Biography
Nathan Bakkum is an Associate Professor in the department of music with a teaching focus in music history and ethnomusicology, and he currently serves as Senior Associate Provost for Academic Operations. Prior to his current role, Nate served as Associate Dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts, Interim Associate Director of the Center for Black Music Research, and Associate Chair of the department of music. His research has appeared in the Black Music Research Journal, Jazz Perspectives, the Journal of Music History Pedagogy, and Open Access Musicology, and he contributed a chapter to The Oxford Handbook of Time in Music. He has also authored ancillary materials for several textbooks published by W.W. Norton. In his published writings and his curricular designs, Nate has pursued modes of historical and structural thinking that foreground collaborative practice and critical listening. His scholarship and pedagogy are deeply informed by his creative practice as a performer and songwriter. As a bassist, Nate has studied with jazz legend Richard Davis and Chicago jazz stalwart Larry Gray. Nate holds a PhD in History and Theory of Music and an MA in Ethnomusicology from the University of Chicago, an MMus in Double Bass Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and and BMus in Music Education from DePaul University.
Instructional Areas
Musicology
Creative Practice and Research Interests
Improvisation, Musical Interaction, Jazz, Music History Pedagogy, Sound Synthesis and Recording
Degrees
B.M., Music Education DePaul University 1999
M.M., Performance University of Wisconsin 2002
M.A., Music University of Chicago 2006
Ph.D., Music University of Chicago 2009