Melanie studied music and musicology in Argentina where she obtained degrees in Music Performance (Classical Guitar), Music education, and Musicology. She earned her PhD in musicology from the University of Melbourne in 1998.
Her work focuses on the intersections of music, politics and society, with particular emphasis on the relationship between music and the construction of national identities. She has done extensive research on Argentine art music through a methodology that combines cultural history and discourse analysis with her own adaptation of topic theory to the study of musical nationalism. She is currently working on a monograph on the musical rhetoric of Argentine nationalism. Another strong interest is post-colonial theory and cultural representation; she is also working on a project examining representations of tango dancing in mainstream film.
In 2006 she was an Endeavour Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Melbourne. In Argentina she held research fellowships from the National Council for Scientific Research (1991-1993; 1993-1995 and 1996), the Antorchas Foundation (1987-89 and 1998) and the National Fund for Science and Technology (2000-2003).
Her teaching has received several awards, including a 2014 OLT National Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning and the 2013 Barbara Falk Award for Teaching Excellence. Her teaching approach is grounded in her passion for musicology and her personal belief in the benefits of the scholarly study of music to both performers and listeners. Before relocating to Australia in 2005 she was Associate Professor at the University of Buenos Aires and at the Catholic University of Argentina. She teaches subjects in Music History, Research Methods and Latin American Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.
Melanie is currently the Associate Dean (Academic) in the Faculty of the VCA and MCM and Coordinator of the Honours Program (MCM).
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Melanie Plesch's highlights
FEATURED Book Chapter
Entre el mito y la historia: Carlos Vega y sus historias de la guitarra clásica en la Argentina
Read moreMelanie Plesch's selected work
Projects
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Project Types
1
Internal Research Grant
Scholarly Works
Displaying the 41 most recent scholarly works by Melanie Plesch.
Honours, Awards and Fellowships
Young Researchers Fellowship awarded by the National Fund for Science and Techcnology of Argentina.
Re-entry grant
Beca doctoral (Doctoral scholarship).
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Credentials
Positions
Associate Professor In Music (Musicology)
Melbourne Conservatorium Of Music
Member
Asociacion Argentina de Musicologia
Member
Royal Musical Association
Member
International Musicological Society
Member
Musicological Society of Australia
Education
Graduate Certificate in University Teaching
University of Melbourne
Doctor of musicology
University of Melbourne
Investigador en Ciencias Musicologicas
Conservatory "Juan Jose Castro"
Profesora Superior de Musicologia
Conservatory "Juan Jose Castro"
Profesora Superior de Guitarra
Conservatory "Juan Jose Castro"