Gayle Magee

Bio

Gayle Magee’s scholarly research focuses on the music of North America since the late nineteenth century, and on issues of gender in the fields of musicology and music history pedagogy. Currently, she serves as Secretary of the American Musicological Society (2024-28). In 2024, she was Program Chair for the Society for American Music’s annual conference in Detroit, Michigan.

Recent publications:

“‘To Explore the World of Sound’: Music, Silence, and Nation-Building in Bing Bang Boom (1969),” Organised Sound (August 2024). Also available through Open Access at this link.
- This article places the work of R. Murray Schafer and the National Film Board within the larger context of English-Canadian nationalism of the late 1960s.
“‘That Ecstatic Delight’: Gender and Performance in Adaptations of Sense and Sensibility.” Chap. in Women and Music in the Age of Austen, edited by Linda Zionkowski with Miriam F. Hart (Bucknell University Press, 2024)
- Women and Music in the Age of Austen received the Ruth A. Solie Award for 2025 from the American Musicological Society

Books:

Over Here, Over There: Transatlantic Conversations on the Music of World War I, co-edited collection with William Brooks and Christina Bashford (University of Illinois Press, 2019)
Robert Altman’s Soundtracks: Film, Music, and Sound from M*A*S*H to A Prairie Home Companion (Oxford University Press, Music/Media Series, 2014)
Charles Ives: A Research and Information Guide, 2nd ed. (Routledge, 2010)
Charles Ives Reconsidered (University of Illinois Press, Music in American Life Series, 2008)

Awards and Honors:

Irving Lowens Article Award, Society for American Music for “‘She’s a Dear Old Lady’: English-Canadian Popular Songs from World War I” (American Music, 2016)
National Arts Associate Distinguished Member, Sigma Alpha Iota
NEH Summer Stipend for Robert Altman’s Soundtracks (2012)
AMS Publication Subvention Award for Charles Ives Reconsidered (2007)
NEH Summer Stipend for Charles Ives Reconsidered (2000)

Leadership and Professional Service (Select List):

Secretary and Officer, American Musicological Society (2024-28)
Program Chair, Society for American Music Annual Conference (2024)
Associate Director, School of Music (2023-)
Director of Faculty / Staff Development, School of Music (2023-26)
Irish Research Council Peer Reviewer (2023-26)
Faculty Affairs Coordinator, School of Music (2021-23)
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Officer, College of Fine and Applied Arts (2019-22)
Editor, American Music (2017-19)
National Endowment for the Humanities Review Panels (2015, 2022, 2026)
Co-Editor-in-Chief, Music in the United States of America (MUSA) (2014-16)
Charles Ives Society Board of Directors (1999-), President (2010-16), and Chair of the Board (2017-2024)

Refereed Publications Since 2008 (Select List):

“‘That Ecstatic Delight’: Gender and Performance in Adaptations of Sense and Sensibility.” Chap. in Women and Music in the Age of Austen, edited by Linda Zionkowski with Miriam F. Hart (Bucknell University Press, 2024)
“Reconsidering American Music Studies,” American Music 40/4 (Winter 2023)
“‘Every Man in New York’: Charles Ives and the First World War.” Chap. in Over Here, Over There (2019)
“Revisiting Gosford Park: Downtown Abbey, American Audiences, and the British Heritage Genre.” Chap. in Exploring Downton Abbey: Critical Essays on the Television Series, edited by Scott Stoddart (McFarland, 2018)
“Austen, Music, and Masculinity in the British Heritage Film.” Chap. in Jane Austen and Masculinity, edited by Michael Kramp (Bucknell University Press, 2018)
“Compromises and Creativity: Altman, Copyright, and the Musical Soundtrack.” Chap. in The Robert Altman Companion, edited by Adrian Danks (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015)
“Songwriting, Advertising, and Mythmaking in the New Hollywood: The Case of Nashville (1975),” Music and the Moving Image, 2012
“Rethinking Social Class and American Music.” Journal of the American Musicological Society, 2011
“Robert Altman and the New Hollywood Musical.” Chap. in The Sounds of Musicals, edited by Steven Cohan (British Film Institute, 2010)
“Marketing the Voice: Opera, Film, and the Case of Robert Altman.” Theatre Survey: Special Issue on Opera 51/2 (November 2010)
“Song, Genre, and Transatlantic Dialogue in Gosford Park.” Journal of the Society for American Music (JSAM) 2/4 (November 2008)

