Shaun Hillen

Shaun Hillen, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor of Musicology

School of Music 332 | 936.294.1382 | sph027@shsu.edu

Division | Musicology

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Dr. Hillen is a Lecturer of Musicology at Sam Houston State University where he has taught courses in music history and music appreciation. His work examines the complex sociopolitical contexts of both contemporary popular and classical music in Russia, showing how musical artists have navigated the shifting nationalistic and popular moods of the past two decades. His dissertation traced the transformations of texts and artists from pre-Revolutionary Russian literature, late-Soviet rock, and post-Soviet popular music in contemporary Russian opera, rock, hip-hop, and popular song, revealing turns both toward and away from nationalistic sentiment and support for the Russian state.

Part of Dr. Hillen's work on Viktor Tsoi, a late-Soviet rock artist, was featured during the American Musicological Society's Annual Conference (November 2020) and during the "Tsoifest" international interdisciplinary conference sponsored by the University of Rochester, New York (September 2022).

Before receiving his Ph.D. in Musicology from Arizona State University, Dr. Hillen received a master's degree in music education at ASU where he taught string instrument methods classes, conducted the university string orchestra, and supervised student teachers. Prior to that, he taught high school band, elementary music, and junior high orchestra for thirteen years in various Texas public school districts.