This Music Theory Professor Believes in the Transformative Power of Teaching

Richard Desinord knew he wanted to explore music theory since seventh grade. 

His trumpet teacher, a retired member of the United States Marine Band, taught Desinord how to learn scales by providing the first few and then challenging him to figure out the rest based on patterns he saw. It became a game for Desinord.

“I would sit and I would write out everything,” he said. “He only asked me to do the next scale for the next week, but I did all of them. From that point, I was hooked.”

Desinord is now the one teaching others.

This fall, the he joined the College of Arts & Sciences as a Provost’s Distinguished Faculty Fellow and an assistant professor of music in the Department of Performing Arts. He will spend his first year researching before teaching music theory courses starting next fall. Desinord’s current research focuses on harmony and gospel music. 

“Basically, I look at how harmony is used as a communicative tool,” he said. “How it transmits emotions and feelings within a song but also within church services.”

The interdisciplinary nature of the College excites Desinord. He hopes to collaborate with colleagues in philosophy, linguistics and Black studies, among other fields.

“I look forward to Richard taking advantage of the interconnections within the department and across the university,” said Benjamin Harbert, a professor of music and chair of the Department of Performing Arts. “He is poised to produce impactful scholarship that reflects the generosity and collaboration of colleagues here. I also look forward to seeing him develop new intellectual spaces that invite students into his expertise and curiosity, particularly in how he thinks about music theory and race.”

Sources of Inspiration

Desinord was born and raised in DC to Haitian immigrant parents who he calls his “greatest source of inspiration.”

“They exemplified hard work, perseverance and selflessness in pursuit of a better life for our family,” he said.

Midway through elementary school, Desinord and his family moved to Prince George’s County in Maryland, and he graduated from the Center for the Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) at Suitland High School. 

It was during his time there that the teaching spark first emerged. By senior year, Desinord’s music theory teacher had given him opportunities to tutor his peers and lead lessons.

“Those experiences revealed how rewarding it could be to help others engage with and understand new material, and they solidified my interest in education as a vocation,” Desinord said. 

Teachers have always had a big impact on him, and Desinord marveled at the influence his teachers had over students. 

“I was really inspired by teachers who really cared about what we were doing, who really emphasized core parts of teaching but also were just really human,” he said. “I understood that I was growing in their presence.”

Prior to Georgetown, Desinord served as an assistant professor of music theory at Michigan State University and a lecturer of music theory at Howard University. He also taught music at a public middle school in DC for three years. 

Desinord has a Ph.D. in music theory from the Eastman School of Music, an master’s in music theory from Penn State University and a Bachelor of Music in music education from Howard University. 

At Georgetown, Desinord said he plans to teach courses on Black music, including analysis and the history of gospel and R&B. 

“That ‘aha moment,’ to watch somebody learn something — I don’t care if it’s me doing it or anyone else — that moment is really inspiring to see,” Desinord said.

Academic Role Models

There were moments during Desinord’s academic journey where he doubted himself. 

While flipping through a copy of Music Theory Spectrum, a leading journal in the field of music theory, as an undergraduate, Desinord thought to himself, “I cannot do this. I’m not intelligent enough to do this.”

He explains that part of the reason he felt that way is because he did not see many Black people studying music theory nor many academics in the field studying it from a Black perspective. Desinord’s professors urged him to keep going.

“I was fortunate to take classes with Black professors at Howard University in the field who not only modeled exceptional teaching but also encouraged and nurtured my research interests,” he said. “Seeing them excel in a space where representation is still limited was profoundly inspiring and affirmed my desire to contribute to the discipline in my own way.”

This past spring, Desinord wrote for Music Theory Spectrum, and his scholarly work has also appeared in the Cambridge Stravinsky Encyclopedia, Engaged Music Theory and Modeling Musical Analysis. 

“I understand the difficulty of looking at a field and seeing how few numbers there are of people like you and how daunting that could feel,” Desinord said. “A piece of advice is to not let the scarcity of people like you keep you from doing something. It just takes one.”