He holds degrees from the Universities of Missouri and Michigan, and previously taught at the Oberlin Conservatory. His teaching and research interests focus primarily on issues of music and politics, and on the relationship of music and other arts in multimedia works (song, opera, dance, film, etc.). He is a co-editor of The Routledge Film Music Sourcebook and a forthcoming translation of William Ritter's Etudes d'Art Etranger.