Welcome! I’m Marie Comuzzo, a musicologist, environmental activist, musician, and multimedia artist. I am pursuing an interdisciplinary dissertation exploring how sound mediates the relationship between humans and whales.
My research focuses on how the recognition of humpback vocalizations as song in the 1970s has led to human’s deep commitments to marine conservation and specifically, to whales. Combining methods from ethno/musicology, women’s and gender studies, environmental studies, bioacoustics, and Indigenous studies, my research bridges scientific inquiry, cultural work, and activism.
In addition to my dissertation research, I actively contribute to the broader interdisciplinary community. Beginning in 2025, I will join the Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Studies as a Visiting Scholar, where I will pursue dual research projects and contribute to the Renaissance of the Earth Project. I also serve as Secretary for the Ecocriticism Study Group and as Student Board Member of the Journal of Musicology Pedagogy at the American Musicological Society. Finally, I am currently the Music Scholar for the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University. For the academic year of 2023-2024, Anna Valcour and I pioneered an interdisciplinary writing group that met every Monday for the whole day to work together, but individually, on our writing. It was a powerful experience and it fostered a great sense of community across departments, and we all had great successes, holding each other accountable, and dedicating a full day of writing a week.
I am also a passionate teacher. Recently I served as Visiting Instructor at Mount Holyoke College where I taught “Western Music: 1950s to Today,” and I am currently Teaching Assistant at Brandeis University. At Brandeis, I have contributed to courses such as Exploring Music, Global Soundscapes, and Music in Film. I also delivered guest lectures on topics including the canon, gender, 16th and 17th-century Italy, music in the convents, and notable films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Entr’acte. Previously, at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, I was a TA for the Music History Sequence and Music Appreciation, and served as a Primary Instructor for the Performing and Visual Arts Residential Academic Program.
Last but not least, I work as a Publishing Associate at Brandeis University Press, helping with acquisition in music and environmental studies. My role also includes serving as the Website Designer and Manager, where I have completely redesigned the Press’s website to enhance user experience and accessibility. Additionally, I create book trailers and design promotional materials, including ads for major publications, to amplify the reach and impact of our titles.
My Work
Explore my latest research projects on humans & whales, and on fat phobia and the underrepresentation of women and BIPOC in Western classical music.
Check my work at Brandeis University Press in academic publishing and watch the book trailers I create and more.
Discover my contributions to scholarship, including published research, upcoming articles, conference presentations and invited talks.
Discover recordings, collaborations, and projects, and listen fun and engaging contemporary music.
Learn more about my interdisciplinary teaching approach and experience with teaching and TAing courses within R1 institutions and liberal arts colleges.
Immerse yourself in my creative projects, from visual art, to sculptures, to food plates.
Multi-Sited Fieldwork
Mo’orea, Tahiti Kauai, Hawai’i Wellington, New Zealand Massachusetts, New England
Click the image for the complete story told through StoryMaps.
Humpback Whale Recording on Mo'orea
This is a spectrogram of (possibly) a call between mother and calf that I recorded in Mo’orea in October 2023. I say possibly because hydrophones are panoramic and it is hard to know it is recording. However, a mother and baby were just in front of me when I recorded this. The screen is divided in two parts, the upper giving a larger scope, and the lower, providing a more close up look to the calls. To the left, there is a piano that helps identifying pitches, which are also highlighted in light blue. However, humpback whales defy individual pitches and tend to slide in between them (for example, the fist vocalization stays around D4 with a quick slide up to G-A4ish). In the recording there is one main vocalization that the spectogram picks up easily, and another one that is very high pitched almost out of these pitches, which the spectrogram often doesn’t show but that can be heard nevertheless.
