David Temperley

David Temperley is a Professor of Music Theory at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. His work bridges computational modeling of music cognition and language research.

• PhD in Music Theory, Columbia University
• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Ohio State University

Temperley's research focuses on metric perception, key perception, harmonic analysis, and corpus analysis of musical styles. His notable publications include The Cognition of Basic Musical Structures (MIT, 2001) and The Musical Language of Rock (Oxford, 2018). Recent computational studies explore syncopation patterns, melodic efficiency, and information density in musical contexts.

• Scientific Awards: Society for Music Theory Emerging Scholar Award (2001) for his first book

Temperley's compositions—piano works, chamber music, and songs—blend classical forms with rock influences. Upcoming performances include premieres at Eastman and collaborations with artists like Peter Kurau and Juliana Athayde.