Priv.-Doz. Dr Bernhard Steinbrecher
+43 512 507 33029
bernhard.steinbrecher@uibk.ac.at
Research Areas
- Analysis, theory, discourses and practices of popular music
- Connections between sound events and social, psychological and aesthetic issues
- Key areas of research include: popular music of the 21st century, mainstream, punk, popular music in Austria, music at the interface between popular and folk music
Portraitfoto von Bernhard Steinbrecher
- Born 1981 in Vienna
- Studied Bachelor of Arts (Hons), Multimedia Arts at Middlesex University London (graduated 2006)
- Diploma in Musicology at the University of Vienna (graduated 2008)
- Doctoral studies in Musicology at the Franz Liszt University of Music Weimar (Friedrich Schiller University Jena) (doctorate 2015)
- Academic director and course director of the Bachelor programmes at the SAE Institute Vienna (in cooperation with Middlesex University London)
- 2016 Award for the publication of the doctoral thesis, HfM Weimar
- 2017-2018 IASPM Journal Editorial Team (Assistant Editor, Acting Chief Editor)
- 2017/18 Lecturer in the Department of Art, Music and Dance Studies at the University of Salzburg
- 2018 Research grant from the Cultural Department of the City of Vienna
- 2018/2019 Research grant from the City of Vienna's Department of Cultural Affairs
- 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2019/20 Lecturer at the Department of Musicology at the University of Vienna
- 2019-2023 Member of the Board IASPM (International Association for the Study of Popular Music), Membership Secretary
- 2016-2024 in various board positions at IASPM D-A-CH (Membership Secretary/Treasurer, Advisory Board, Austrian representative)
- Since 2018 reviewer for various journals and funding organisations (e.g. Popular Music, IASPM Journal, ∼Vibes, DFG, AHRC)
- 2018-2022 University Assistant (Post-Doc) at the Department of Music Studies at the University of Innsbruck
- since 2022 Senior Scientist at the Department of Musicology at the University of Innsbruck
- 2024 Habilitation (venia docendi)
Monograph:
Das Klanggeschehen in populärer Musik. Perspektiven einer systematischen Analyse und Interpretation. Weimar: Böhlau 2016 (Publication series of the Franz Liszt University of Music Weimar).
Article:
"Über die subjektiven Praktiken des musikwissenschaftlichen Popularmusikerforschens." AN:klang 3 (Praxis.Forschung section), 2025. https://oegmw.at/junge-musikwissenschaft/anklang/anklang-3-2025.
"Punk rock can never be new again". On the Horizons of Punk Music Scholarship, Journal of the Society for Music Theory 22/1, 2025, https://doi.org/10.31751/1225 (peer-reviewed).
with Bernhard Achhorner: Editors' Introduction: On (Examining) the Popularisation of Brass Music, Special Issue: Journal of World Popular Music 12 (1), 2025. https://doi.org/10.1558/jwpm.33364.
"They're Scared of Becoming Creatively Impotent:" Rock Musicians' Perspectives on Music Theory in Creative and Other Work Processes, Rock Music Studies 12 (1-2), 2025, https://doi.org/10.1080/19401159.2025.2451608 (peer-reviewed).
"I Can't Read Music:" Music Theory in Popular Music Discourse with a Focus on Rock Musicians' Legitimisation Practices, Rock Music Studies 11 (3), 2024, https://doi.org/10.1080/19401159.2024.2424707 (peer-reviewed).
with Claire Bannister, Kai Arne Hansen, Diego Peinazo: "Ain't That Easy": Perceptions of Conflict in the Music of D'Angelo and the Vanguard, Samples 22, 2024. https://gfpm-samples.de/index.php/samples/article/view/329 (peer-reviewed).
Austrian Popular Music Studies. A Critical Assessment, Musicologica Austriaca, 2023, https://www.musau.org/parts/neue-article-page/view/149 (peer-reviewed).
"Boom-ch-boom-chick": Entangled (hi)stories in the German mainstream rap of 2018 and 2019, ATeM 7 (2), 2022, http://dx.doi.org/10.15203/ATeM_2022_2.08 (peer-reviewed).
