Composition & Theory

Sheet music

The Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s composition and theory area features internationally recognized faculty, attracting talented young composers and theorists from the United States and abroad. 

Composition and theory students at the Hodgson School enjoy countless opportunities to present their work, including frequent Student Composers Association recitals and chamber music performances, and research symposia. Additionally, students have the opportunity to participate in and collaborate with the Hodgson School's numerous small chamber ensembles, orchestras, bands, and choirs.

Area Chair: Dr. Emily Gertsch (egertsch@uga.edu)

Personnel


Adrian P. Childs
Associate Director for Research and Graduate Studies

Dr. Childs' theory work includes research in the area of transformational theory and interests in issues of post-tonal music and referential collections. HIs scholarship has been presented at national and regional meetings of both music theory and mathematics organizations and appears in the Journal of Music Theory and Music Theory Online. He…


Emily Gertsch
Senior Lecturer, Music Theory, Area Chair

Prior to joining the faculty at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, Dr. Gertsch served on the faculty at Furman University and as a graduate teaching assistant at Florida State University and The Catholic University of America. She was honored with the Phi Mu Alpha Outstanding Teaching Award at Furman University and was nominated three times for…


Emily Koh
Assistant Professor

Dr. Koh is a Singaporean composer whose music is characterized by inventive timbral extremes. Described as ‘the future of composing’ (The Straits Times, Singapore), she is the recipient of awards such as the Yoshiro Irino Memorial Prize, ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Prix D’Ete, and PARMA competitions, commissions from the Barlow…


Peter Van Zandt Lane
Assistant Professor of Composition and Director of the Dancz Center for New Music

Dr. Lane composes works primarily for chamber ensemble, wind ensemble, and orchestra, often integrating electronics into works for traditional instruments. He has received fellowships from Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Composers Now. His music has been performed by the…


Dickie Lee
Assistant Professor of Music Theory

Dr. Lee’s research applies theories of interpretation and agency to post-1945 orchestral music and popular genres. His current work investigates the music of Olivier Messiaen, Krzysztof Penderecki, Thomas Adès, George Rochberg, and Ween. He has presented at international and regional meetings in music theory and philosophy, including the …


Dwight Satterwhite
Professor

Dr. Satterwhite is the author of Power in the Progress System an enrichment curriculum for any band program.  He is also the designer of the Student Achievement Tracking Software that accompanies the Power program.  The Power in the Progress System has recently been cited in two national publications, The Music Educators Journal and The…