Dr. Joseph Siu

Dr. Joseph Chi-Sing Siu is a Senior Lecturer in Music Theory and Academic Advising at UMBC, where he also serves as Associate Department Chair, Undergraduate Program Director, Department Advisor, and Music Theory Area Coordinator. Beyond the Music Department, he mentors students in the Individualized Study (INDS) Program on topics related to music cognition and perception. Joseph earned his M.A./Ph.D. in Music Theory from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, supported by a Doctoral Fellowship Award from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He holds a B.Mus. in Piano Performance with distinction from the University of Western Ontario, where he was awarded the UWO Gold Medal upon graduation. To enhance his leadership and management skills for his various administrative roles, Joseph recently completed an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland Global Campus. He also participated in the UMBC Office of the Provost’s inaugural 2023-2024 Leadership Development Mentoring Program and was selected for the inaugural cohort of the LEAP Leadership Development Academy, organized by FranklinCovey and UMBC’s Human Resources and Strategic Talent Management Department.

Joseph’s research focuses on phrase rhythm and musical form, music cognition and perception, and music theory pedagogy. He was awarded the Faculty Pedagogy Fellowship (2021–2023) by UMBC’s Center for Innovation, Research, and Creativity in the Arts (CIRCA). Joseph has presented his music theoretical work at numerous conferences, including the Society for Music Theory (2024, 2020), European Music Analysis Conference (2017, 2014), the Canadian University Music Society (2017, 2016, 2014), the West Coast Conference of Music Theory and Analysis (2017), the South Central Society for Music Theory (2017, 2014), the Music Theory Society of New York State (2016), Music Theory Midwest (2016), and the Rocky Mountain Society for Music Theory (2014). Joseph received the SOCAN Foundation/George Proctor Prize at the 2017 conference of the Canadian University Music Society and was also the recipient of the Best Student Paper Award at the 2014 conference of the South Central Society for Music Theory. Elected to the Executive Board of the Music Theory Society Mid-Atlantic (MTSMA) in 2018, he now serves as MTSMA’s Treasurer and has held roles as Program Committee Chair (2021) and Local Arrangements Chair (2019). His recent scholarly contribution is a book chapter titled “Metrical Dissonance and Phrase Grouping in HWANG Yau-Tai’s Oblivion [黃友棣 – 遺忘],” which will appear in the forthcoming Oxford University Press volume Modeling Musical Analysis (2024).

As an interdisciplinary researcher, Joseph has collaborated with faculty and students from the University of Rochester’s Departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, and Linguistics on projects funded by the UR Provost’s Multidisciplinary Award (2012–2013). In summer 2016, Joseph received an all-inclusive travel award from the National Science Foundation to present at the International Conference on Mobile Brain-Body Imaging and the Neuroscience of Art, Innovation, and Creativity in Cancun, Mexico. That same summer, he was selected as a Music Fellow by the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University to participate in and give a public TED-style talk at the 3rd International “Exploring the Mind through Music” Conference. Joseph has also presented his music cognition research at the Future Directions of Music Cognition International Conference (2021), the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (2015, 2013), the Center for Research on Brain, Language and Music (2013), the New England Conference of Music Theorists (2013), and the Northeast Music Cognition Group (2012). From 2012 to 2014, Joseph served as the manager of the Eastman Music Cognition Lab. His co-authored articles include “In Their Own Words: Analyzing the Extents and Origins of Absolute Pitch,” published in Psychology of Music in March 2019, and “Perspectives on Art-Science Collaborations,” published in SciArt Magazine in June 2017. From 2020 to 2022, Joseph’s research in music cognition was funded by UMBC CAHSS Dean’s Research Award.

Before joining UMBC in 2017, Joseph taught graduate and undergraduate music theory courses at the Eastman School of Music, serving as a Teaching Assistant from 2011 to 2016 and as Summer Session Faculty from 2016 to 2017. In recognition of his exceptional teaching, he was awarded the Teaching Assistant Prize for Excellence in Teaching by Eastman in 2015. Prior to his time at Eastman, Joseph taught music and science at the International Christian Quality Music Secondary and Primary School in Hong Kong, his hometown, from 2009 to 2011.

M.B.A., University of Maryland Global Campus (2024)
Ph.D. Music Theory, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester (2020)
M.A. Music Theory, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester (2015)
B.Mus. Piano Performance, University of Western Ontario (2009)