Ryan Dohoney, Curriculum Innovation Award Recipient (photo, Tim Porter)

Experimental Music in Theory and Practice

In his course, Dohoney will help students discover U.S. and European experimental traditions in music as both scholars and performers, allowing them to learn from Chicago’s contemporary musical community and from archived works in Northwestern’s Deering Library.

Dohoney has noticed a shift in the current musical landscape. He hopes that his new course will help build a sustainable curriculum that supports the vision of the Bienen Institute for New Music, in addition to helping build a foundation for students’ future musical ventures.

“Over the past three years, I’ve become more involved in the city’s new music scene as a performer and concertgoer,” Dohoney said. “It’s clear that something amazing is happening right now in Chicago. I want (my students) to learn both the history of experimental practice and its living presence in our city.”

Dohoney would like to help students devise career strategies and develop practical skills that will empower them to thrive in the contemporary musical climate by connecting them with historical experimental music traditions and members of Chicago’s experimental music community.

The name of this award was changed in 2019 from Curriculum Development Award to Curriculum Innovation Award.