EDUCATION
Ph.D., Critical & Comparative Studies in Music, University of Virginia (2014)
Dissertation: “Sounding Sentimental: American Popular Song from Nineteenth-Century Ballads to 1970s Soft Rock”
M.A., Music Theory & Popular Music and Culture, University of Western Ontario (2008)
B.Mus., Piano Performance & Music Theory, University of Ottawa (2005)
Professional Summary
- Researcher and writer on popular music, media, and culture
- Arts producer and administrator
- Community engagement collaborator
- Educator in the practical and academic study of music
PUBLICATIONS
Book Manuscript:
Sentimental Songs for Sentimental People: An Unheard History of US Popular Music (in progress)
Articles and Reviews:
Gale, Emily. “Settled at Last? Sentimental Citizenship in Calixa Lavallée’s The Indian Question.” The Opera Quarterly 32, no. 1 (Winter 2016): 29-53.
“What Will I Be: American Music and Cold War Identity by Philip M. Gentry. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.” Twentieth-Century Music 16, no. 2 (2019): 353-358. Invited review.
“The Ballad in American Popular Music: From Elvis to Beyoncé by David Metzer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017.” Journal of Popular Music Studies. Invited review.
“The Persistence of Sentiment: Display and Feeling in Popular Music of the 1970s by Mitchell Morris. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013.” Journal of the Society for American Music 10, no. 4 (November 2016): 499-502. Invited review.
Gale, Emily and Bonnie Gordon. “Sound in Jefferson’s Virginia.” Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 2 September 2014. Web.
Gale, Emily and Matt Jones. “Appendix II” [A Research Aid for the Monticello Music Collection, Special Collections Library, University of Virginia]. In Thomas Jefferson and Music, Helen Cripe, 100-130. Charlottesville, VA: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2009.
GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND AWARDS
March 2018. Top 25 Music Alumni Recognition, Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
April 2017. Building Community Award, LGBTQ+ Initiatives. University of California, Merced.
December 2015. Non-Senate Faculty Professional Development Fund Grant. University of California, Merced.
June 2015. Finalist for the Wiley Housewright Dissertation Award. Society for American Music.
May 2015. New York Public Library Short-Term Research Fellowship.
Summer 2013. Mellon Foundation Interdisciplinary Summer Dissertation Seminar. Department of French, University of Virginia.
March 2013. All-University Graduate Teaching Assistant Award. Teaching Resource Center, University of Virginia.
March 2013. Mark Tucker Award for Outstanding Student Paper. Presented at the Annual Meeting of The Society for American Music, Little Rock, AK.
2011-2012. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
September 2020. “Stolen Youth: Orphan Songs and Abolition.” Museum of Popular Culture Pop Conference, Seattle, WA.
June 2020. “Young Folks: Youth in Early US Popular Music,” IASPM UK/Ireland, Online.
April 2019. “Sentimental Death Songs,” Museum of Popular Culture Pop Conference, Seattle, WA.
April 2018. Invited panelist with Ann Powers and Karen Tongson: “Soft and Stormy: Gender, Race, and Genre from the 70s-90s,” Museum of Popular Culture Pop Conference, Seattle, WA.
April 2017. “Soft Rock Masculinities,” Museum of Popular Culture Pop Conference, Seattle, WA.
November 2016. “Ebay Musicology,” Pedagogy Interest Group Panel at the American Musicological Society, Vancouver, BC.
May 2016. “Female Agency in Mitch Miller’s Sing Along with Mitch,” International Association for the Study of Popular Music-US/Canada, Calgary, AB.
April 2016. “Septimus Winner’s Sentimental Songs,” Experience Music Project Pop Conference, Seattle, WA.
March 2015. “‘Sing Me the Old Songs Tonight’: Sentimentality and the National Barn Dance,” Society for American Music, Sacramento, CA.
November 2014. “Sounding Citizenship in Mitch Miller’s Sing Along with Mitch,” American Musicological Society, Milwaukee, WI.
June 2013. “Sentimental Songs for Sentimental Men,” Love and Sentimentalism in Popular Music Symposium, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.
March 2013. “Sentimental Songs for Sentimental Men,” Society for American Music, Little Rock, AK.
October 2011. “Prince and the Postmodern Politics of Stylistic Promiscuity,” Society for Music Theory, Minneapolis, MN.
April 2010. “A Presidential Songcatcher: Thomas Jefferson’s Scrapbooks,” Soundscapes in Jefferson’s America Symposium, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
July 2009. “The Raw Power of Really Smooth Music,” International Association for the Study of Popular Music, Liverpool, UK.
June 2009. “Yacht Rock and the Raw Power of Really Smooth Music,” International Association for the Study of Popular Music, Canadian Branch, Halifax, NS.
May 2006. “Canadian Music Collectives: Looking at Gender, Geography, and Technology” (co-authored), International Association for the Study of Popular Music, Canadian Branch, Regina, SK.
PANEL CHAIR
April 2017. Panel chair and moderator, “Well-Meaning Sentiments,” Museum of Popular Culture Pop Conference, Seattle, WA.
February 2017. Panel chair, “Popular Music Performance Practice,” Northern California Chapter of the American Musicological Society, San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
University of California, Merced: Lecturer
Music, Gender, and Sexuality (Fall 2015-Spring 2018)
Meaning in Music (Fall 2014-Fall 2016)
Critical Popular Music Studies (Fall 2014-Spring 2018)
Popular Song in the US (Fall 2014-Spring 2015)
University of Virginia: Instructor of Record
Introduction to Music (Spring 2014)
Basic Musical Skills (Fall 2012 & Spring 2013)
Popular Musics in the U.S. (Summer 2012)
Music Theory II (Spring 2010)
Music Theory I (Fall 2009)
University of Virginia: Teaching Assistant
Musicianship III (Spring 2011)
History of Rock (Fall 2010)
Music Appreciation (Spring 2009)
History of Jazz (Fall 2008)
University of Western Ontario: Teaching Assistant
Keyboard Harmony (Fall 2005, Spring 2006, Fall 2007, & Spring 2008)
Music in Global Contexts (Fall 2006 & Spring 2007)
ACADEMIC SERVICE & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
2017-2019. Vice President, Merced Symphony Association, Merced, CA.
2016-2018. Interim Director, Arts UC Merced Presents, University of California, Merced.
Curated and produced concerts with Alice Bag, Fatty Cakes and the Puff Pastries, Kaumakaiwa Kanaka’ole and Shawn Pimental, and the Vijay Iyer Sextet.
2016-2018. Secretary-Treasurer, Northern California Chapter of the American Musicological Society.
2011-2014. Arts Mentors Project Coordinator, University of Virginia. 2012-2013. Curator/volunteer, The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative, Charlottesville, VA.
2011-2012. Curator, Sound in Early America Exhibit, Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.
2010-2011. Co-Chair, University of Virginia Music Arts Board.
Curated and produced a 4-day residency with the Bang on a Can All-Stars and founding composer Michael Gordon.
2010-2011 Conference Coordinator, Soundscapes in Jefferson’s America Symposium, University of Virginia Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library.
2009-2010. University of Virginia Colloquium Committee Graduate Student Representative.