Ryan Galik is a music theory PhD student and Sproull fellow in his third year at Eastman.His primary research investigates subversive techniques in ambient music used by artists to resist against a broader “ubiquitous” music ecosystem. The project broadly draws on literature spanning music theory, music cognition, media studies, musicology, and sociology to address the paradoxes inherent in unignorable tracks by artists in a genre meant to be ignored. Ryan previously earned two master’s degrees from Michigan State University in music theory and composition. Ryan is currently the reviews editor 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 paper on aural skills pedagogy and the elementary methodology “Conversational Solfege” is published in Vol. 39–40 of JMTP (PDF).