Musicology and Ethnomusicology Current Students

Lotus Ai is a doctoral student in musicology/ethnomusicology at the University of Kentucky. Lotus is from Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China. She holds a Chinese Zheng performance bachelor's degree from Inner Mongolia Arts University and transferred to the University of Kentucky in 2016 to study Music Liberal Arts as a voice major and classical guitar minor, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Fall 2017. Lotus has explored vocal music in the Sarlang Mongolian Women's choir in IMAU, and then with the UK Choristers and Women's Choir.  She has also enjoyed participating in the UK Gamelan ensemble. Lotus specializes in Chinese Zheng, bamboo flute, Xiao, classical guitar, and some other Chinese aerophones. She is primarily interested in Mongolian music, particularly throat singing, and in Chinese music in general. Her dissertation will be about the revival of Inner Mongolian throat singing. In the summer of 2018, Lotus was invited by the IMAU as music professional interpreter during the Chinese-Central European Composers Music Academic Conference. Lotus is in her second year as a teaching assistant in MUS 130 World Music.

Lauren Alexander, from Carmel, Indiana, is a second-year student in the blended Master’s to PhD program in Musicology & Ethnomusicology. Before moving to Lexington, she received a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from DePauw University, studying under Dr. André Campelo. In 2022–2023, she assisted Dr. Diana Hallman’s History of Music II and Dr. Scot Buzza’s History of Music I courses while leading online music appreciation classes. In April 2023, she led a vocal quartet in the UK Theatre department’s production of Shakespeare in Love. Her research interests include film music, 19th–century Celtic music, and Balkan folk music. Lauren is currently exploring the contributions of Wendy Carlos and Delia Derbyshire to electronic music for the screen.

David Boyd is in his first year at UK. David received his Bachelor's degree in Voice from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2013. He intends to complete the combined M.A./Ph.D in Musicology. David enjoys participating in the UK Men's Chorus and the Balinese Gamelan Chamber Ensemble. In undergrad at UNCG, Mr. Boyd participated in Opera, small choral ensembles and assistant directed the premier all-male acappella group: The UNCG Spartones. David grew up in Cary, North Carolina and has lived in many areas across North Carolina.  He is currently teaching MUS-100: Introduction to Music.

Reyers Phillip Brusoe, a native of upstate New York, begins his third year of study in the Musicology & Ethnomusicology PhD program in 2023–2024. He is an active member of the UK Gamelan Ensemble and serves as a Teaching Assistant for Jazz History, Introduction to Music, and Music History I. In addition to his campus activities, Reyers participates as chanter, teacher, organist, and music director in Latin Catholic and Orthodox communities in Lexington and Georgetown, KY as well as upstate New York. Reyers’ research interests include jazz and jazz pedagogy, the music and history of Eastern Christian traditions, Lebanon, and Armenia, as well as music for film and animé. His publications include “Fr. Saba Shofany and the Faithway of Iconography” (New York Folklore Society journal Voices) and “The Hye and the Losh: Foodways at St. Peter’s Armenian Apostolic Church, Watervliet, NY” (NYFS Blog). Forthcoming projects include his dissertation research on the pedagogy, faith, and advocacy of the composer, teacher, and pianist Mary Lou Williams, along with an English edition of Komitas Vardapet’s complete piano works (Maine State Music Teachers Association), a series of transcriptions, descriptions, and histories of Russian Orthodox manuscripts found in Richfield Springs, NY, and a review of Fr. Jack Custer’s Rejoice You Bring Opposites Together. Prior to UK, Reyers earned a Bachelor of Science in Music Performance from Roberts Wesleyan University, where he specialized in solo and collaborative piano, jazz, organ, and saxophone. He earned his Master’s in Piano Pedagogy from the University of Southern Maine, where he presented research on Vardapet’s piano music and developed an original All Armenian program for his thesis/degree recital. He worked as an intern for the New York Folklore Society conducting field interviews and participant observations to help connect tradition bearers to funding and folkway programs. 

