Rachel Gain

Rachel Gain (they/her) is a Ph.D. student in the Music Theory program. Broadly, her research revolves around three themes: musical syntax, baroque performance practice, and how music-making’s physical/bodily aspects can impact our analytical insights. Her current research projects examine the embodied syntax of rhythm tap dance; the effect of key on timbre, playing technique, and affect in J.S. Bach’s obbligato flute parts; sonata form in Paul Hindemith’s late music; microtonality in eighteenth-century Paris; and gender, class, and imperialism in Gustav Holst’s life and works.

Her research has been accepted to conferences spanning five countries, including meetings of the Society for Music Theory, EuroMAC, BrumMAC, Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie, Music Theory Midwest (Komar Award Honorable Mention 2022), Music Theory Society of New York State, Texas Society for Music Theory, Historical Performance Institute, and North American British Music Studies Association.

Rachel holds an MA in Music Theory from the University of Western Ontario and a first-class BMus (Hons) from the University of Birmingham. Prior to coming to Yale, they studied at the University of North Texas, where they completed doctoral coursework in music theory and early music, taught undergraduate aural skills, and served as President of the Graduate Association of Musicologists und Theorists (GAMuT).

In her spare time, Rachel does rhythm tap dance, performs on the baroque flute (specializing in French baroque repertoire), doomscrolls on “academic Twitter,” and spends time with her two pit bulls (the latter of which they are yet to turn into a scholarly pursuit).