Dr. Steven M. Friedson
University of North Texas
Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology
(940) 453-4600
Email:

Education

PhD, University of Washington, 1991.
Major: Music
Degree Specialization: Ethnomusicology
BFA, Cornish College of the Arts, 1985.
Major: Composition/Piano

Professional Positions

Uncategorized
Distinguished Research Professor of Music and Anthropology, University of North Texas. (2011 – Present).
Area Coordinator, Ethnomusicology, University of North Texas. (1991 – Present).
Regents Professor, University of North Texas. (20082011).
Professor, University of North Texas. (19992008).
Associate Professor, University of North Texas. (19951999).

Professional Memberships

American Anthropological Association. (December 01, 2015 – Present).

Society for Ethnomusicology. (1983 – Present).

member, African Studies Association. (19892013).

Development Activities Attended

Other,""Music and Ritual"," Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai, China. (September 2023 – Present).

Other,"Center for Sacred Mussic," Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana. (August 2023 – Present).

Other,"Global Music Education League," China Conservatory, Beijing, Beijing, China. (June 2018 – Present).

Faculty Development Leave,"The Weaponization of Music," University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, United States of America. (January 13, 2021May 5, 2021).

Other,"Faculty Advisor for the Chinese Ensemble," College of Music, denton, Tx, United States of America. (March 2017October 2017).

Awards and Honors

Longest Running Study Abroad Program, UNT-International. (20122012).

Alan Merriam Prize for Most Distinguished Book in Ethnomusicology, Society for Ethnomusicology. (20102010).

Regents Lecture, University of North Texas. (20072007).

Distinguished International Education Award, University of North Texas. (20042004).

Fellow, American Philosophical Society. (20042004).

Teaching

Teaching Experience

University of North Texas
ANTH 4610, Topics in Sociocultural Anthropology, 8 courses.
ANTH 4770, Ethnographic Field School, 2 courses.
ANTH 5700, Topics in Sociocultural Anthropology, 1 course.
MUET 3030, Music Cultures of the World, 39 courses.
MUET 3040, Ethnomusicology Studies Abroad, 5 courses.
MUET 3050, Music of Africa, 5 courses.
MUET 4500, Introduction to Ethnomusicology, 2 courses.
MUET 4900, SPECIAL PROBLEMS, 4 courses.
MUET 5030, Music Cultures of the World, 12 courses.
MUET 5040, Ethnomusicology Studies Abroad, 7 courses.
MUET 5050, Music of Africa, 7 courses.
MUET 5210, Seminar in Ethnomusicology, 10 courses.
MUET 5220, Ethnomusicology Field and Research Methods, 4 courses.
MUET 5900, Special Problems in Ethnomusicology, 9 courses.
MUET 6000, Proseminar in Ethnomusicology, 3 courses.
MUET 6010, Current Issues in Ethnomusicology, 6 courses.
MUGC 4890, Studies in Music, 4 courses.
MUGC 4980, Experimental Course, 1 course.
MUGC 5890, Studies in Music, 1 course.
MUGC 5950, Master's Thesis, 25 courses.
MUGC 6900, Special Problems, 1 course.
MUGC 6950, Doctoral Dissertation, 12 courses.
MUGC 6954, Dissertation Recital, 1 course.
MUMH 4910, Special Problems, 3 courses.
MUMH 5910, Special Problems, 1 course.

Directed Student Learning

Dissertation Committee Chair,"Forbidden Sounds: The Art, Culture, and Politics of Chinese Hip-Hop," Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (2022 – Present).

Dissertation Committee Chair, Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (2022 – Present).

Dissertation Committee Member,"Echoes of the Banshee: Understanding the Legacy of the Irish Keen in the 21st Century," Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (September 26, 2020 – Present).

Related Field Professor, Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (August 2018 – Present).

Related Field Professor, Instrumental Studies. (August 2018 – Present).

Other,"Shifting Identities - The Corporeal Simulation and Trans-contextualization in Sri Lankan Low-country Drumming," Anthropology. (20222022).

Master's Thesis Committee Member,"Sounding the Ancestors: Sangpuy Katatepan Mavalyw and the AncestralL Spirit Imaginary," Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (October 2, 2020).

Dissertation Committee Chair,"MARIACHISMO: MUSIC, MACHISMO, AND MEXICANIDAD," Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (August 2016August 17, 2020).

Master's Thesis Committee Chair,"DESPEDIDA CON MARIACHI: THE MUSICAL MEDIATION OF MASCULINE GRIEF IN MEXICAN IMMIGRANT," Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (January 15, 2016August 6, 2020).

Dissertation Committee Member,"BORROWING CULTURE: BRITISH MUSIC CIRCULATING LIBRARIES AND DOMESTIC MUSICAL PRACTICE, 1853–1910," Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (April 9, 2020).

