Rate My Professor Guy Capuzzo

Guy Capuzzo is Professor of Music Theory in the School of Music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He earned a Ph.D. from the Eastman School of Music, an M.M. from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, and a B.M. from William Paterson University. His scholarly work centers on music theory, encompassing the analysis of tonal and post-tonal music, pop and rock music, rhythm and meter, and the pedagogy of music theory. Capuzzo maintains a particular focus on the music of Elliott Carter, rock music, and heavy metal. He authored the book Elliott Carter’s What Next?: Communication, Cooperation, and Separation, published by the University of Rochester Press in 2012. His peer-reviewed publications appear in prestigious journals including Music Theory Spectrum, Journal of Music Theory, Music Theory Online, Intégral, Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, Theory and Practice, Tempo, and Guitar Review, as well as SMT-V: Society for Music Theory Videocast Journal. Key articles include “Simultaneous Distinct Headbanging Patterns in Heavy Metal” (SMT-V, 2024), “Texture, Rhythmic Synchrony, and Tonal Fusion in Henry Threadgill's In for a Penny, In for a Pound” (Music Theory Online, 2025), “Rhythmic Deviance in the Music of Meshuggah” (Music Theory Spectrum, 2018), “Elliott Carter and Musical Silence: Intermittences and 'Sound and Silence in Time'” (Journal of Music Theory, 2020), “Sectional Tonality and Sectional Centricity in Rock Music” (Music Theory Spectrum, 2009), “Neo-Riemannian Theory and the Analysis of Pop-Rock Music” (Music Theory Spectrum, 2004), and “Maximally Alpha-Like Operations” (Music Theory Online, 2008). He contributed the chapter “Text, Music, and Irony in What Next?” to Elliott Carter Studies (Cambridge University Press, 2012).

Capuzzo serves on the editorial board of Elliott Carter Studies Online. He has delivered presentations at Society for Music Theory meetings and given invited lectures at Yale University, the University of South Carolina, the University of Minnesota, and Youngstown State University. As a performer, he plays electric guitar with the Lorena Guillén Tango Ensemble and records original music. His teaching portfolio includes Theory and Analysis of Tonal Music, Theory and Analysis of Post-Tonal Music, Analysis of Pop and Rock Music, Aural Skills, Rhythm and Meter, and Pedagogy of Music Theory.