Gurminder Bhogal

I think about the different appearances that ornament can take in these media, as well as the different things that it can do in addition to looking pretty. I have published an article that explored the development of a specific type of ornament (the arabesque) in ballets by Debussy and Ravel. Another article examined the expressive significance of vocal ornamentation and its relationship to exoticism in Delibes's opera,  Lakme. I am currently writing a book that considers why French composers and artists were fascinated by ornament at the fin-de-siecle.

I teach a variety of courses whose content traverses the fields of music history, theory, and analysis. These include core courses such as A History of Western Music; An Introduction to the Language of Music; Opera: Its History, Music, and Drama; and Music of the Sphere, a new course that I teach in conjunction with my colleague in ethnomusicology, Tamar Barzel. I have also taught more specialized, upper-level courses, which focus on specific topics. These include The Femme and Her Song, and Being Modern in Paris. Each class that I teach aims to integrate the different activities that involve music, from composition, improvisation, and close listening to critical reading, performance, and imaginative writing.

I enjoy playing the piano and the recorder, in addition to various other early music instruments such as the crumhorn and cornamuse.

Other interests include South Indian classical dance (various forms), running (cross-country), Olympic diving, and vegetarian cooking.