About

About me

I’m Alison Stevens, a music theorist and change ringer. I learned to ring at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, while I was a graduate student nearby at UMass Amherst. I lived in Vancouver, Canada for three years, continuing to study music theory, moved back to Massachusetts for almost a year, and currently live and ring in Edinburgh.

I’ve been a musician all my life; in undergrad I studied music education and then spent two years teaching children to play string instruments in South Carolina. While there, I also became an avid contra dancer and began to call contra dances. My music education background and contra-calling experience heavily informed my approach when I later started teaching change ringing.

By the time I started ringing, I also had a thorough background in music theory, and quickly became interested in ways change ringers and music theorists could learn from each other. This blog is where I share thoughts about change ringing, informed by my background as a music teacher and a music theorist.