Lauren Shepherd

Publicity & Social Media Coordinator

Lauren Shepherd recently completed her Master’s in Music Theory at the University of Arkansas where she studied with Lisa Margulis. Her thesis, Effects of Genre Tag Complexity on Popular Music Perception and Enjoyment, was completed in the Music Cognition Lab at the University of Arkansas under the direction of Dr. Margulis. Her research interests include music cognition, music theory pedagogy, emotion, timbre, embodiment, and rhythm perception, especially in post-tonal and popular music. Lauren has a wide breadth of performance experience including wind ensemble, orchestra, new music ensembles, as well as solo and chamber recitals. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Flute Performance and Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2017 with highest distinction, where she studied with John Bailey (flute) and Stanley Kleppinger (theory). Her undergraduate thesis, titled Metric Stability and Pitch Centricity in Aaron Copland’s "Duo for flute and piano" combined her passion for flute with her goals of becoming a music theorist. During her time at UNL, she worked on studying the long-term effects of concussions in athletes in Denis Molfese’s Developmental Brain Lab based in the Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior.

Dissertation
Effects of Genre Tag Complexity on Popular Music Perception and Enjoyment
Degrees from Other Institutions: 
MA
Music Theory
University of Arkansas
BA
with highest distinction
Flute Performance, Psychology
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
2017