Dr. Clifton Boyd, New York University

Distinguished Lecture in Music Theory Series.

Clifton Boyd is a music theorist and musicologist whose research explores themes of (racial) identity, politics, and social justice in American popular music. His current book project, Racial Dissonance: American Barbershop Harmony in the Age of Jim Crow, explores how barbershop quartet singing functioned as a site of racial division, ultimately resulting in Black Americans going from being recognized as an essential part of the barbershop tradition to being viewed as fundamentally incompatible with, and even threatening to, the musical style. Click here to see the full bio.