Music, Sound, & Society

A cross-disciplinary hub for music and sound research

Music, Sound, and Society is a new hub for cross-disciplinary collaboration and research that aims to unite scholars and practitioners in order to explore how and why music intersects with a wide array of cultures, experiences, and social and historical contexts. We also facilitate networking opportunities to connect researchers from across the UW–Madison campus with those doing similar work, as well as community stakeholders and performers.

Participants in our initiatives have backgrounds ranging from musicology, ethnomusicology, and music theory all the way to history, communication studies, area studies, biology, medicine, and physics. In connecting scholars from all different backgrounds, we hope to instigate new modes of thinking about music and sound in ways that are especially important in light of contemporary politics, technologies like AI, and new musical and sonic landscapes.

Interested in learning more? Sign up for our email list or get in touch with us at mss@music.wisc.edu.

Get Involved

Your insight, collaboration, and input will help us establish a national hub for exploring how music contributes to a more connected, compassionate, and creative world.

Upcoming Events

Music and Surveillance Reading Group
(First Meeting)

December 1, 12 pm-1:30 pm
Materials provided to all participants free of charge
Registration required no later than November 13

About Us

Hub leadership

Dan Cavanagh, Co-director
Gabrielle Cornish, Co-director
Ben Ferris, Student staff

Advisory Board

Reading Groups

We periodically host seminar-style reading groups for faculty, staff, and students to discuss recent important texts surrounding music, sound, and society. Our theme for the 2026-2027 academic year is Music and Surveillance.

Our next Reading Group is December 1 from 12 pm-1:30 pm.

Brown Bag Works-In-Progress Lunches

Working on a research project related to music and sound that you’d like to share with others for feedback? Beginning Spring 2027, we’ll be hosting regular brown bag lunches to workshop research.

Our Mission

Researching humanity’s most important questions

At a time when society with grappling with questions of connection, identity, and well-being, this initiative offers a timely and vital platform for researching music’s role in society today.

Cross-campus collaboration

This initiative aims to bring together a wide range of faculty, staff, and students from across campus to explore questions beyond disciplinary divides.

The Wisconsin Idea

We seek to create a model for interdisciplinary inquiry around music and society that will benefit people and stakeholders from all corners of the state and beyond.