Jacobs professor receives $30,000 grant

FROM IDS REPORTS

Julian Hook has two doctorates: one in music, one in math. However, this unusual combination of interests paid off for the Jacobs School of Music professor, who was awarded a $30,000 Sabbatical Fellowship from the American Philosophical Society in late Spring.

Hook submitted a proposal for his research project on transformational music theory, or the application of math in different musical situations. He will use his sabbatical to work on a book, “Musical Spaces and Transformations.”

While the circle of fifths or chromatic scales are well-known examples of musical spaces, there are other geometric and mathematical elements in chords, time points or rhythms that have not been explored.

This was the 12th and final year for the American Philosophical Society’s Sabbatical Fellowship program. While they have awarded more than 200 fellowships, only a few have been for music-related projects.

“There really aren’t very many organizations that I’m aware of that potentially have grant money available for work in music-related scholarship, so when I learned that the APS was a possibility, I decided it was worth a shot to apply,” Hook said in an e-mail. “Unfortunately, the APS has announced that this was the last year of this fellowship program, so I guess I barely got in under the wire.”

— Biz Carson