Profile
Welcome. I am a musician and scholar of music with interests in Native American music, Spanish and Latin American music, Christian worship and theology, colonial music and global music history, and music and computation. I am an assistant professor of music at the University of Rochester, and I am active professionally as a pianist, ensemble director, and composer.
Through my research and teaching I am pursuing a holistic approach to understanding how structures of musical sound are linked to structures of society. I am interested in the ways that people enact their fundamental beliefs through music, especially the ways we use song to connect with each other and the divine. I am also interested in how we use and abuse music as a tool of power. I want to find ways to use teaching, research, and performance to undo systems of oppression and build a just society. These questions have motivated my research into Christian devotional music of the Spanish Empire and the traditional songs and dances of the Onöndowa’ga:’ (Seneca) Nation on whose land I live and work.
My work has been supported and recognized by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the US Department of Education, and the American Musicological Society. If you find something on this site to be interesting, helpful, challenging, or inspiring, I hope you will reach out and continue the conversation.
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Contact
Andrew A. Cashnerandrew.cashner@rochester.edu