Rob Hodson
Assistant Professor
- Department(s): Music
- Office Location: Greenhill Center Of The Arts 2015
- Phone: (262) 472-4842
- Email: hodsonr@uww.edu
Robert Hodson Curriculum Vitae [pdf]
Robert Hodson holds a Ph.D in music theory from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and has also earned a Master's of Music degree in piano performance from Michigan State University.
Prior to joining the UW-Whitewater faculty, Dr. Hodson held positions at the State University of New York at Binghamton and Meiji Gakuin University (Tokyo).
An active scholar, Dr. Hodson has presented research at many regional, national, and international conferences, including those of the International Association for Jazz Education, the Society for Music Theory, the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, the College Music Society, and many others.
Dr. Hodson's research interests include: jazz improvisation, improvisational process, metric and rhythmic complexity, and music theory pedagogy.
His book Interaction, Improvisation, and Interplay in Jazz (Routledge, 2007), draws upon semiotics, linguistics, and phenomenology—as well as more traditional music-theoretic models—to explore the interactive processes that occur between simultaneously-improvising jazz musicians and the effects that these interactions have on the individual musician's improvisations.
Dr. Hodson is also very committed to International Education and has ten years of experience leading study-abroad programs in Japan. In 2010, he and his 4-member student jazz combo received an ASIANetwork/Freeman Foundation Faculty/Student Fellowship to fund a 3-week research and performance trip focusing on the Tokyo jazz scene.
Recordings by student jazz combos directed/coached/arranged by Dr. Hodson:
• Preach It (Derek Brown): Derek Brown, saxophone; Steven Rodriguez, piano; Jeff Hatcher, bass; John Yehling, drums.
• La Comparsa (Lecuona): Derek Brown, saxophone; Steven Rodriguez, piano; Jeff Hatcher, bass; John Yehling, drums.
• Harvesting Dance (Aaron Parks): Michael Hobson, guitar; Larry Figuero, piano; Zach Pedigo, bass; Ben Oegema, drums.
• Smile (Charlie Chaplin): Michael Hobson, guitar; Larry Figuero, piano; Zach Pedigo, bass; Ben Oegema, drums.
Music Colloquium Handouts:
• Examples [pdf]
• "Alice in Wonderland" Transcription [pdf]