Dustin Chau

CSRPC Residential Fellow

dustinchau@uchicago.edu

Dustin Chau is a PhD candidate in the music department and a Provost Fellow with the Arts & Humanities Division. As a music theorist and string musician (guitar, viola, electric bass), he is primarily a researcher of the history and analysis of jazz. Dustin’s dissertation draws on music theory, critical methods, and archival materials to better understand the sonic qualities of musical “heat”—or how listeners across the twentieth century have constructed thermal metaphors around sound and identity. He is also deeply invested in the pedagogy of music theory, with an emphasis on post-tonal analysis and avant-garde repertoire. Dustin currently serves as the chair of the Society for Music Theory’s Jazz Interest Group Awards Committee and was previously on the executive board of Music Theory Midwest. Prior to UChicago, Dustin worked as a freelance musician and university lecturer in jazz guitar performance in Kansas City. Future research projects that await activation include projects on The Mars Volta and the analysis of Argentine tango.