Refereed Conference Presentations (Select List):

“World War I Sheet Music in the Library of Congress: Transnational Perspectives,” Sponsored by the AMS and the Library of Congress. Extended lecture/performance with William Brooks, Christina Bashford, Laurie Matheson, and Justin Vickers, Washington, D.C., May 2017
“Jane Austen and Masculinity in Pride and Prejudice (1995),” Chicago Midwest Popular Cultures Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, October 2016
“Johnnies, Tommies, and Sammies: Music and Transnational Identities.” Alternative Format Session with William Brooks, Christina Bashford, Laurie Matheson, and Justin Vickers, American Musicological Society (AMS) National Meeting, Louisville, KY, November 2015
“‘She’s a Dear Old Lady’: English-Canadian Popular Songs from World War I.” Society for American Music (SAM) National Meeting, Sacramento, CA, March 2015
“Copyright and the Soundtrack: The Case of Robert Altman.” Film and Media Conference, London, UK, June 2012
“‘Non-musical Actors’ and Genre in Nashville.” AMS National Meeting, Nashville, TN, November 2008
“Song, Genre, and Transatlanticism in Gosford Park.” North American British Music Studies Association (NABMSA) Biennial International Meeting in Toronto, ON, August 2008
“Song, Genre, and Transatlantic Dialogue in Gosford Park.” SAM National Meeting, San Antonio, TX, March 2008

Invited Talks, Panels Chaired (Select List):

Session Chair, “Detroit Technology,” SAM Annual Meeting, Detroit, MI, March 2024
Session Chair, “Listening Practices,” SAM Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, March 2023
Session Chair and Moderator, “Music in World War II, Coping with Wartime: A Conversation.” Virtual Panel Celebrating the Publication of Music in World War II: Coping with Wartime, edited by Pamela Potter, Christina Baade, and Roberta Montemorra Marvin (Indiana University Press, 2020), January 2021
“For King and Country: Canadian Nationalism and Songwriting in the First World War.” Wars’ End Conference, University of Wisconsin, Madison Center for German and European Studies, November 2018
“Canadian Nationalism and Song Publications of the First World War,” The Creative Arts and Music during the Shadow of War: Commemorating the Centenary of World War I, Oberlin College, September 2018
“Pedagogy Courses for Graduate Students,” Panelist, American Musicological Society (AMS) Teaching Music History Study Group Conference, Denver, CO, June 2016
“Johnnies, Tommies, and Sammies: Music and Transnational Identities.” With William Brooks, Christina Bashford, Laurie Matheson, and Justin Vickers. The Newberry Library, May 2016
Keynote Panelist, American Musicological Society (AMS) Teaching Music History Study Group Conference, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Cincinnati, OH, June 2015
“‘She’s a Dear Old Lady’: English-Canadian Popular Songs from World War I.” Over There, Over Here: Music of the First World War Symposium, University of York, UK, February 2015
“‘She’s a Dear Old Lady’: English-Canadian Popular Songs from World War I.” 1915: Music, Memory, and the Great War Symposium, UIUC, March 2015
Introductions to Images, Gosford Park, and The Long Goodbye at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) Robert Altman Retrospective, New York, NY, December 2014
“Robert Altman’s Kansas City.” University of Missouri, Kansas City, Musicology Forum, October 2014
“Robert Altman in Kansas City.” Altmannerisms Conference to celebrate the opening of the Robert Altman Archives, Ann Arbor, MI, June 2013
“Anglo-American Connections.” Session Chair, NABMSA Biennial International Meeting, Urbana-Champaign, IL, July 2012
“Robert Altman and the Post-Studio Musical.” University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, November 2009
“Robert Altman and the New Hollywood Musical.” Music/Film/Sound Symposium, University of Syracuse, Syracuse, NY, October 2009