theoryofpaul.net | homepage of paul miller

Paul Miller is a music theorist, pedagogue and performer. He served as a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University and on the faculties of the University of Colorado in Boulder and Temple University before earning the rank of Associate Professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2024.

Paul has presented research at numerous national and regional conferences, and his work has been published in Perspectives of New Music, the American Music Research Center Journal, Twentieth-Century Music, Music and Letters, Opera Quarterly, and Music Theory Online. Further work has appeared in Early Music and the MLA Association’s Notes. An expert on the remarkable music of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Paul studied with the composer for six summers and premiered his solo viola work "In Freundschaft" in Europe and the United States. Paul's research has centered on the use of physical space in musical compositions, the connection between biosignals and electronic music, and the viola d'amore as a historical and contemporary instrument.

As a performer, Paul's debut solo album "The Undiscovered Viola d'Amore" with Chatham Baroque was released on the Centaur label in September 2023. The Strad Magazine called Miller's performance "virtuoso", and praised him as possessing "flawless intonation".

Paul has appeared at the Metropolitian Museum of Art in New York City, the Library of Congress, the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., the Darmstadt International Festival for New Music, the Bethlehem Bach Festival, the Hawai`i Performing Arts Festival and with ensembles such as El Mundo and Tempesta di Mare. He has collaborated in chamber music concerts with Richard Savino and Jory Vinikour, both Grammy® award nominees. During his tenure as a fellow at Cornell, Paul led the Baroque Orchestra there and studied with Neal Zaslaw, Christopher Hogwood and Malcolm Bilson. He now collaborates regularly with Pittsburgh's Chatham Baroque ensemble. Paul also performs on a five-string electric violin built by the firm Zeta.

Since 2020, Paul has worked extensively in the Max/MSP environment. The fruits of his labors include an interspecies interactive multimedia eco-sound installation, a library of music pedagogy patches, a class in electronic instrument fabrication, and several other projects supporting colleagues in the physics and biomedical engineering departments.

As a pedagogue with over 20 years of classroom experience, Paul enjoys teaching everything from fundamental skills such as solfege, voice-leading, counterpoint and harmony to more advanced topics such as chromaticism, classical form and post-tonal theory. Paul's newest courses incorporate algorithmic composition, analysis and construction of electronic instruments using microcontrollers that interface with the Max/MSP and Pd environments.

Paul is the founder and director of the Music Maker's Lab at Duquesne University. The Lab is a space where students can use state-of-the-art computers, 3D printers, electronics, a sewing machine, and other technologies to fabricate sound and music devices using microcontrollers and other technologies. The Lab also sponsors periodic lectures and presentations by leading artists, technologists and thinkers in the Pittsburgh region.

Paul's students have gone on to play important roles in the musical community. They hold full-time and tenured positions at James Madison University, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and serve as the Dean of the Eastman School of Music. Paul earned a Ph.D. from the Eastman School of Music and a Master's in viola performance (studio of John Graham). Paul's undergraduate studies were at Vassar College, New England Conservatory and Harvard University.

Selected Fun Stuff

Most recent CV

Lab || Hypereuclidean Sets || Past Programs from The Duke's Music
Bach Suites Project || Plant Music || Vigenère cypher
Metanoic Echos: an interspecies, interactive multimedia eco-installation
Semita: interactive Max/MSP patches for music theory
Exploring Islamic music and music theory || Vidéothèque

On Centaur Records
The Undiscovered Viola d'Amore
with Chatham Baroque and Justin Wallace
On Amazon.com

On Bandcamp J. S. Bach: The Six Suites for Electric Violin Solo (BWV 1007 -- 1012) Volume 1: Suites 1 -- 3

Volume 2: Suites 4 -- 6

Electric Ensembles: Music of J. S. Bach, Corrette and Telemann(possibly Wilhelm Friedrich)

Niku Niwa -- by Devon Tipp/Paul Miller

Joseph Haydn: String Quartet op. 33/2, "The Joke"

Other Recordings

Viola d'amore
J. S. Bach -- Sarabande from the second suite for unaccompanied violoncello, BWV 1008
J. S. Bach -- Gigue from the second suite for unaccompanied violoncello, BWV 1008

With the Bethlehem Bach Festival
J. S. Bach -- Betrachte from the John Passion
J. S. Bach -- Erwäge from the John Passion

With Thomas Georgi
I am playing the second part.
Huberty -- Duo for two violas d'amore

Baroque violin
I play both parts on the following recordings. Self-performed, produced, edited, etc.
Recorded at Annabel Taylor Chapel on the lovely Cornell University Campus when I was a postdoc there.
Leclair: Duo for two violins in E Major, op. 12
I. Allegro ma poco | II. Largo | III. Minuetto -- Altro | IV. Allegro

Electric violin
Using a Zeta 5-string electric violin and various effects on a Roland GR-55 synthesizer.
Jean-Luc Ponty -- Pizzy Cat

Video

I invite you to visit my YouTube Channel for my curated videos.

Marini: Sonata con due corde
with Justin Wallace and Patricia Halversion || Duquesne University || 30 September 2017