Dan Fister

Dan Fister is a Lecturer in the Department of Music at Santa Clara University, where he teaches courses in popular music and ethnomusicology. His research intersects race studies, voice studies, and contemporary a cappella traditions, informed by ethnographic methods and critical race theory.

• Education
• Ph.D. in Musicology, Washington University in St. Louis
• Graduate Certificate in American Culture Studies, Washington University in St. Louis
• BA in Music, Chapman University’s Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music

His work explores how racial identity shapes musical practice, particularly focusing on whiteness in scholastic a cappella. He has contributed to American Music as an Editorial Assistant and co-authored a quantitative analysis of the journal’s four-decade scholarship.

Scientific awards include the 2021 Lise Waxer Student Paper Prize (Society for Ethnomusicology) and the Margery Lowens Dissertation Fellowship (Society for American Music). He also co-chaired the Society for Ethnomusicology’s Voice Studies Special Interest Group.

As an educator, Fister teaches at Santa Clara University and the University of California-Santa Cruz. Outside academia, he directs the small ensemble Desperate Measures for the Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus and adjudicates a cappella competitions.