Cynthia I. Gonzales

Cynthia I. Gonzales (“Dr. G”), an Associate Professor in the School of Music at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX, was honored in 2019 as a Texas State University System Regents’ Teacher and received the 2018 Texas State Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching. Before joining the professoriate in the mid-1990s, Dr. G taught K-12 general and choral music in both public and private schools, as well as applied voice lessons.
                Soon after earning a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of North Texas in 1982, Dr. G started singing with professional choral ensembles, beginning with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale in the mid-1980s and concluding with the San Antonio Chamber Choir in 2016. She performed with Grammy®-winning Conspirare for 16 seasons, serving as Soprano Section Leader for more than a decade. She continues to make transcriptions and arrangements for Conspirare when published scores are unavailable. Since retiring as a professional choral musician, Dr. G has returned to her first love: singing and playing guitar. She remains connected to choral music by serving as Music Director at First Lutheran Church in San Marcos, TX; and by composing sight reading pieces for Texas UIL Choir Contest.
                Dr. G earned three graduate degrees in music theory (Ph.D. and A.M., Harvard University; M.M., University of North Texas). Her primary research area is text-music relationships in the early (tonal) Lieder of Arnold Schoenberg. In addition to performing this repertoire, Dr. G has given numerous presentations about Schoenberg’s songs at international, national, and regional conferences. She is currently writing a book about Schoenberg’s eight songs in op. 6 that were published in 1907.
               Aural Skills is Dr. G’s favorite class to teach. She has delivered almost 20 presentations about SmartMusic® as an aural skills “tutor,” including a keynote talk at Pedagogy into Practice: Teaching Music Theory in the 21st Century and as a clinician for the 2019 UMass-Amherst Workshops in Music Theory Pedagogy. In September 2019, SmartMusic® began publishing in its software Dr. G’s aural skills exercises. She maintains a website with theory and aural skills pedagogical resources at Listen-Sing.com.
                Dr. G is currently on the editorial board for the College Music Society’s Symposium and for the Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy. Additionally, she has been a Reader for the AP Music Theory Exam since 2015. In her spare time, she weeds her garden.