Rate My Professor Benjamin Wadsworth

Benjamin K. Wadsworth is Professor of Music Theory in the Bailey School of Music at Kennesaw State University, where he has served since 2009, initially as Assistant Professor until 2015 and then as Associate Professor. He oversees the music theory curriculum, including the development of a new aural skills sequence, and teaches core undergraduate courses in music theory and aural skills, as well as upper-level classes such as Form & Analysis, Introduction to Schenker, Theory Pedagogy, and capstone seminars. He advises student theses on topics including narrative ambiguity in Brahms, tonal ambiguity in Thelonious Monk's solo piano works, leitmotifs in progressive rock, topic theory in Kendrick Lamar, and minimalism in Björk's music. Prior appointments include Visiting Instructor of Music Theory at Louisiana State University (2008–2009), where he taught graduate and undergraduate theory courses, and at the University of Rochester (2006–2008), including new keyboard skills courses.

Wadsworth holds a PhD in Music Theory from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester (2008), with a dissertation titled “Dialectical Opposition in Fin-de-Siècle Music: A Model of Balance Applied to Melodic Motives, Harmonic Context, and Their Interaction”; an MA in Music Theory from the same institution (2003); and a BM in Piano Performance and Music Theory, with a minor in Organ Performance, from Oberlin College Conservatory (1998). His research interests encompass Schenkerian and tonal analysis, dialectical processes in music, form in mashups and rap flows, music theory pedagogy, and nineteenth-century music. Peer-reviewed publications include “Perceiving the Mosaic: Form in the Mashups of DJ Earworm” (Music Theory Spectrum, 2021, with Jeffrey Yunek and Simon Needle), “Schenkerian Analysis for the Beginner” (Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, 2016), “Directional Tonality in Schumann’s Early Music” (Music Theory Online, 2012), and “A Model of Dialectical Process in Berg’s Opus 1 Piano Sonata” (Theory and Practice, 2008). He co-authored the peer-reviewed open-access textbook “Aural Skills I–IV (KSU)” (2018, with Yunek) and secured a contract for “A Practical Introduction to Harmony and Improvisation” (Routledge, signed 2020, with Dariusz Terefenko). Awards and grants include two Georgia Affordable Textbook Grants ($10,500, 2017; $5,300, 2020), KSU College of the Arts Teaching Award (2021), and Research Advisory Council Professional Development Award (2021). He served as President of the South-Central Society for Music Theory (2016–2020) and contributes as a pianist, organist, choir director, and classical music journalist.