Fred Hosken

An overhead photographic view of a clean white desk where printed music scores, annotated with colorful highlighters and neatly written comments about groove and feel, are carefully spread out beside a tablet displaying a spectrogram and rhythmic heatmap. A compact MIDI controller with velocity-sensitive pads and a small AI audio tool interface on a secondary screen complete the scene. Soft, even daylight from an unseen window illuminates the workspace, creating minimal shadows and enhancing the crisp contrast of black notation on white paper. The composition follows a balanced, minimalist aesthetic with sharp focus across the frame, evoking a methodical, research-oriented atmosphere in contemporary music theory and technology.

Research Agenda

My research sits at the intersection of music theory, empirical musicology, and computational methods. I investigate groove, feel, and microtiming through corpus construction and music information retrieval (MIR). In parallel, I apply natural language processing (NLP) and large language models (LLMs) to inclusive music theory pedagogy, examining representation in teaching materials and integrating AI audio tools into the aural skills classroom.

Publications

Articles

Hosken, F. (2026). AI stem separation tools in the aural skills classroom. Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, 39, 39–57. (Special issue on AI and its implications for music theory pedagogy) https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2994-7073.2026.39.39-58
Hosken, F., Bechtold, T., Hoesl, F., Kilchenmann, L., & Senn, O. (2021). Drum groove corpora. Empirical Musicology Review, 16(1), 114–123. (Special issue on open science in music research) https://doi.org/10.18061/emr.v16i1.7642
Hosken, F. (2020). The subjective, human experience of groove: A phenomenological investigation. Psychology of Music, 48(2), 182–198. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735618792440

Book Reviews & Interviews

Hosken, F. (2024). Dilla Time: Dan Charnas and Fred Hosken, in conversation. IASPM Journal, 14(2), 211–216. https://doi.org/10.5429/2079-3871(2024)v14i2.13en

Articles in Review

Hosken, F. (In Review). AI stem separation & MIR: Assessing the validity of analyses that use AI-isolated audio. Empirical Musicology Review.
Hosken, F. (In Review). Raising heads from the score: Integrating performance analysis in aural skills pedagogy. Engaging Students: Essays in Music Pedagogy.
Hosken, F. (In Review). Counted but not centered: Demographic diversity and framing in post-2020 music theory textbooks. Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy.