Dr. Gabriel Fankhauser is Assistant
Professor of Music Theory at Appalachian State University in Boone,
North Carolina, where he serves as coordinator of the theory program
and of the music computer lab. He has a PhD in music theory from
Florida State University, MM in music theory from the University
of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and BA in music and
mathematics from Earlham College. His publications and presentations
at various theory conferences focus on phrase rhythm, extended
tonality, and Schenkerian analysis.
1999 Ph.D. in Music Theory; Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida
Dissertation: Cadential Intervention and Tonal Expansion in Select Works of Shostakovich
Advisor: James Mathes
This study identifies techniques of tonal expansion used by Shostakovich. Analysis of chromatic harmony, elaborate voice leading, and irregular rhythm shows how the composer explored innovative techniques during a political climate that demanded traditional basis. Shostakovich's Second Piano Trio and other works support the thesis that the composer favored cadential intervention, a type of interpolation between the cadential dominant and tonic, as a means to disrupt linear and harmonic progressions while serving developmental and motivic functions that help unify the piece.
1996 M.M. in Music Theory; College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
Thesis: Rhythmic Dissonance as Motion Propellant: An Examination of Rhythmic Irregularity in Klavierstücke, Op. 76 by Johannes Brahms
Advisor:
Frank Samarotto
This thesis develops two new classifications of metric dissonance
(vertical and horizontal) and investigates how rhythmic dissonance
(a combination of dissonances of pitch and meter) contributes
to musical momentum, both in general and specifically in Brahms's
Klavierstücke, op. 76. Research from this thesis
led to a publication in GAMUT' (see below)
1993 B.A. with College Honors in
Mathematics and Music (Double Major), Composition and Choral Emphases;
Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana
2003 "Structural and Dramatic Impacts of Cadential Intervention", Society of Music Theory National Conference, Madison, WI
2003 "Flat Primary Triads and the Harmonic Idiom of Shostakovich and Prokofiev", Music Theory Midwest Conference, Bloomington, IN
2002 "Mathematics in Music", Guest speaker at Caldwell Community College Mathematics Workshop
2002 Wrote continuo figures and figured bass realization for Three Arias from "Talesti, regina delle amazzoni": An Opera Seria by Maria Antonia Walpurgis Ed. by Jill Fankhauser, Fayetteville, AR: ClarNan Editions, 2002.
2001 Coauthored with Dr. William Harbinson textbooks on musical form for Theory III and IV used at Appalachian State University Hayes School of Music (publication pending)
1999 "Structural and Dramatic Impacts of Cadential Intervention", Florida State University Music Theory Society Forum.
1998 "Rhythmic Dissonance as Motion Propellant: An Examination of Rhythmic Irregularity in Brahms's Intermezzo in A-Flat Major, Op. 76, No. 3", GAMUT, vol. 8 (1998), ed. Kristin Wendland, pp. 53-64. (ISSN 1098-2655)
1997 "Augmenting the Limits of Tonality: Liszt's Nuages gris and Preludio funebre", Society for Music Theory Southeast Conference, Rock Hill, SC (This paper was also given at the Florida State University Music Theory Society Forum 1997.)
1996 "Rhythmic Dissonance as Motion Propellant: An Examination of Rhythmic Irregularity in Brahms's Intermezzo in A-Flat Major, Op. 76, No. 3", Society for Music Theory Southeast Conference, Sarasota, FL; Society for Music Theory Midwest Conference, Kalamazoo, MI; the Florida State University Music Theory Society Forum; and University of Cincinnati Theory Forum.