Rate My Professor Jeremy Smith

Jeremy Smith serves as Professor of Musicology in the College of Music at the University of Colorado Boulder. He holds a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of California, Santa Barbara (1997), an M.F.A. in Piano Performance from the University of California, Irvine (1990), and a B.A. in Music from Washington College (1985). Smith's career trajectory includes roles as Instructor of Music Appreciation at the University of North Dakota (1996–1997), Visiting Assistant Professor of Music History at Millikin University (1997–1998), and Assistant Professor of Musicology at the State University of New York at Fredonia (1998–2000). He joined CU Boulder in 2000 as Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2004, and to full Professor in 2016. Additionally, he directed the Center for British and Irish Studies from 2010 to 2013.

A specialist in English Renaissance music history, with secondary interests in progressive rock and interdisciplinary approaches to English portraiture and poetry, Smith has made significant contributions through his scholarship. His monographs include Thomas East and Music Publishing in Renaissance England (Oxford University Press, 2003), Verse and Voice in Byrd’s Song Collections of 1588 and 1589 (Boydell Press, 2016), and Tallis and Byrd’s Cantiones Sacrae (1575): A Sacred Argument (Boydell Press, 2023). He edited William Byrd’s Psalmes, Sonets & Songs (The Byrd Edition, vol. 12, Stainer & Bell, 2004) and Sleuthing the Muse: Essays in Honor of William F. Prizer (Pendragon Press, 2012). Key articles feature “Music and Late Elizabethan Politics: The Identities of Diana and Oriana” (Journal of the American Musicological Society, 2005) and “A Newly Discovered Edition of William Byrd’s Psalmes, Sonets & Songs” (Notes, 2005). Smith co-authored the textbook Music Appreciation: Music Histories and Cultures (multiple editions, 2013–2021). His work has been recognized with two Richard S. Hill Awards from the Music Library Association (2001, 2007), the Provost’s Faculty Achievement Award (2006), and the Boulder Faculty Assembly Award for Excellence in Teaching (2011). He is a founding member of the editorial board of Music & Politics, has presented at American Musicological Society meetings, and received support from an NEH Collaborative Research Grant.