Julian Hook

Ph.D. (Indiana University), Assistant Professor

juhook @ indiana.edu

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
1201 East Third Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405-7006

Office: Simon 225J
Phone: 856-0121
Fax:: (812) 855-4936

Julian (“Jay”) Hook, Assistant Professor of Music Theory, holds advanced degrees in mathematics, architecture, and piano performance as well as music theory. He has taught mathematics at Florida International University in Miami, and music theory at Penn State University. He has also has worked as an architect and structural engineer in Chicago, and has performed chamber music on several occasions with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 2002 he completed his doctorate in Music Theory at Indiana University; during his years as a graduate student at IU he also won a piano concerto competition and received an award for outstanding teaching. Dr. Hook has presented papers at conferences of the Society for Music Theory, the American Mathematical Society, and other organizations, and serves as Reviews Editor of the new Journal of Mathematics and Music.

Dr. Hook’s research involves transformational theory, particularly neo-Riemannian transformations and other algebraic approaches to the study of musical structure. He is the author of a study of rhythm in the music of Olivier Messiaen, published in Music Theory Spectrum, and a study of triadic transformations in the Journal of Music Theory (winner of the 2005 Emerging Scholar Award from the Society for Music Theory). Other recent and forthcoming publications include an article on the foundations of transformation theory, published in Music Theory Spectrum; a survey of applications of group theory in music, published by Princeton University Press in a collection of mathematics essays;  a study of the mathematical basis of key signatures and enharmonic equivalence, published in the Journal of Mathematics and Music; and the article “Signature Transformations,” to appear in a volume dedicated to the memory of John Clough, published by the University of Rochester Press.