Joseph P. Swain took his A.B. in music and medieval studies at
Dartmouth College in 1977, his A.M. in musicology in 1980 and PhD in music at
Harvard University in 1983.
His teaching specialties at Colgate are music theory, music history, and liberal studies.
His research interests are music criticism and critical theory. Special areas of study include music cognition and perception and linguistics. He is author of Sound Judgment, an introductory textbook, The Broadway Musical, which won the Deems Taylor Award in 1991, and many articles in music theory and criticism. He is currently finishing a book on the music and language analogy.
Mr. Swain is a trained violist and has played with the Colgate University Orchestra and Colgate Chamber Ensemble many times. In 1992, he was appointed director of Tapestry, the All-Centuries Singers, an a capella ensemble specializing in Renaissance repertory.