Paul Murphy, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

School of Music
Mason Hall
Room 3154
paul.murphy@fredonia.edu
(716) 673-3640

    Paul Murphy, Associate Professor, is Chair of Composition and Academic Studies in the School of Music and teaches courses throughout the undergraduate and graduate curricula.  He received the bachelor’s degree in piano performance from the University of New Mexico, studying with Rita Angel and George Robert, and the master’s degree in piano performance from Texas Christian University as a student of Steven De Groote.  He received a second master’s degree as well as the Ph.D. (May, 1995) from the University of Texas at Austin where he served in the School of Music as an assistant instructor of music theory, and as orchestra pianist for the university symphony.  Before coming to SUNY-Fredonia, Dr. Murphy coordinated the music theory programs at the University of Texas at El Paso and at Eastern New Mexico University.

    In addition to his classroom teaching Paul Murphy has cultivated a passionate research interest in the history of music theory, and in particular, Baroque harmonic practice of Spain.  His ongoing research includes the monograph, General Rules of Accompanying: José de Torres's Treatise of 1736 (below).  A scholarly article relating to the same treatise, "Thoroughbass Accompaniment in the Rigorous Spanish Style and the Italian Style: José de Torres's Reglas generales(1702, 1736)," appears in the journal Theoria, vol. 9 ( December 2001).  His article "Disparate Medievalisms in Early Modern Spanish Music Theory" appears in Studies in Medievalism, vol. XIII (2003).  An additional area of research interest lies in the pedagogies of rhythm; currently Paul Murphy is pursuing the Certificate in Dalcroze Eurhythmics at the Juilliard School and Carnegie Mellon University.

    As a pianist, Paul Murphy has performed as a soloist and accompanist throughout New Mexico and Texas.  His experience in musical theater and opera stems from his work as musical director, pianist, conductor, and arranger for productions throughout central Texas.  As a dance accompanist Paul Murphy has held positions with Ballet Austin, the Fort Worth Ballet, the City Ballet (San Francisco, CA), the Contra Costa Ballet (Walnut Creek, CA) and the dance divisions of Texas Christian University, UT-Austin, Eastern New Mexico University, and New Mexico State University.

    The image at right is a reproduction of the title page from the second edition of José de Torres y Martínez Bravo's thoroughbass accompaniment treatise for keyboard and harp published in Madrid in 1736 (1st ed., Madrid 1702).  This annotated Spanish/English edition of the treatise was released by Indiana University Press (2000).  The project was partially supported by a subvention grant from the Society for Music Theory.