Brian Jarvis, PhD
Music Theory
Brian Jarvis joined the University of Texas at El Paso faculty in 2015. He is an Assistant Professor of Music Theory and teaches courses in music theory, ear training, form & analysis, and orchestration. Dr. Jarvis holds a PhD in Music Theory from Florida State University, a Master’s degree in Music Theory from Bowling Green State University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music Theory from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
His dissertation introduces an approach to large-scale film-music analysis that focuses on collaborations between the Joel & Ethan Coen and Carter Burwell. His other scholarly interests include form, harmony, and phrase structure in the 18th and 19th centuries with a special focus on the music of Charles Valentin Alkan. In spring 2015, he won the Best Paper Award at the Music Theory Southeast conference for his paper “Large-Scale Dramatic Irony in Carter Burwell’s Score to Barton Fink.” Dr. Jarvis strives to find creative ways to enhance the perception of harmony and harmonic progressions among musicians and has published an essay on this topic in the third volume of Engaging Students: Essays in Music Pedagogy, “Hearing Harmony Holistically: Statistical Learning and Harmonic Dictation.” He also has forthcoming article in Music Theory Spectrum called "Alternative Paths, Phrase Expansion, and the Music of Felix Mendelssohn" that he co-authored with Dr. John Peterson of James Madison University.
Contact Info
Department of Music
Office: FFA M431
Email: bejarvis@utep.edu
Office Phone: (915) 747-7814