Mainstream popular music research: a musical update. Popular Music 40 (3-4), 2021, pp. 406-427, https://www.doi.org/10.1017/S0261143021000568 (peer-reviewed).
with Michaela Pichler, "That's the kind of music you hear on the subway without headphones!" Musical evaluation practices of adolescents in Vienna, Popular Music and Society 44 (5), 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2021.1925073 (peer-reviewed).
Musical nuances and the aesthetic experience of popular music hooks: theoretical considerations and analytical approaches, El Oído Pensante 9 (1), 2021, pp. 111-151. https://doi.org/10.34096/oidopensante.v9n1.8360 (peer-reviewed).
with Bernhard Achhorner, "Boundlessly Different": Popular Brass Music in Austria, Journal of Popular Music Studies 32 (4), 2020, pp. 118-147. https://doi.org/ 10.1525/jpms.2020.32.4.118 (peer-reviewed).
with Michaela Pichler, "Das ist diese Musik, die man in der U-Bahn ohne Kopfhörer hört!". Musikalische Bewertungspraktiken von Jugendlichen in Wien, GfPM Samples 18, 2020, S. 1–38. www.gfpm-samples.de/Samples18/steinbrecher_pichler.pdf.
Mainstream Popular Music? Approaching Everyday Musical Practice of Adolescents in Vienna, International Music and Science Symposium Proceedings, Istanbul 2019, pp. 651-662.
Editorial Introduction, IASPM Journal 8 (1), 2018, pp. 1-2. doi: 10.5429/2079-3871(2018)v8i1.1en.
Edited Volumes:
with Ondrej Daniel and Jakub Machek: Listening to Mainstream Popular Music in Europe. A Snapshot from the Early 2020s, Popular Music (forthcoming, 2026).
with Bernhard Achhorner: Popular Brass Music in the 21st Century, Special Issue: Journal of World Popular Music 12 (1), 2025. https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JWPM/issue/view/2836.
with Sarah Raine, Catherine Strong and Raquel Campos: Gender Politics in the Music Industry, IASPM Journal 8 (1), 2018.
with Rupert Till, Koos Zwaan and Raquel Campos: Practice-Led and Practice-Based Popular Music Studies, IASPM Journal 7 (2), 2017.
with Mary Fogarty Woehrel and others: Open Issue, IASPM Journal 9 (2), 2019.
Encyclopaedia entries:
This One's For You (David Guetta feat. Zara Larsson), in: Songlexikon. Encyclopedia of Songs, ed. Michael Fischer, Fernand Hörner and Christofer Jost, Netzpublikation des Zentrums für Populäre Kultur und Musik der Universität Freiburg. https://songlexikon.de/songs/this-ones-for-you/, 07/2021.
This Is What You Came For (Calvin Harris feat. Rihanna), in: Songlexikon. Encyclopedia of Songs, ed. by Michael Fischer, Fernand Hörner and Christofer Jost, Netzpublikation des Zentrums für Populäre Kultur und Musik der Universität Freiburg. https://songlexikon.de/songs/this-is-what-you-came-for/, 07/2021.
Reviews:
Dagobert Höllein / Nils Lehnert / Felix Woitkowski (Hg.) (2020), Rap – Text – Analyse. Deutschsprachiger Rap seit 2000. 20 Einzeltextanalysen, Archiv für Textmusikforschung (ATeM) 5 (1), 2020, https://atem-journal.com/ojs2/index.php/ATeM/article/view/2020_1.19/2792.
Ralf von Appen / Mario Dunkel (Hg.) (2020), (Dis-)Orienting Sounds – Machtkritische Perspektiven auf populäre Musik, mdw-Magazin 02/2020, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, 2020. https://www.mdw.ac.at/magazin/index.php/2020/02/24/rezension-dis-orienting-sounds-machtkritische-perspektiven-auf-populaere-musik/.
Lena Jade Müller (2018), Sound und Sexismus. Geschlecht im Klang populärer Musik. Eine feministisch-musiktheoretische Annäherung, GfPM Samples 17, 2019.
Michael Huber (2018), Musikhören im Zeitalter Web 2.0. Theoretische Grundlagen und empirische Befunde/Music Listening in the Web 2.0 Age. Theoretical Principles and Empiri-cal Findings, Popular Music and Society 41 (5), 2018, S. 574–575. https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2018.1521778.
