Ellen Shaw

music theorist

About
I am a PhD student in Music Theory and Analysis at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. I take an interdisciplinary approach in researching how music is shaped by cultural factors like identity, race, and lived experience. I am particularly focused on popular music written by women of the 20th-century with a special interest in the later, jazz-influenced music of Joni Mitchell. I was awarded the 2025 Komar Award from Music Theory Midwest for my work on Joni Mitchell’s 1976 album Hejira, as well as the 2026 Graduate Student Paper Prize from the Society for Christian Scholarship in Music for my paper on the musical trajectory of composer Mary Lou Williams. I am a passionate educator and committed to making the music theory undergraduate curriculum accessible, culturally relevant and informed, as well as engaging to students of various backgrounds.

Education
Ph.D. in Music Theory and Analysis, The Graduate Center, CUNY (ant. 2031)
M.M. in Music Theory, Michigan State University (2026)
B.M. in Composition, Cal Poly Pomona (2024)