Other,"Come Together Right Now Over Me," Anthropology. (May 1, 2019December 1, 2019).

Dissertation Committee Member, Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (August 25, 2016December 15, 2018).

Master's Thesis Committee Chair,"Rasa Theory in Carnatic Music," Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (August 28, 2017November 26, 2018).

Related Field Professor,"Investigation, Interpretation and Internalization of Concerto Piccolino for Vibraphone by Milton Babbitt," Instrumental Studies. (August 15, 2015October 18, 2018).

DMA Dissertation Recital - Major Professor,"Expanding the violin’s possibilities in Chinese Music: A case study of transcription and performance issues related to pipa music played on the violin," Instrumental Studies. (August 15, 2016May 15, 2018).

Master's Thesis Committee Member,"master's thesis," Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (April 14, 2018).

Other,"Music Culture of the Forest People of Africa," Honors College. (August 28, 2017December 01, 2017).

Master's Thesis Committee Member,"Listening in the Living Room: The Pursuit of Authentic Spaces and Sounds in Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) Do It Yourself (DIY) Punk Rock," Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (August 2017).

Dissertation Committee Member,"“The Most Expressionist of All the Arts: Programs, Politics, and Performance in Critical Discourse about Music and Expressionism, c. 1918-1923”," Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (May 2016).

Dissertation Committee Member, Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (May 2016).

Master's Thesis Committee Chair,"It's Not Fusion: Hybridity in the Music of Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa," Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (20102012).

Master's Thesis Committee Chair,"Performance of the Classical in the Karnatic Music Society of South India," Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (20102012).

Master's Thesis Committee Chair,"The Otha Turner Family Picnic: Occupying Musical and Social Space In-Between Saturday Night and Sunday Morning," Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (20092011).

Master's Thesis Committee Chair,"The "being" of a Stickist: Phenomenology, Globalization, and "Dwelling"," Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology. (20062008).

Research

Published Intellectual Contributions

Book
Friedson, S. M. (2009). Remains of Ritual: Northern Gods in a Southern Land (Winner of the 2010 Alan P. Merriam Prize for Outstanding Book in Ethnomusicology).
Friedson, S. M. (1996). Dancing Prophets: Musical Experience in Tumbuka Healing.
Book Chapter
Friedson, S. M. (2005). "Where Divine Horsemen Ride: Trance Dancing in West Africa." In Angela Hobart and Bruce Kapferer, eds., Aesthetics in Performance: Formations of Symbolic Construction and Experience..
Friedson, S. M. (2003). "The Disease of the Prophets: The Musical Construction of Clinical Reality." In Daniel Avorgebdor, ed., The Interrelatedness of Music, Religion, and Ritual in African Performance Practice..
Friedson, S. M. (2000). "Dancing the Disease: Music and Trance in Tumbuka Healing." In Penelope Gouk, ed., Music and Healing in Cultural Contexts ..
Book Review
Friedson, S. M. (2001). African Rhythm: A Northern Ewe Perspective.
Friedson, S. M. (1997). The Performance of Healing.
Friedson, S. M. (1995). Affecting Performance: Meaning, Movement, and Experience in Okiek Women's Initiation.
Journal Article
Friedson, S. M. (2019). "The Unbearable Weight of Music: The Intermezzo". 35(5), . London: Royal Anthropological Institute.
Friedson, S. M. (2019). "The Music Box: Songs of Futility in a Time of Torture". Ethnomusicology. 63(2), . Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Other
Friedson, S. M. (2021). "Teacher Feature" (Interview with Steven Friedson). World Music Pedagogy, Vol. VII: World Music in Higher Education. 7, . New York City, New York: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-World-Music-Pedagogy-Series/book-series/WMP
Video and Audiovisual Material
Friedson, S. M. (1997). "Ingoma Dance of the Ngoni People" The JVC/Smithsonian Folkways Anthology of Music and Dance of Africa, Vol. 3.
Friedson, S. M. (1997). Funeral Gourd Music of the Tumbuka The JVC/Smithsonian Folkways Anthology of Music and Dance of Africa, Vol. 3.
Friedson, S. M. (1997). Malipenga Kazoo Bands The JVC/Smithsonian Folkways Anthology of Music and Dance of Africa, Vol. 3.

Presentations Given

Invited Talk

Friedson, S. M. (Author & Presenter), Yale Program in Medicine, Spirituality, and Religion Colloquium, African Healing and the Arts, Yale, Yale, New Haven, CT, United States of America. (2022).

Friedson, S. (Author & Presenter), "Being Musical in a University Core Curriculum", Shanghai Normal University, China. (2018).

Friedson, S. (Author & Presenter), Music and Trance in Africa, Shanghai Conservatory, Shanghai, China, China. (2018).

