JUSTIN LONDON is Professor of Music at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, where he teaches courses in Music Theory, The Philosophy of Music, Music Perception and Cognition, and American Popular Music. He received his B.M. degree in Classical Guitar and his M.M. degree in Music Theory from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and he holds a Ph.D. in Music History and Theory from the University of Pennsylvania, where he worked with Leonard Meyer.

His research interests include rhythm and meter, music perception and cognition, the history of the Delta blues, and musical aesthetics. He is the author of several articles in the recent revision of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and the Cambridge History of Western Music Theory. His book, Hearing in Time, (Oxford University Press, 2004) is a cross-cultural exploration of the perception and cognition of musical meter. He is currently involved in joint research on the perception of complex meters with Bruno Repp and Peter Keller, on the perception of anacruses with Ian Cross and Tommi Himberg, and on dynamic systems modelling for complex meters with Edward Large.

Professor London has served on the editorial boards of Music Theory Online and the Music Theory Spectrum, and on the executive board of Music Theory Midwest, the Society for Music Perception and Cognition and The Society for Music Theory . He was co-director of the 2005 Mannes Institute for Advanced Studies in Music Theory on Rhythm and Temporality and in 2005-2006 he was a visiting scholar at the Centre for Music and Science of Cambridge University under the auspices of a Fulbright Foundation grant. In April 2007 he was a Guest Professor at the International Orpheus Academy for Music & Theory (on "Tempo, Meter, Rhythm: Time in Music after 1950") in Ghent, Belgium, and in 2009 and 2010 he served on the faculty of the Interdisciplinary College (IK) for cognitive science in Günne, Germany. He served as President of the Society for Music Theory in 2007-2009.

Row Forms in the serial works of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern

Metric Fake Outs--An Excel spreadsheet which lists pop songs with metrically ambiguous openings

Pop Music Harmonic Surprises--Another Excel Spreadsheet which lists pop songs which contain various harmonic & other surprises

Auditory Demonstrations

"Ode to Joy" Moderato

"Ode to Joy" Allegro

Recent Papers & Presentations

Temporal Complexity in Modern and Post-Modern Music--Based on a lecture given at the International Orpheus Academy for Music & Theory, April 2007. (PDF version)

Differences in Metrical Structure Confound Tempo Judgements--given at the 2009 meeting of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition. (PDF version)

The Study of Musical Rhythm in the 21st Century--PPT, with media examples (6.6 MB) given at Music Theory between East and West, November 2011 (PPT Zip File)

Musical Meter, Musical Expression, and Social Cognition: An Inquiry in Cognitive Aesthetics. In Studies in Honor of Eugene Narmour, A. Rozin & L. Bernstein, eds. Hillsdale: Pendragon Press (2012) (PDF Version)

Professional Materials

Curriculum Vitae