Samantha Tripp, PhD Student

Samantha Tripp is a PhD student in Critical Music Studies. She received her BA in Music from Mount Holyoke College (‘20) and her MA in Music from Tufts University (‘23). Her research interests are wide-ranging but are often connected to musical intertextuality and musical referentiality. Film music has become a central area of interest in her work, which has led her to be a recurring guest expert on the podcast Star Wars Music Minute. In addition, she is pursuing research on the history of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (MA). She volunteers with the Orchestra as their Production Assistant, as well as running their social media on concert nights and creating videos exploring the pieces they are playing. Her past research includes Nineteenth-Century Italian Flute Culture, British imperialist influences on the “Imperial March” from Star Wars, and the music of Alan Hovhaness. In her free time, she plays flute and piccolo.