or toy pianists) Amy Briggs, Shirley Yoo, Xenia Pestova, Phyllis Chen, Stephen Buck, Ken Osowski, and Wilhem Latchoumia, cellist/singers Victoria Bass and Jody Redhage, bassoonist Michael Harley, bassist Jeffrey Weisner, conductor Cliff Colnot. Music theory interests include analysis of song, music cognition, analysis of rhythm and form; applications in music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Weekly columnist for NewMusicBox (the online journal of the American Music Center). Founder of League of the Unsound Sound (a new music ensemble). Toy pianist, sponsored by Schoenhut toy pianos.
