David Sears

David Sears is an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts at Texas Tech University, affiliated with the J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual & Performing Arts. He co-directs the Performing Arts Research Laboratory (PeARL) and coordinates the Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts Studies. Prior to TTU, he earned a PhD in Music Theory from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University (2016) and completed a postdoc at Johannes Kepler University (2017).

Dr. Sears' research focuses on the structural parallels between music and language, particularly in tonal harmony, using behavioral and computational methods. His work also spans popular music analysis (e.g., 80s pop synthesizers, Billboard Hot 100 trends), music and emotion, DIY communities on platforms like Pinterest, and film/video game music (e.g., jump scares, autism spectrum emotion recognition). His publications appear in venues like Music Perception, Psychology of Music, and Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

PeARL, where he is a director, employs methods from psychophysics, cognitive psychology, and music informatics to study music, theatre, dance, and visual arts. Current projects include modeling musical expectation, analyzing horror film soundtracks, and exploring DIY online communities.

As a pedagogue, Dr. Sears teaches graduate seminars in the Fine Arts Doctoral Program and undergraduate/graduate music theory courses. His lab's recent graduates include Hannah Percival (2024) and Sylvia Weintraub (2024), with ongoing advising of PhD candidates like Elizabeth Acosta and Devin Guerrero.