Joshua Cohen is a second-year student in the blended Master’s to PhD program in Musicology & Ethnomusicology at the University of Kentucky. Originally from Dallas, Texas, he received a Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in Biology and Music from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Joshua is an active member of UK’s Gamelan and Korean drumming ensembles and an avid bassoonist, performing with a graduate woodwind quintet and other ensembles around campus. Joshua also functions as the unofficial repair technician of UK’s woodwind studios. 

Joshua’s research interests include the musics of Taiwan and intersections with China and Japan, music and linguistics, music and psychology, and organology. He continues to serve as a teaching assistant in introductory music courses. 

Born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Matt is a Doctoral Candidate in Musicology and Ethnomusicology. His varied musical background has led to him holding various teaching positions at nearly every level of music education, both in the United States as well as internationally in the People's Republic of China. Classically trained in voice, Matt has performed in the United States and abroad.

Currently, Matt is Manager of Training and Education for the Copyright Operations Department of the International Copyright Enterprise (ICE) GmBH in Berlin, Germany. His work allows him to explore another side of the music world and interact with some of the largest and oldest collecting societies of Europe: STIM, GEMA, BUMA, SABAM, and POLARIS.
When not wading through the morass of Music Copyright in the European Union, Matt focuses his remaining time on his dissertation which explores the philosophical notions of Franz Liszt, specifically that of Génie oblige, and their impact on Liszt's various musical and socio-political activities during his life.

Erin Fulton is a fifth-year PhD candidate in Musicology who intends to pursue a career in music librarianship. Erin’s scholarly interests center on Anglo- and German-American hymnody of the early nineteenth century, especially social worship hymns and the material culture of religious music. Her dissertation in progress is on "Vestry Meetings and Vestry Music in New England, 1841–1848." She has presented on related topics at numerous scholarly conferences, including papers in 2020–2022 at conferences of the Society for American Music, Society for Christian Scholarship in Music, and the Southeast Chapter of the Music Library Association—with the latter receiving the "Best-of-Chapter" award. Recent research has appeared in Sonic Identity at the Margins (eds. Jessie Fillerup and Joanna K. Love, 2022) and Nineteenth-Century Music Criticism (ed. Teresa Cascudo, 2017); she also writes a regular column on libraries and archives for The Keaton Chronicle. She currently works as the music bibliographer for the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship's Sounding Spirit project, a digitization initiative focused on sacred music imprints from the U.S. South; she also directs a project on the Benton, Kentucky "Big Singing" for the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History. Former positions include senior technician in cataloging at UK's Margaret I. King Special Collections Library and cataloging intern at the Sacred Harp Museum in Carrollton, GA. Erin recently completed a term as Student Forum co-chair for the Society for American Music.

Hada Jang holds a bachelor’s degree in Traditional Korean Vocal Music from Chonnam National University, and a master’s degree in Music from Seoul National University. She can play Gayagum, a Korean traditional string instrument, Pansori which means Korean genre of musical storytelling. She worked at public elementary schools and middle schools for 9 years in Korea. In 2014, she was a panel of National Korean Traditional Music Competition, Children’s Division in Ulsan. She is currently a master’s student in the Department of Musicology and Ethnomusicology. Hada Jang researches the traditional Korea music examining vocalization, notation, Changgeuk which means a traditional Korea opera, and pedagogy.

Tanner Jones is currently a PhD Candidate in Ethnomusicology and is writing his dissertation entitled Performing Agency and Change Through Jeju Shaman Ritual. This year, Tanner was awarded the Fellowship for Graduate Studies through the Korea Foundation, which funds a year of his research and writing while in residency at UK. Tanner recently completed a year of research and fieldwork in Jeju-do, South Korea, as a Fulbright Junior Researcher. His dissertation is a study of shamanic ritual and music on Jeju-do, and how local shamans are negotiating a rapidly changing socio-economic and political climate due to intense development of the island’s tourism industry. Tanner’s research aims to present a dynamic and current portrayal of shamanic ritual life on the island, affects of “cultural preservation” of rituals, and how practitioners utilize new avenues of performance to continue and promote their traditions. Furthermore, Tanner spent considerable time with protestors in Jeju-do who have been protesting the construction of a naval base against the community’s will, and shows how music and shamanism have been utilized by demonstrators to inform their protest movement and engage the local and global community. Tanner has been invited to give talks in both Korea and at home, has presented papers at the Midwest Chapter of the Society of Ethnomusicology Conference and the Dimensions of Political Ecology Conference. He will also be publishing a piece on the protests in Jeju Island in the online peer-reviewed newsletter, Ecomusicology.

