Nathan Cobb

Nathan Cobb is working toward a PhD in music theory at UC Santa Barbara. His research interests encompass a wide array of subjects, such as pitch-space analysis, post-tonal Schenkerian analysis, Spectralism, the physicality of composition, and the intersection of philosophy and music theory (particularly as involves the fields of semiotics, phenomenology, and post-structuralism). His doctoral research focuses on the use of symmetrical pitch structures in Wolfgang Rihm’s late string quartets, where he will focus primarily on the way in which these structures contribute continuity to the music through transformation and prolongation.

Nathan earned his BA in Piano Performance, summa cum laude, from Houston Baptist University in 2016 and his MA in Music Theory from the University of Washington in 2019. His master’s thesis, entitled Analyzing Perceived Time: A Husserlian Study of Temporal-Consciousness in Gérard Grisey’s Vortex Temporum and Morton Feldman’s Triadic Memories, explores the effects of transformational processes on the listener’s experience of temporal pacing.