Lauren Irschick s a PhD candidate in music theory at the Eastman School of Music. The 2023 recipient of the Marguerite and Lamar Smith Fellowship for Writers, Lauren is currently in residence at the Smith-McCullers House in Columbus, GA. Her dissertation project, entitled “The Fictionalization of Music Analysis” explores both fiction in music theory and music theory in fiction.

Lauren holds an MA from Eastman and a BMus from McGill University. She has taught courses in popular music analysis, collegiate writing, and tonal and post-tonal music theory and aural skills at Eastman, the University of Rochester’s College of Arts and Sciences, the Eastman Community Music School, and the Hochstein School. Her teaching has been recognized by the TA Prize for Excellence in Teaching (Eastman), the Breadth Fellowship for Warner School and Eastman School Students (U of R), and the Tomlinson Engagement Award for Mentoring (McGill). She is also currently an editorial assistant for Music Theory Online.

Finally, Lauren is an avid trad and sport climber, and the proud founder of Eastman’s softball team, Absolute Pitch