Ryan Galik is a music theory PhD student and Sproull fellow in his second year at Eastman. His primary research investigates how subversive techniques in ambient music serve to distinguish artists and their music amidst contemporary “ubiquitous music” ecologies. The project gathers literature from music theory, music cognition, media and sound studies, as well as musicology and sociology to address these artists and their music. Ryan previously earned two master’s degrees from Michigan State University in music theory and composition. Ryan is currently the secretary for Eastman’s student-led music theory journal, Intégral.

In 2023, various projects of his were awarded student paper awards from the MTSMA and TSMT regional conferences, the SMT annual conference and, in 2024, the biennial Pedagogy Into Practice conference. Last year, he received an honorable mention for MTMW’s Arthur Komar student paper award. His article on aural skills pedagogy and the elementary methodology “Conversational Solfege” will be published in the upcoming issue of JMTP.