Kevin Clifton

Kevin Clifton, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Music Theory at Sam Houston State University's School of Music, with extensive experience at institutions including Indiana State University, Ithaca College, University of Virginia, and Lawrence University. He served as a Faculty Fellow at Colby College.

• Research Focus: Explores musical meaning in works by Bartok, Poulenc, and Broadway productions like Wicked, specializing in film music analysis (particularly Alfred Hitchcock's works) and compositional techniques.
• Publications: Authored studies on musical empathy in Psycho, tension/release mechanisms in Strandberg's String Trio, and music's narrative role in Hitchcock's Vertigo and Rope.
• Conferences: Presented at American Musicological Society, Music and the Moving Image (NYU), European Music Analysis Conference, and other major forums.
• Service: Secretary of the Texas Society of Music Theory, with a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin under Roger Graybill, Jim Buhler, and Stefen Kostka.