Biography

Dr Naomi Helen Cumming was an internationally recognised music theorist and a fine violinist. She trained in performance violin, first at the Victorian College of the Arts (1978-79), and then completed her Bachelor of Music at the University of Tasmania (1980-81). She undertook a Master of Music preliminary year at the University of Melbourne achieving First Class Honours (1982). She went on to complete her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Music Theory at the University of Melbourne, receiving a Commonwealth Post Graduate Research award (1983-87). In 1987 she received the Musicological Society of Australia, Melbourne chapter, prize for a paper given at the post-graduate students' conference. She then completed a Diploma in Education at the University of Adelaide, receiving a Letter of Commendation for her work (1987-88).

While in Adelaide she was awarded a Rothmans Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship (1990-92) which she held at the University of Adelaide. This was followed by a Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Columbia University in New York (1992-93). In January 1994 she took up a Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship in the Faculty of Music at the University of Melbourne transferring to the Department of Philosophy in November 1996. In 1998 she was awarded the International Society for Music Theory Outstanding Publication Award for the best article for the year (‘The Subjectivities of “Erbarme Dich”’, Music Analysis, 16).

The citation reads:

“ ‘The Subjectivities of “Embarme Dich”’ is a groundbreaking article on subjectivity and its consequence for our understanding of expressive meaning in music. Drawing on current approaches to 'voice', gesture, and agency in music, Cumming integrates semiotic, aesthetic, Schenkerian, and theological insights into the various subjectivities projected by Bach's celebrated Passion aria. Profound in its philosophical investigations, and wide-ranging in its analytical claims, the article presents one of the most comprehensive accounts of how we interpret and, at times, indentify with implied subjectivities in both vocal and instrumental music.”

Dr Cumming published a host of journal articles and lectured internationally on the philosophy, psychology, and semiotics of music. Her book, The Sonic Self: Musical Subjectivity and Signification was posthumously published by Indiana University Press, in 2000 and released in February, 2001. Her article on musical semiotics is to appear in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. A list of Dr Cumming’s publications is available from the Foundation.

Dr Cumming was an inspiration to all who knew her and in her memory The Naomi Helen Cumming Foundation has been established.