Alexander Carpenter, PhD, MA, BMus

Area of Study / Keywords

Musicology popular music film music aesthetics psychoanalysis zombies

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About

I am a musicologist, music critic, and rock musician. I studied voice and music history at Brock University, music criticism at McMaster University, and historical musicology at the University of Toronto, where I earned a PhD. At Augustana, I have served as Director of Music and as Chair of Fine Arts and Humanities.

At present, I am the Director of the Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies at the Edmonton campus of the University of Alberta.

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Research

Research areas: Arnold Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School, fin-de siecle-Vienna, popular music, music and psychoanalysis, zombies in popular culture, film music. 

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Teaching

Teaching areas: music history/musicology, cultural history, popular music, aesthetics, theory/harmony, interdisciplinary studies

AUIDS 101 - First Year Seminar

Selected topics that highlight the interdisciplinary nature of the Liberal Arts and Sciences. This seminar-style class is the first course in Augustana's Core. The focus and content of each course are determined by faculty interests, and vary from year to year.

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AUMUS 170 - Tuning In: An Introduction to Music

Development of listening approaches and techniques for understanding and appreciating a variety of Western and non-Western music, and an examination of the ideologies that prompt the sampling of such music. Music studied includes Western art music, African music, First Nations music, North Indian music, and popular music.

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AUMUS 225 - Music from the Classical Era to the Present Day

Study of western European art music from the mid-18th century to the 20th century, in the context of general cultural history.

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AUMUS 226 - Music and the Moving Image

An examination of the use of music in film, television, and video games, with an emphasis on semiotic analysis and the historical development of the aesthetics and technologies of linking music to moving images.

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AUMUS 369 - Popular Music: Analysis, Interpretation, Meaning

Critical examination of popular music, with a focus on analytical paradigms and methodologies and interdisciplinary approaches to interpretation.

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Browse more courses taught by Alexander Carpenter

Jerome Melancon, Alexander Carpenter

Journal of Zizek Studies. 2017 January; 11 (3):203-228

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Alexander Carpenter

Intersections: Canadian Journal of Music. 2010 January; 30 (2):5-24

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Alexander Carpenter

Journal of Popular Culture. 46 (6):1231-1252

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Alexander Carpenter

Popular Music and Society. 40 (3):261-273