M.A. in Historical Musicology, University of Michigan
Ph.D. in Historical Musicology, University of Michigan
Beal's research explores the history of American experimental music. Her teaching interests include historical surveys, performance practice seminars, twentieth-century and American music. As a performer she remains active as a pianist and as director of the Experimental Music Ensemble. She is particularly interested in the performance and reception of contemporary music, and in working with groups that include both musicians and non-musicians. Her recent research explores the underrepresentation of women composers in histories of American music.
Carla Bley [Spanish-language edition] (Templo en el Oido [Buenos Aires], 2016).
New Music, New Allies—American Experimental Music in West Germany from the Zero Hour to Reunification (California Studies in Twentieth-Century Music, University of California Press, 2006).
CHAPTERS IN BOOKS:
"Living in the (Publishing) House of Music: A Short History of Composer-Driven Publication and Distribution in the U.S.," Rethinking American Music, Tara Browner and Thomas Riis, eds. (University of Illinois Press, 2019): 138-156.
“Musica Elettronica Viva and the Art Ensemble of Chicago: Tradition and Improvisation in Self-Exile ca. 1970,” Crosscurrents: American and European Music in Interaction, 1900-2000 (Basel: Paul Sacher Fundation, 2014): 364-371.
“Christian Wolff in Darmstadt, 1972 and 1974,” in Changing the System: The Music of Christian Wolff, edited by Philip Thomas and Stephen Chase (Ashgate, 2010).
“Music is a Universal Human Right: Musica Elettronica Viva,” Sound Commitments: Avant-garde Music and the Sixties, Robert Adlington, ed. (Oxford University Press, 2009): 99-120.
“Time Canvasses: Morton Feldman and the Painters of the New York School,” in Modern Art and Music (Border Crossings). James Leggio, ed. (New York: Routledge Publishing, 2002), 227-245.
Writings through John Cage's Music, Poetry, and Art, edited by David W. Bernstein and Christopher Hatch (Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2001), book review in Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association (winter 2002): 337-339.
Perspectives on American Music, 1900-1950. Michael Saffle, ed. (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 2000), book review in Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 58/1 (September 2001): 101-103.
The Music of Morton Feldman (1996) edited by Thomas DeLio, book review in The Sonneck Society for American Music Bulletin (Spring 1998): 23.
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY ARTICLES:
Biographical Dictionary Articles: “Muhal Richard Abrams” (Vol. 1), “Roque Cordero” (Vol. 1), and “Tania León” (Vol. 2), in The International Dictionary of Black Composers. Samuel A. Floyd, ed. (Chicago, London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1999): 4-7 (Abrams); 306-310 (Cordero); 717-19 (León).
DISSERTATION:
“Patronage and Reception History of American Experimental Music in West Germany, 1945-1986,” Ph.D. thesis, University of Michigan, 1999. [winner of the Society for American Music Wiley Housewright Dissertation Award]