When he is not researching, Tanner enjoys playing the banjo with friends and family, brewing beer, baking bread, fly-fishing, and accompanying his amazing fiancée and their two goofy puppies on long hikes through Red River Gorge.

Samar Johnson (they/them) is beginning work on their PhD dissertation in Musicology & Ethnomusicology at the University of Kentucky. Their research interests include Afrofuturism, Queerness, Blackness, and spirituality and how these topics embody themselves within music. In Spring 2022 they presented a paper titled "Django Jane: Identifying the Black, Queer Voice in Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer" at the annual meeting of the Midwest Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology (MIDSEM). In Fall 2022 they participated in the 3rd Annual Hoodoo Conference on the panel "Conjure BEEN Queer: Gay, Lesbian and Trans Spirit Elevation in a Post-Patriarchal World," in which they centered queer, blues artists. They will participate in a panel discussion at the 2023 national meeting of the American Musicological Society in Denver. Beyond their academic work, Samar also writes poetry and fiction.

Isaac Maupin is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the University of Kentucky’s Ethnomusicology/Musicology program. Prior to attending the University of Kentucky, he attended Otterbein University where he received a Bachelor of Music in guitar performance in 2013. Following the completion of his undergraduate study, Isaac lived in Boston and performed in various rock ensembles.

At UK, Isaac teaches undergraduate courses on the History of Jazz, Creativity and Innovation in Rock Music, and Music Appreciation. In addition to teaching, Isaac has performed in various ensembles at UK including jazz combos, Korean drumming, and the gamelan. In the summer of 2017, he worked as an intern in the archive of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. As an intern, Isaac assisted in the curation of two collections of jazz-related materials. Additionally, Isaac has research interest in the music of the 1960s and has contributed to a publication about the role of music in activist movements of the 1960s. His current research focuses on music and activism, and centers specifically on Honk! A Festival of Activist Street Bands. He has presented research regionally and is scheduled to present at national and international conferences in 2019.

Isaac has served the president of FOCUS @ UK, a student organization that promotes research in music, and serves as the IT Director of the Graduate Student Congress. He is also the graduate student representative of the South Central Chapter of the American Musicological Society and serves on the Public Relations Committee of the Society of American Music.

Jonathan McIntyre, originally from Bellevue, KY, is a doctoral candidate in the Musicology & Ethnomusicology program. He received a Bachelor in Music degree with a double major in Composition and Classical Saxophone Performance and a minor in Pre-Law from Northern Kentucky University. Jonathan has been involved in interdisciplinary research with the Neurology department at the University of Kentucky in a study of the “Mozart Effect” and the brain’s response to musical stimulus in recovering stroke patients. He also had a paper accepted for the 2023 American Musicological Society South-Central Conference titled “The Tragedy of the (Musical) Commons: Addressing Issues in Orality and Ownership.” Jonathan’s research interests include the classical saxophone in Parisian opera, Friedrich Nietzsche’s life as a composer, and copyright law/intellectual property. Jonathan, recipient of the Kristen Stauffer Todd Memorial Award, has worked as a teaching assistant in both Music Theory and Musicology. He currently serves as President of the Musicology & Ethnomusicology graduate association, Focus.

