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phone:

805 452 9613

email:

amount [at] umail.ucsb.edu

address:

1920 1/2 Parker St.
Berkeley, CA 94704

Andre Mount received a B.A. in music from Boston University, where he graduated Magna cum Laude in 2004. Continuing his studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara campus, he received an M.A. in music theory in 2007 and will complete his Ph.D. in August of this year.

Andre is a steadfast believer in the power of education to breed much-needed tolerance among diverse groups of people, and has dedicated his life to a career in teaching and sharing his enthusiasm for the expressive, communicative art of music.

While at UCSB, Andre has taken every opportunity to expand and enhance his teaching experience. From intensive, upper-division classes with an emphasis on critical thinking, to large survey classes covering a broad range of material and disciplines, he has taught a wide array of classes. Andre is wholeheartedly committed to helping his students achieve their goals.

Andre's research interests include American popular culture, avant-garde music on early television, and music theory pedagogy. He is currently at work on a dissertation locating the music of Frank Zappa at the juncture of art and pop in the twentieth-century: “Bridging the Gap: Frank Zappa and the Confluence of Art and Pop.”

Please feel free to explore the links below to find out more about current, past, and future projects. Thanks for visiting!

teaching portfolio

My teaching portfolio includes a written statement outlining my approach to teaching. Also included are descriptions of all the courses I've taught with links to ESCI evaluations.

curriculum vitae

Click for an up to date copy of my C.V. (Available in html and PDF formats.)

music theory program

Over a period of several years, I worked with Dr. Lee Rothfarb and Dr. John Hajda on an e-learning program for the music department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The final product was a series of lessons forming the basis of a thorough, hands-on course in western music theory.

research blog

As part of the process of writing a dissertation, I keep a blog outlining current developments, thoughts, and questions pertaining to my research on the music of Frank Zappa and related topics. The blog also includes accepted abstracts and recent papers read at conferences.

“On the Record”: an Interdisciplinary Symposium

In early 2007, I had the privilege and pleasure of co-organizing a conference at UCSB for the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Music (CISM). Click the link above to see the official website I designed for the conference.

“Music and Politics”: an Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference

I had the opportunity to read a paper at the 2008 CISM graduate student conference. My paper, entitled “Aunt Jemima, Uncle Remus, The Kingfish, and Frank Zappa: Matters of Race in the Music of Frank Zappa,” presented a linguistic analysis of the interaction between vocal delivery and thematic content in several racially-charged songs by Frank Zappa. (I was also asked to design the website for the conference.)

Does Serious Music Belong in Pop?
Borrowings from Stravinsky in the Music of Frank Zappa

A presentation I gave at the February 6, 2010 meeting of the Northern California Chapter of the American Musicological Socity. This paper examines several instances in which Frank Zappa borrows musical material from Igor Stravinsky and discusses the implications of such gestures in Zappa's music and in general. (Presentation slides referenced in the text appear at the end of the document. A web version of the paper can be found here.)

Dots & Lines - professional visual example preparation

As a graduate student in music theory, I've had many opportunities to hone my skills with music notation and image editing software. I've worked with a number of faculty members at UCSB in preparing visual examples for their presentations, papers, articles, and books. I am now offering these services to individuals outside the UCSB community.

Temporality, Intentionality, and Authenticity in Frank Zappa's Xenochronous Works

This paper was presented at the 2010 conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music US Chapter: “Births, Stages, Declines, Revivals.” Here, I examine the philosophical basis and practical application of Frank Zappa's xenochrony, a studio technique in which temporally disparate recordings are superimposed.(Presentation slides referenced in the text appear at the end of the document. A web version of the paper can be found here.)

Laughter Over Tears:
John Cage, Experimental Art Music, and Popular Television

A paper I read at the Music and the Moving Image Conference at the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. This paper compares the theatricality of John Cage's performance style (c. 1960) with the discourses surrounding early broadcast television, focusing on Cage's 1960 performance on the game show I've Got a Secret.(Presentation slides referenced in the text appear at the end of the document. A web version of the paper can be found here.)