Mitchell Ohriner
Associate Professor, Music Theory
303-871-6234 (Office)
Newman Performing Arts Center, 2344 East Iliff Ave. Denver, CO 80208
What I do
Associate Professor of Music Theory. I teach courses on music theory, music theory pedagogy, rap music and hip hop, the psychology of music preference, and Jewish sacred music.Professional Biography
I joined the Lamont School in 2016. Previously I held positions at Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA and Washington University in St. Louis, MO. My monograph on the rhythm of the rapping voice, Flow: The Rhythmic Voice in Rap Music, is available from Oxford University Press (2019). My articles on rhythm in rap music and expressive timing in classical music and other genres are available in Journal of New Music Research, Music Theory Online, Empirical Musicology Review, and Indiana Theory Review.
I also work to sustain the field of music theory, serving as Editor in Chief of Music Theory Online from 2022–24 and as the Secretary of the Society for Music Theory from 2025–29.
I also work to sustain the field of music theory, serving as Editor in Chief of Music Theory Online from 2022–24 and as the Secretary of the Society for Music Theory from 2025–29.
Degree(s)
- Ph.D., Music Theory, Indiana University, 2011
Research
From 2014 through roughly 2024, I researched, primarily, the rhythm in the rapping voice, primarily using methods of musical corpus studies and computational music analysis. That work teased out the nature of emceeing, an activity situated between speech and song. Since 2024, I have turned my attention to Jewish sacred music.
Areas of Research
music theory
rap music
computational music analysis
intonational phonetics
Kendrick Lamar
Jewish music
Jewish sacred music
Featured Publications
Presentations
. (2017). (Why) Does Talib Kweli Rhyme Off-Beat. 2017 Annual Meeting. Salt Lake City, UT: Rocky Mountain Society for Music Theory.
Awards
- Emerging Scholar Award, Society of Music Theory