Conference papers and presentations (selection):
"And then we have eagle's claw." Rock musicians' embodied version of music theory, Let Your Body Groove to the Music, Popular Music and the Body, IASPM Canada conference, Toronto Metropolitan University, 2025
Trans-regional research cooperation. Thoughts from Austria on possible collaborative projects, The Past, the Present and the Future of Popular Music Research in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, IASPM CESE conference, Faculty of International and Political Studies, Jagiellonian University Krakow, 2025
"With recording, it was emancipation for the people". About eye and ear in popular music discourse, Recording Popular Music, IASPM conference, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris, 2025
Keynote Speech, PopNet Austria: Verortungen der Popular Music Studies im Kontext aktueller Diskurse. Eine musikwissenschaftliche Perspektive, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, 2025.
Musicology's role in current popular music discourses. Perspectives, ideas, and responsibilities, Musicology Matters Today. 2024 Annual Meeting of the New Zealand Musicological Society, New Zealand School of Music / Victoria University of Wellington, 2024.
Inszenierung von Identitäten in Musikvideos. Die Erforschung der “Pop-Persona”, Austrian Music Video Award "Goldene Schindel", University of Innsbruck, 2024.
Placing popular music studies in current discourses. A musicological perspective, Music, Musicology and Academic Responsibilities in the 21st Century, University College Dublin, 2024.
Sound identities and post-colonial resonances in the German mainstream rap of 2018 and 2019, III International Conference on Sonorities Research (CIPS), Fluminense Federal University Niterói, Brazil, 2023.
Keynote Speech, Horizons of Punk: Punk-Rock Scholarship and its Methodologies, Gustave Eiffel University Paris, 2023.
Framing a music-oriented mainstream popular music research field. Directions, conception, and perspectives, Mainstream Silence: Thinking about the Music Everyone Listens to but Nobody Really Discusses, University of Strasbourg, 2022.
"I Can't Read Music"-Music Reading as a Cultural Practice in Popular Music, Joint Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, Society for Ethnomusicology, and Society for Music Theory, New Orleans, 2022.
Über das Zusammendenken. Ein integrativer Forschungsblick auf Ästhetiken, Praktiken, Regionalgeschichte(n) und Mainstreams populärer Musik, guest lecture as part of the lecture series "Selected Chapters from the Theory and History of Popular Music", University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, 2022.
with Bernhard Achhorner: Popular Brass Music: An Oscillating Phenomenon Between the Poles of Regionality, Nationality and Internationality, Naturalising Sounds, University of Regensburg, Germany, 2021.
"Boundlessly Different" - Popular Brass Music in Austria, Il International Congress "Music Bands" Commiitee, Spanish Musicological Society in Jaén, Spain, 2020.
with Bernhard Achhorner: "Boundlessly Different" - Popular Brass Music in Austria, 43nd Annual Conference of The German Studies Association in Portland (Oregon), USA, 2019.
"Secondary Musical Issues" - Musical Nuances and the Aesthetic Experience of Popular Music, XX Biennial IASPM Conference - Turns and Revolutions in Popular Music Studies in Canberra, Australia, 2019.
Mainstream popular music? Approaching everyday musical practice of adolescents in Vienna, International "Music and Sciences" Symposium in Istanbul, Turkey, 2019.
Spaces 'of' and 'in' Mainstream Popular Music. An Update, Finnish Music Researchers' Annual Symposium 2019 in Helsinki, Finland, 2019.
Raumkonzepte in populärer Musik: real, künstlich, unbekannt, virtuell und verbal, Ringvorlesung Musik und Raum, Lecture Series Music and Space, University of Innsbruck, 2018.
Music off Subculture. Approaching everyday musical practice of adolescents in Vienna, Popular Music - Practices, scenes and scenario in Oviedo, Spain, 2018.
Möglichkeiten einer digitalen Musikwissenschaft, Tag der Lehre, University of Innsbruck, 2018.
Analysing Nuances in Popular Music: Toward a better Understanding of its Aesthetic Experience, Future / Present. Current Practices in Pop Music Studies in Uppsala, Sweden, 2018.
"Recommended... turn the volume up and rawk the tin cans down". Musicological Considerations on Punk, Fourth Punk Scholars Network Conference and Symposium in Bolton, UK, 2017.