Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music is pleased to welcome award-winning educator Erik Broess as Assistant Professor of Musicology. Broess, who comes to Rice from Boston University, specializes in rock, metal and jazz through the lenses of music technology and sound studies. He earned his Ph.D. in music history from the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), where his thesis, “Unobtainable: Electric Guitar Gear and the Mythology of Tone,” explored the cultural significance of tone for electric guitarists. Broess’ work includes research on Fender’s “Tweed” era and a chapter in the upcoming Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar.
“Erik’s innovative approach to musicology and popular music studies will greatly enrich our community,” said Shepherd School Dean Matthew Loden. “We look forward to the fresh perspective and expertise he will offer our students."
Broess, whose research follows the electric guitar with an emphasis on how the manufacture of amplifiers and effect pedals influences contemporary discourses around tone, is preparing for his fall course “The History of Rock,” which is an example of his contemporary study of popular music and music technology.
“I think these courses will offer a perfect complement to the curriculum’s current emphasis on art music and will allow the school’s performance students to approach the history of their craft from new perspectives,” Broess said, noting the Shepherd School’s scholarly excellence and exceptional musicianship. “I am also hopeful that these courses will attract new students to the Shepherd School from across Rice’s campus and demonstrate the value of a music education. Not only are the arts a vital part of a well-rounded education, but by teaching about popular music and recent history, I seek to cultivate lifelong practices of critical thinking and media literacy. Especially when teaching pop music classes, I want to nurture the excitement students already bring for the subject while introducing new frameworks that allow them to understand how they relate to the structures through which they encounter the world.”
Having received numerous teaching honors, including Tufts University’s Marshall Hochhauser Prize and Penn’s Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Graduate Student, Broess also served as an inaugural fellow for Equitable and Inclusive Teaching at Penn, during which he developed seminars aimed at fostering equity and inclusion in higher education.
Learn more about Erik Broess here.