Samantha Romashko is a second-year MA/PhD student from Edmore, Michigan. Prior to her work at the University of Kentucky, she received a Bachelor of Science in Percussion Performance as well as her Bachelor of Music in Music Education and K-12 teaching certification from Southern Adventist University, where she also performed in a variety of ensembles. An active member of the Percussive Arts Society, she is serving her last term as a member of the Society’s University Student Committee as co-head of the Professional Development Subcommittee. At the University of Kentucky, Samantha assists Dr. Erin Walker Bliss in the course Performing World Music, in addition to appearing as guest speaker in Introduction to Music and jazz history courses. In Lexington, she works as the general music teacher at the K-8 Lexington Adventist Academy school. Samantha’s current research interests include women’s representation in percussion, as reflected in her paper, “Drumroll Please: A Generational Reception of the ‘Girl Drummer,’” Irish folk music, and world music ensembles in United States universities. 

Ysabel Sarte is currently a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at the University of Kentucky. She was born in Manila, Philippines and emigrated with her family to Northern California at seven years old. Her background is as a clarinetist, having earned her Bachelors degree in Performance from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music and a Masters degree in Performance from the University of Tennessee, where she served as a graduate teaching assistant. Since finishing her Masters degree, Ysabel has lived, performed, and taught music in California, Tennessee, Washington state, and Japan. Before coming to Lexington, she was on music faculty for Texas A&M University - Commerce, where she taught courses in Music Literature, Music Theory, Ear Training, and Graduate Woodwind Literature. She authored a chapter for the fourth volume of the book series A Composer’s Insight: Thoughts, Analysis and Commentary on Contemporary Masterpieces for Wind Band (2010), which focused on contemporary composer Dan Welcher, his compositional and conducting techniques, and his compositions for wind band. She also contributed an encyclopedic entry on “Whistled Speech” for Music in the Social and Behavioral Sciences (2014), a SAGE reference project.

Ysabel's research focus is the music of Early Modern Spain, particularly the relationship between the female Spanish mystics of that time and the musical realm. The working title of her dissertation-in-progress is Una música de pajaritos y ángeles: Music and the female mystics of Early Modern Spain. In this research, she hopes to explore the deeper intersections of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spanish music with ideas of gender, power, authority, and writing, along with other ideas that await discovery. However, her musical interests are varied and plenty, including music history pedagogy, the role of social media and digital technology in modern musicology, disability studies, musical interpretation, and the music and culture of the Philippines. While dissertating, she continues to teach a small studio of private clarinet students in the Lexington area. Outside of music, Ysabel enjoys playing with her pets, guiltily reveling in bad reality television and even worse pop music, cooking, and daydreaming of world travels.

Elizabeth Navarra Varnado is a musician and doctoral candidate in musicology and ethnomusicology at the University of Kentucky. Her dissertation research explores authentic experiences between musicians and fans at music festivals, as well as the mediation of these experiences. Elizabeth previously worked as a TA in the College of Fine Arts, teaching Introduction to Music, Music Communication & Oral Presentation, and Creativity and Innovation in Rock Music (her favorite!). Elizabeth currently works as a graduate assistant at UK's Center for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching. Elizabeth plays and writes music with the Lexington-based indie-rock band, Lylak, as well as other musical outfits around town. 

Ellyn Washburne is in her seventh year at UK, after graduating from the University of Evansville with a B.S. in Music and a minor in Spanish. She intends to complete the blended M.A./Ph.D. program in Musicology. As a teaching assistant, Ellyn has taught American Music and Music 100 and directs the UK bluegrass ensemble. For the past ten years, Ellyn has spent her summers working and playing music in the mountains of Philmont Scout Ranch. She has a passion for old time, bluegrass, traditional Irish, and Philmont music.

Currently a fourth-year PhD student in Musicology at the University of Kentucky, Mary Margaret Zrull is originally from Boone, NC. She received her Bachelor’s degree in instrumental music education with a minor in French from the University of Kentucky in 2019. As a graduate student, she has taught and assisted in teaching classes in music appreciation, music research, and music history and was also awarded the 2019–2020 James Still Fellowship and the 2021 Kristen Stauffer Todd Memorial Award. She has presented on her research interests, including music in World War II France and the connections between French language and flute performance, at the 2021 conference of the American Musicological Society–South Central Chapter and the 2018 conference of the Flute Society of Kentucky. She recently conducted archival research in Paris for her dissertation on the function and meaning of music in French POW camps during World War II.