Keith Kothman

Photo of Keith Kothman
Keith Kothman
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Professor, Composition
Office: 
(269) 387-4660
Fax: 
(269) 387-1113
Location: 
1712 Dalton Center, Mail Stop 5434
Mailing address: 
Irving S. Gilmore School of Music
Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5434 USA
Education: 
  • Ph.D., Music (Composition), University of California, San Diego
  • M.M., Composition, Universtiy of Texas, Austin
  • B.M., Composition, Universtiy of Texas, Austin
Bio: 

Keith Kothman is a composer, sound artist, electronic musician, and educator. He grew up playing clarinet and saxophone until he made a turn towards the mesmerizing world of electronic sounds as a college student at the University of Texas. He was awarded an Honorable Mention for Interludes at the 31st annual Bourges Electroacoustic Music Competition, and recordings of his music are available on the Capstone, Cambria, and New Albany labels. He has served as Director of the School of Music at Montana State University, and as a faculty member at Ball State University and the University of Miami. Recent work has focused on live-performance electronic music involving laptop, iPad, various MIDI controllers, and LittleBits synthesis modules. Scholarly interests include the aesthetics of modernism and postmodernism, the sociology of music, technology and culture, and the later works of Morton Feldman. 

Kothman’s Ph.D. in Music came from the University of California, San Diego. He received his B.M. and M.M. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. Principal composition teachers have included Roger Reynolds, Russell Pinkston, Joji Yuasa, and Lars-Gunnar Bodin. While at UCSD, Kothman studied aesthetics and the sociology of music with Jann Pasler and George Lewis.