August Sheehy

August Sheehy is an Assistant Professor in Critical Music Studies at Stony Brook University. His research bridges music analysis and history, focusing on German-speaking Europe from the French Revolution to WWII, with interests in biopolitics, jazz, and improvisation.

His work explores how music theory intersects with politics, religion, philosophy, art, and culture, including projects on sonata form’s theoretical origins, Roman numeral harmonic analysis, and music theory’s entanglement with biopolitics. He has presented at major conferences such as the American Musicological Society, Society for Music Theory, and German Studies Association.

Sheehy received the Charlotte W. Newcombe Fellowship (2015–16) for work in religious studies and ethics and co-edited a special issue of the Yale Journal of Music and Religion on 'Sound and Secularity.'

He teaches courses in tonal analysis, music theory, and seminars on topics like Music Theory and Biopolitics and The Politics of Musical Form.