Levi Walls

Music History, Theory and Composition

Levi (LAY-vee) Walls is finishing his PhD in music theory at University of North Texas, where he also works as a teaching fellow.

His research has been accepted at conferences at the regional, national, and international levels, including at the Society for Music Theory. With a related field in English literature studies, Walls' research emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches in order to recontextualize music-theoretical topics within the wider humanities. His dissertation research seeks to understand music theory's two-century-long love affair with organicist ideology by investigating its literary and philosophical precepts; consequently, Walls offers forecasts regarding organicist ideology's fate within music theory by juxtaposing it against literary theory, whose "organicist turn" has already come and gone. Walls' pedagogical research focuses on praxis that eschews hegemonic narratives and teacher identity maintenance in favor of approaches that center subaltern groups and student identity development.

In his spare time, Walls enjoys playing with his daughter Ophelia, writing poetry, and producing a podcast on theory within the arts & humanities titled "Theoretical Walls."