Dr Maria Perevedentseva
Faculty of Social Science, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy (VA)
University Road
Salford
M5 4BR
Current positions
Lecturer in Musicology
Biography
I joined Salford's School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology in September 2022, after completing my AHRC-funded PhD titled 'Something for Your Mind, Your Body and Your Soul. Timbre and Meaning in Electronic Dance Music' at Goldsmiths, University of London earlier that year. Before that, I received an MA in Music from the University of Chicago, and a BA from the University of Oxford.
My research specialisms lie in the analysis, history, and criticism of electronic, dance, and experimental musics, and music and online cultures. Publications include an article on timbre and the “mycelial turn” in the humanities (Dancecult 2023), an article on independent musicians' music platform imaginaries (JPMS 2025), and chapters outlining an ecosemiotic method for timbral analysis (Intellect 2025) and the embodiment of timbral gesture (CUP 2026). My other research concerns discourse analysis and natural language processing, with a corpus study of online record reviews forthcoming with Routledge in 2026.
From 2026–31, I am working with Christopher Haworth on the ERC Consolidator Project ‘After Sampling Culture: Synthetic Media as Culture in Twenty-First Century Music’, which seeks to understand and historicise the cultural implications of synthesis as they cross mathematics, engineering, music, industry, and law. Prior to this, I co-founded the Music and Online Cultures Research Network, with whom I co-edited a special issue of the Journal of Popular Music Studies in 2025, and am part of the research team on Vanessa Valiati’s project ‘Music and Platformization: The Algorithmic Mediation of Taste and Streaming Consumption Practices’.
I became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2021 and, before joining Salford, was an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Music and the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, and a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Performing Arts at Middlesex University. My teaching and supervision specialisms lie in the history and analysis of twentieth and twenty-first century popular and experimental musics and their related critical discourses.
Areas of Supervision
I welcome PhD proposals in areas relating to the intersections of sound, music and philosophy, and the social and cultural analysis of twentieth and twenty-first century popular and experimental musics, broadly defined. I also welcome proposals relating to the study of how music is produced, consumed and shared online, as well as those employing innovative qualitative and computational methods for musicological study. Please email me to discuss prospective projects.
Current and previous students:
Richard Harding (2024) The Role of Harmony in the Construction of a Machine Aesthetic in Electronic Dance Music.
Ross Aspden (2024) California Dreamin': Popular Music and Place-Myths of California.
I teach across the Popular Music and Recording, Creative Music Technology, and Music Management and Creative Enterprise degree programmes.
At level 4, I am module leader for Popular Music Style and Genre, Interpreting Popular Music and Popular Music and Postmodernity, and a tutor for Popular Music History and Culture.
At level 5, I am module leader for Sound, Music and Society and a tutor for Popular Music and Identity.
At level 6, I am the subject lead for Collection of Writings and supervise dissertations as part of the Project Scope and Negotiated Major Project modules.
I welcome PhD proposals in areas relating to the intersections of sound, music and philosophy, and the social and cultural analysis of twentieth and twenty-first century popular and experimental musics, broadly defined. I also welcome proposals relating to the study of how music is produced, consumed and shared online, as well as those employing innovative qualitative and computational methods for musicological study. Please email me to discuss prospective projects.
Current and previous PhD students:
Chantelle Scott (2026–): 'Sonic Triggers and Self-Identified Altered States in Electronic Dance Music'. Funded by a Widening Participation Scholarship from the University of Salford. Co-supervised by Dr Sam Royle.
David McFarlane (2025–): 'Conflict, Diversity and Creativity in Self-Organised Music-Making Groups'. Funded by the North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership. Co-supervised by Professor Alan Williams.
Richard Harding: 'The Role of Harmony in the Construction of a Machine Aesthetic in Electronic Dance Music'. Thesis successfully defended in 2024. Co-supervised with Dr Nicola Spelman.
Ross Aspden: 'California Dreamin': Popular Music and Place-Myths of California'. Thesis successfully defended in 2024. Co-supervised with Dr Nicola Spelman.
Qualifications
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Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education
2019 - 2021 -
PhD in Music
2017 - 2022 -
MA in Music
2015 - 2017 -
BA (Hons) Music
2010 - 2013