Mitchell Ohriner

Mitchell Ohriner is an Associate Professor of Music Theory at the Lamont School of Music, University of Denver. He joined the faculty in 2016 and previously taught at Shenandoah University and Washington University in St. Louis. His research focuses on rap music rhythm, expressive timing, and music theory pedagogy. Ohriner is the author of Flow: The Rhythmic Voice in Rap Music (Oxford University Press, 2019), which explores rhythmic structures in rap and their intersection with text and meter.

• Education: PhD in Music Theory from Indiana University (2011).
• Research: Specializes in rap flow analysis, corpus studies of hip hop, and the relationship between rhythm and text in music.
• Publications: Articles in Journal of New Music Research, Indiana Theory Review, and Empirical Musicology Review.
• Awards: Recognized for contributions to hip hop scholarship, including a notable review of Flow in the Journal of the Society for Musicology in Ireland.
• Teaching: Courses include music theory, modal counterpoint, rap music studies, and the psychology of music preference.

His work bridges computational analysis and humanistic interpretation, with a focus on the rhythmic voice in rap, expressive timing in performance, and pedagogical innovations in music theory.