Ph.D. Candidate Joao Martins wins prestigious musicology award

Joao Martins, a candidate in the Ph.D. in the History and Theory of Music program at the UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts Department of Music, has won the 2022 Ingolf Dahl Award in Musicology. This award was established by the Pacific Southwest Chapter of the American Musicological Society in 1971 in memory of the late professor of music at the University of Southern California. The award is given for the best student paper read at the annual joint meeting of the Northern California and Pacific Southwest chapters by a student who is currently enrolled in an institution within the boundaries of the two sponsoring chapters.

Martins’ paper called "Delimiting Improvisation: (Mis-)Applications of Jazz Theory in Institutional Jazz Pedagogy" addresses specific pedagogical applications of jazz theory as they apply to performance and improvisation practices, from both historical and analytical perspectives, with an emphasis on (and a critique of) the historical development of a jazz theory orthodoxy within the realm of jazz education. The research poses questions regarding the current state and possible futures of jazz pedagogy, particularly as it pertains to jazz improvisation. 

Martins’ research is positioned at the intersection of performance practice, music history, and music theory - an approach made possible by an innovative combination of performance, composition, and scholarship within the MHMT Ph.D. program at UCI.

The faculty and staff at the Department of Music congratulate Joao Martins on this outstanding award.