Mark McCorkle
Musicology
Email: mmccorkl@uwo.ca
Mark McCorkle is a Ph.D. candidate in Musicology whose research interests lie in jazz history. His dissertation examines the places of jazz and the cultural and social construction of jazz places and spaces. Taking New York’s Village Vanguard as a case study and using a blend of disciplinary methods and ideas, his dissertation investigates how metaphors and myths condition the historical imagination of jazz musicians, audiences, and writers and how active engagements with heritage shape contemporary images of the jazz club. Mark holds a Master of Arts in Musicology from Western (2017) and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Windsor (2015).
Mark’s current pedagogical efforts are focused on developing methods and ideas for incorporating Problem-Based Learning into the undergraduate musicology classroom. His goal in using Problem-Based Learning is to help students achieve a deeper engagement with musical histories and to use music history to develop skills that will translate to students’ goals and issues outside of the classroom. The result is a student-focused education that prioritizes individual learning over external knowledge and a classroom experience that translates into action and engagement in students’ communities.
During his time at Western, Mark has been actively engaged with the administrative life of the school, previously serving as Co-Chair of the Finance Committee for the Society of Graduate Students as well as the coordinator for the Western University Graduate Symposium on Music, 2020. Mark currently sits on the Steering Committee for the Working in Music Research Network and is helping organize the 2022 joint conference between Working in Music and the International Association for Popular Music, Canada, to be held in May 2022.
