Composition & Theory
About the Composition & Theory Department
Department chair: Michael Slayton
The Composition/Theory program seeks to equip students with the creative, technical and critical mechanisms central to developing their artistic and intellectual lives as scholars.
Working closely with faculty, composition students at Blair enjoy a freedom of exploration in a variety of styles, working to create a diverse portfolio of compositions. Student composers have numerous opportunities to hear their music performed each year, culminating with a full-length portrait recital during the senior year.
Capitalizing on Blair's integral role in the cultural and intellectual life of one of America's premier universities, The Composition & Theory program also develops opportunities afforded by access to Vanderbilt's excellent musical and non-musical course offerings, encouraging students to understand how their own music relates to a host of other disciplines, such as art, history, literature, philosophy, and the sciences.
A guiding principle of Blair's program in Composition & Theory is that both the art and craft of composing are strengthened in developing a relationship between personal growth and the vast network of ideas and experiences available to students in the 21st century.
Aural Skills
Coordinator: Joshua McGuire
Increasingly, musicians are called upon to perform in diverse styles and genres, including music of the classic western tradition, jazz, popular and world music. To satisfy these demands, we at the Blair School are committed to providing students with the practical skills they will need to effectively perform in this eclectic environment.
Our musicianship program is designed to ensure that students systematically develop technical aural skills including pitch, interval and rhythm recognition, scale and mode identification, chord identification, et cetera. Additionally, students gain insight into how to augment musical communication and expression through the implementation of these skills.
Based upon teaching methods developed by Marianne Ploger since 1976, Blair musicianship courses focus on developing fluency in all of these areas.
Learn more about the Musicianship Program and register for 2019 Musicianship Intensives
Faculty
 | Michael Slayton Associate Professor of Composition and Theory; Chair of Composition & Theory Department | Email Website (615) 322-7673 2107 Blair Collegiate primary majors, collegiate non-primary majors, and collegiate minors |
 | Emelyne M. Bingham Principal Senior Lecturer of Music Theory and Cognition | Email 615-322-4924 1189 Blair |
 | Molly Herron Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition | |
| Stanley B. Link Associate Professor of the Composition, Philosophy and Analysis of Music | Email 615-322-4920 2106 Blair Collegiate primary majors, collegiate non-primary majors, and collegiate minors | |
 | Joshua McGuire Senior Lecturer in Musicianship | Email Website (615) 322-6891 2121 Blair |
 | Michael Alec Rose Professor of Composition | Email Website 615-322-5817 2102 Blair Collegiate primary majors, collegiate non-primary majors, and collegiate minors |
 | Frederick Sienkiewicz Adjunct Assistant Professor of Musicianship | Email Website 615-322-8826 Blair 1193 |
 | Deanna Walker Adjunct Instructor of Songwriting | Email Website 615-322-7653 3110 Blair Collegiate non-primary majors, collegiate minors, and Blair Academy students |
 | David Binns Williams Senior Lecturer in Musicianship and Choral Studies Director of the Vanderbilt Concert Choir; Director of the Vanderbilt Community Chorus | Email (615) 322-7164 3157 Blair |
 | Samuel Zyman Professor of Music Theory and Analysis | Email Website Blair 2120 |