 | PhD Candidate in Music Theory Areas of Interest: |
Education
--- McGill University, 2008-present
-- Co-supervised by Professor Stephen McAdams and Professor William E. Caplin
-- Recipient of the Quebec Merit Scholarship (2011–present) and the Richard H. Tomlinson Fellowship (2008-2011)
-- Awarded the Grand Prize for Student Research at the 2011 National Conference of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC)
--- University of Arkansas, 2002-2008
-- BAs Music (emphasis in Theory) and English (emphasis in Literature)
-- Summa Cum Laude
-- Research Thesis Title (2008): Processing Surprise in Tonal Melodies
-- Supervised by Professor William E. Caplin
-- Honors Thesis Title (2007): Conceptual Synaesthesia: Deconstructing Perceived Boundaries around Music and Literature
-- Co-supervised by Elizabeth H. Margulis (Music) and Debra R. Cohen (English)
Refereed Publications
Sears, D. Forthcoming. “The Perception of Cadential Closure.” In What is a Cadence? Theoretical and Analytical Perspectives on Cadences in the Classical Repertoire, edited by M. Neuwirth and P. Bergé. Leuven: Leuven University Press.
Sears, D., W. E. Caplin, and S. McAdams. Submitted. “Perceiving the Classical Cadence.” Music Perception.
Trochidis, K., D. Sears, D. L. Trân, and S. McAdams. Forthcoming. “Psychophysiological Measures of Emotional Response to Romantic Orchestral Music and their Musical and Acoustic Correlates.” In Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Computer Music Modeling and Retrieval, June 19-22, 2012. London: Springer-Verlag.
Sears, D. 2011. “What is a Cadence? Theoretical and Analytical Perspectives on Cadences in the Classical Repertoire.” Conference Report. Eighteenth Century Music 8 (2): 361–4.
Sears, D., M. Ogg, M. Benovoy, D. L. Trân, and S. McAdams. 2011. “Predicting the Psychophysiological Responses of Listeners with Musical Features.” Psychophysiology. Special Issue: Society for Psychophysiological Research Abstracts for the Fifty-First Annual Meeting 48: S106.
Sears, D., M. Ogg, M. Benovoy, G. Zilberstein, and S. McAdams. 2010. “Are Bodily Responses Pre- Musical? Psychophysiological Applications to Music Analysis.” In Proceedings of the International Conference of Music Perception and Cognition 11. Peer-reviewed abstract, Seattle, University of Washington.
Sears, D. 2008. “Processing Surprise in Tonal Melodies.” Inquiry Research Journal, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR: 16–23.
Congress Contributions
Sears, D. 2012. “Exploring the ‘Sound-box’ in Radiohead’s ‘Paranoid Android.’” Paper presented at the Music Graduate Student Symposium (MGSS): Traditions, Progressions, Transgressions, Toronto, ON, May 4–5.
Weigl, D. M., D. Sears, and J. A. Hockman. 2012. “Exploring Beat Salience through Perception, Synchronization, and Subjective Judgement tasks.” Paper presented at the CIRMMT Workshop on Multi-Sensory Perception and Action, Montreal, QC, December 4.
Sears D., D. M. Weigl, and J. A. Hockman. 2012. “Investigating Beat Salience: A Reaction-Time Approach.” Poster presented at the Annual CIRMMT Student Symposium, Montreal, QC, May 23.
Trochidis, K., D. Sears, D. L. Trân, and S. McAdams. “Psychophysiological Measures of Emotional Response to Romantic Orchestral Music and their Musical and Acoustic Correlates.” Paper presented at the 9th International Symposium on Computer Music Modeling and Retrieval, London, UK, June 19–22. CV: David Sears 3 January 27, 2013
Sears, D., M. Ogg, M. Benovoy, D. L. Tran, and S. McAdams. 2011. “Predicting the Psychophysiological Responses of Listeners with Musical Features.” Poster presented at the 51st Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research (SPR), Boston, MA, September 14–18.
Sears, D., W. Caplin, and S. McAdams. 2011. “The Perception of Cadential Closure in Mozart's Keyboard Sonatas.” Paper presented at the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC), Rochester, NY, August 11–14.
Sears, D., W. Caplin, and S. McAdams. 2011. “The Perception of Cadential Closure in Mozart's Keyboard Sonatas.” Invited paper presented at What is a Cadence? Theoretical and Analytical Perspectives on Cadences in the Classical Repertoire, Academia Belgica, Rome, January 17–19.
Sears, D. 2010. “The Effect of Performance Features and Formal Repetition on Measures of Physiological Arousal.” Paper presented at the 3rd Meeting of the Northeastern Music Cognition Group, Boston, MA, October 23.
Sears, D., M. Ogg, M. Benovoy, G. Zilberstein, and S. McAdams. 2010. “Are Bodily Responses Pre- Musical? Psychophysiological Applications to Music Analysis.” Paper presented at the 11th International Conference of Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC), Seattle, WA, August 23–27.
Sears, D., M. Ogg, M. Benovoy, and S. McAdams. 2010. “The Effect of Performance Features on the Psychophysiological Responses of Listeners.” Poster presented at the BRAMS Annual Scientific Day, Montreal, QC, April 16.
Sears, D., and H. Egermann. 2010. “Psychological Mechanisms and Psychophysiological Measurements.” Paper presented at the CIRMMT Workshop on Psychophysiological Measurement, Montreal, QC, April 23.
Sears, D., A. Conard, and M. Vallieres. 2010. “Musical Materials in Time: Some Theoretical Approaches to Musical Form.” Paper presented at the CIRMMT Workshop on Structural Analysis of Music, Montreal, QC, March 26.
Sears, D. 2008. “Processing Surprise in Tonal Melodies.” Paper presented at Confounding Expectation: Music and the Unexpected Outcome: Graduate Student Conference, Calgary, AB, April 25–26.