Friedson, S. (Author & Presenter), "Being Musical in a University Core Curriculum", Xi'an Conservatory, Xi'an, China, China. (2018).

Friedson, S. (Author & Presenter), Music and Islam in a West African Shrine, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China, China. (2018).

Friedson, S. M. (Author & Presenter), Dancing Prophets: The Musical Construction of Clinical Reality, Central China Conservatory, Beijing, China, China. (2018).

Friedson, S. M. (Author & Presenter), Dancing Prophets: The Musical Construction of Clinical Reality, Xianghai Conservatory of Music, Guangzhou, China, China. (2018).

Friedson, S. M. (Author & Presenter), “Being-Musical in a University Core Curriculum”, Xianghai Conservatory of Music, Guangzhou, China, China. (2018).

Friedson, S. M. (Author & Presenter), Honors College, "Prophet Healers of Northern Malawi", University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, United States of America. (20162016).

Keynote/Plenary Address

Friedson, S. M. (Author & Presenter), Black Sacred Arts: Ritual Transformations of Consciousness, The Drum and the AR-15, Institute for Sacred Music, Yale, New Haven, Conn., United States of America. (20232023).

Friedson, S. (Author & Presenter), The Ritual Process: An Anthropology of New Beginnings, “The Unbearable Weight of Music: The Intermezzo”, European Research Council, London, England, United Kingdom. (20182018).

Friedson, S. M. (Author & Presenter), Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting, "Musical Others: Being-Musical in a World Music Course", Education Section, Denver, CO, United States of America. (20172017).

Lecture

Friedson, S. M., University of Oklahoma, Honors College, Dancing Prophets Revisted. (20152015).

Professional Meeting Contribution

Friedson, S. M. (Chair), Society for Ethnomusicology Southern Plains Chapter Regional Conference, Musical Practice and Embodiment, Society for Ethnomusicology Southern Plains Chapter, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, United States of America. (20182018).

Residency

Friedson, S. M. (Author & Presenter), Music, Media, and Place, series of lectures, MMaP, Memorial University, St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada. (20172017).

Visiting Distinguished Professor

Friedson, S. M. (Author & Presenter), Robert M Trotter Visiting Distinguished Professor, Lectures, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America. (20172017).

convener of roundtable

Friedson, S. (Moderator), The Ritual Process: An Anthropology of New Beginnings, "Ritual, Liminality and Communitas, a Genesis", European Research Council, London, England, United Kingdom. (20182018).

roundtable

Friedson, S. M. (Panelist), American Anthropological Association, Sacred Sound and Musical Religious Ontologies, Music and Sound Interest Group, Washington, D.C., United States of America. (20172017).

Artistic and Professional Performances and Exhibits

Other. "Cloth Talks: Textiles from West Africa," UNT on the Square. (20122012).

Contracts, Grants and Sponsored Research

Grant - Research
Friedson, S. M. (Principal), "Center for Sacred Music, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana," Sponsored by UNT Faculty Success, State, $2000 Funded. (August 2023August 2023).
Friedson, S. M., "The Weaponization of Music," Sponsored by College of Music, University of North Texas, $53898 Funded. (January 2021May 2021).
Friedson, S. M., Mei, Y. (Supporting), "Chinese Traditional Music Initiative," Sponsored by China Venture Fund, University of North Texas, $6018 Funded. (June 15, 2018July 2, 2018).
Friedson, S. M. (Principal), "Being Musical: Studies in Ontomusicology," Sponsored by Faculty Development Leave, University of North Texas, Funded. (20132013).
Uncategorized
Friedson, S. M. (Other), ""Death of a Funeral: Music, Media, and Mortuary Rites on the Southeastern Coast of Ghana," Sponsored by University of North Texas: Small Grant. (20142014).
Friedson, S. M. (Principal), "Music as Ritual in African Culture," Sponsored by National Endowment for the Humanities, $29400. (20132013).
Friedson, S. M. (Other), "Symposium: Talking Drums / Talking Cloth," Sponsored by Getty Foundation. (20122012).
Friedson, S. M. (Principal), ""Receiving Afa: Divination and Destiny in Ewe Ritual"," Sponsored by University of North Texas Research and Creativity Enhancement Award. (20092009).
Friedson, S. M. (Principal), ""Exchange Program/Study Abroad with University of Mysore, India."," Sponsored by Hispanic and Global Studies Initiatives Fund. (20062006).
Friedson, S. M. (Principal), "Musical Experience in the Medico-Religious Practices of the Ewe-Speaking Peoples of Ghana," Sponsored by American Philosophical Society Fellowship. (20042005).
Friedson, S. M. (Principal), ""Musical Experience in the Medico-Religious Practices of the Ewe-Speaking Peoples of Ghana."," Sponsored by University of North Texas Development Grant. (20042004).
Friedson, S. M. (Principal), "Northern Gods in a Southern Land: Musical Experience in Ewe Healing," Sponsored by National Endowment for the Humanities. (20002000).
Friedson, S. M. (Principal), "Dancing Prophets of Northern Malawi," Sponsored by Fulbright. (19861987).

Awards and Honors

Robert M. Trotter Visiting Distinguished Professor, University of Oregon. (February 2017February 2017).

Service

University Service

Member, Graduate Academic Degrees Committee. (August 2022 – Present).

Other, Chinese Music Ensemble. (January 15, 2016 – Present).

Committee Member, Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure Committee: Division of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology. (20222025).

Committee Member, RPTC/PAC. (August 2022June 2025).

Committee Member, RPTC/PAC. (20222023).

Committee Member, Search Committee: Assistant Professor in Ethnomusicology. (20222023).

Faculty Advisor, Student Society for Ethnomusicology at North Texas. (20222023).

Committee Member, University Distinguished Research Professor Committee. (August 2017September 2023).

Committee Member, Nketia Book Prize: African Music Section (Soceity for Ethnomusicology). (20222022).

Faculty Advisor, Student Society for Ethnomusicology at UNT. (20162021).

Program Coordinator, Ethnomusicology Area. (August 1992August 2021).

Committee Member, Ad Hoc Committee for the Revision of the Division Mission and Vision Statement. (October 16, 20192019).

Chairperson, RPTC, Division of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology. (20142017).

Committee Member, University Distinguished Research Professor Committee. (20122015).

Committee Member, Global Affairs Committee. (20112013).

Committee Member, Lecture Committee: Division of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology. (20092013).

Committee Member, Kwabena Nketia Book Prize Committee. (20122012).

Committee Member, Search Committee: Ethnomusicology; Visiting Assistant Professor. (20122012).

Other, Search Committee: Music History; Assistant Professor. (20122012).

Committee Member, Search Committee: Music History; Full Professor. (20122012).

Committee Member, Search Committee: South Asian Media, Culture, and the Arts; Director. (20122012).

Committee Member, Nketia Book Prize: African Music Section (Society for Ethnomusicology). (20112012).

Committee Member, Alan Merriam Prize for Most Distinguished Book in Ethnomusicology Committee. (20112011).

Other, Academic Integrity Consultant Pool, Provost's Council. (20092010).

Other, Distinguish Research Professor Selection and Review Committee. (20092010).

Committee Member, International Education Committee. (20082009).

Committee Member, Charn Uswachoke International Development Fund Committee. (20072009).

Other, University Advocacy Group for University Core Requirements. (20062007).

Other, UNT internal review of all Ph. D. programs. (20062007).

Committee Member, Committee on Faculty Participation in Governance. (20002001).

Committee Member, Faculty Development Leave Committee. (20002001).

Other, Hopwood Task Force on Affirmative Action. (20002001).

Committee Member, University Review Committee. (20002001).

Committee Chair, Academic Affairs Committee. (19972000).

Other, Faculty Senate. (19921997).

Committee Member, University Curriculum Committee. (19901996).

Professional Service

Member, Canadian Council of Chairs, Canada. (May 2016 – Present).

Board of Advisors, Institute for Sacred Music, New Haven, Connecticut. (August 2020August 2024).

Reviewer, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Canadian Council of Chairs. (20222023).

External T&P Letter Writer, New York University, Abu Dhabi. (20222022).

Committee Member, Society for Ethnomusicology /African and African Diasporic Music. (May 1, 2022September 1, 2022).

Board of Directors, Institute for Sacred Music, Yale University, New Haven,, Connecticut. (May 16, 2022May 18, 2022).

Chairperson, Institute for Sacred Music: Africana Sacred Healing Arts, New Haven, Connecticut. (May 17, 2022May 17, 2022).

Editorial Review Board Member, Society for Ethnomusicology Journal. (August 15, 2015October 2021).

Editorial Review Board Member, African Music Journal. (August 15, 2012August 2020).

Reviewer, Journal Article, Ethnologia Polona. (November 05, 2019December 05, 2019).

Committee Member, Jaap Kunst Prize (Society for Ethnomusicology). (January 2017January 2018).

External T&P Letter Writer, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York. (August 15, 2017December 15, 2017).

Other, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. (March 2017August 2017).

Consulting

Academic, Shanghai Conservatory, Shanghai, PRC, China. (January 1, 2020 – Present).

Academic, Yale Institute for Sacred Music, Yale University, United States of America. (October 1, 2020May 1, 2025).

Academic, Yale Institute for Sacred Music, Yale, United States of America. (September 1, 2021May 18, 2022).