Dr. Robert Tomaro, PhD, LLC
Forensic Musicologist
Music Copyright Infringement • Expert Witness Testimony • Music Investigation • Song Examination and Study
Forensic musicology services provided for:
Attorneys • Advertising Agencies • Entertainment Industry Professionals • Recording Companies • Producers • Publishing Firms • Musicians
Methodologies Used in the Analysis of Music in Forensic Musicology
THE REDUCTIVE METHOD OF MUSICOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
This involves creating a musical score by transcribing recorded excerpts from the works in question into a printed musical form. Then, through reductive analysis, the works will be examined to see what conclusions can be reached. This is also known as compositional analysis.
RECORDING ANALYSIS
Recording analysis is the ability to compare the elements which comprise the recordings. This area includes an understanding of the commercial recording process and methods of manipulating sound used in the recording studio. Unlike compositional analysis, which necessarily establishes similarity by a reductive approach, recording analysis typically involves identification and differentiation between two recorded works in terms of melody, harmony, and/or digital signals, in the exact form in which they were recorded. Hence, the tools used for recording analysis tend to include those from the domain of audio engineering as much as from the domain of music theory. Recording analysis also reveals similarities that appear in the musical arrangements which are not revealed in the written scores.
A Temporal Method or Timeline
In order to determine the sequence of events that resulted in the final outcome of the recording process of the works in question, the log of the recording session and/or the final recordings themselves may be mapped as a timeline, which identifies on a moment-to-moment basis the pertinent similarities that exist between the works in question and which contributes to the determination of the existence of plagiarism.
Spectrographic Sound Analysis
A spectrogram is a visual representation of the spectrum of frequencies of a signal as it varies with time. Spectrograms are used extensively in the fields of music, linguistics and speech processing. The visual representation of two sound sources produced by the spectrometer enables the analyst to identify variations in the areas of pitch, tone, articulation, and duration of the sounds more accurately and precisely than analyzing the sounds by listening to them.
Previous Experience
Mardonas v. Cyndi Lauper
Gee v. Justin Timberlake
Ciero v. Disney
Lee, Demeritt v. Lil Nas X
Salinas v. Procter & Gamble
Symphonic Conductor & Composer
Master of Arts Degree and a Doctor of Philosophy Degree
Dr. Tomaro holds a Master of Arts degree and a Doctor of Philosophy Degree from New York University, where he studied Musicology with Dr. Lawrence Ferrara. He also served as Assistant Conductor, then Music Director and Conductor of the New York University Symphony Orchestra during the period of his doctoral studies.
Professor of Music
Dr. Tomaro served as a Professor of Music at St. John’s University in New York, Rutgers University in New Jersey, and Beloit College in Wisconsin.
Music Director and Conductor
Dr. Tomaro is in the twenty-first year of his tenure as Music Director and Conductor of the Beloit Janesville Symphony in Wisconsin and was recently appointed as Pops Conductor of the Racine Orchestra in Wisconsin. His symphonic conducting career includes international performances with The London Symphony Orchestra, The Hayes Symphony Orchestra of London, The Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra of Poland, The Black Sea Philharmonic Orchestra of Rumania, and The Moravian Symphony Orchestra of the Czech Republic. Domestically, Dr. Tomaro has appeared with The Rockford Symphony in Illinois, The Dubuque Symphony in Iowa, the Lima Symphony in Ohio, the Powder River symphony in Wyoming, The Fort Wayne Symphony of Indiana, the Santa Cruz County Symphony in California, and the Elysian Symphony Orchestra in New Jersey.
Learned Music Theorist and Analytical Mind
From a very young age Dr. Tomaro was trained to hear the components and details of music with ferocious accuracy. He can write down a splatter of notes and identify the instruments playing them or hear when there is a wrong note in the middle of a wind chord. As a symphonic conductor with thirty years of experience, Dr. Tomaro has conducted some of the most prestigious symphony orchestras in the world. He can hear if a musician in the second violin section is playing flat or sharp, or if the third French Horn out of four is out of tune. Conductors spend countless hours (many more than one would probably imagine) reading every instrumental line of the music, playing parts of it on the piano, listening to many different recordings of it, and imagining what it should sound like. Balancing an orchestra means making sure the audience can hear whatever they are supposed to, all the way through piece.
Grammy Nominated Producer and Arranger
Dr. Tomaro is a two-time Grammy nominated producer and arranger. His nominations came in 2014 and 2015 for his work in producing pop artist Susan Aquila’s CDs: Broken Angel and Miss Conduct.
Sound Engineer Expertise
From 1980 through 1984, Dr. Tomaro was the owner and principal engineer of Beyond Sound Recording Studios at 474 Greenwich Street in Manhattan.
Music Composer and Arranger
Before entering the Master of Arts and then the Doctor of Philosophy programs in Music Composition at New York University in 1987, Dr. Tomaro studied composition and arranging with renown commercial arranger Don Sebesky.
Studio Recording Artist
Dr. Tomaro has thirty years of experience as a recording studio session guitarist and performing guitarist, first in Chicago, then in New York City. In addition to his work in the recording studios of Manhattan and Chicago, he performed in the orchestras of the original Broadway productions of: Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, Barnum, Les Miserables, The Who’s Tommy, Evita, and The Lion King.
Author & Published Academic Works
New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Seventh Edition
London, 1997. “The Music of Elliot Sharp.”
London, 1997. “The Music of Francis Thorne.”
Journal for New Music Research, Swets & Zeitliner, Lisse, The Netherlands,
Vol. 23, Fall 1994 “Contemporary Compositional Techniques for The Electric Guitar in United States Concert Music”
The Rock River Times – serving Illinois and the Wisconsin state line area 2013-2015
Appointed Classical Music Editor, 2013
The Rock River Times – serving Illinois and the Wisconsin state line area 2013-2015
Appointed Classical Music Editor, 2013
Published Academic Works
New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Seventh Edition
London, 1997. “The Music of Elliot Sharp.”
London, 1997. “The Music of Francis Thorne.”
Journal for New Music Research, Swets & Zeitliner, Lisse, The Netherlands,
Vol. 23, Fall 1994 “Contemporary Compositional Techniques for The Electric Guitar in United States Concert Music”
The Rock River Times – serving Illinois and the Wisconsin state line area – 2013-2015
Appointed Classical Music Editor, 2013
Cashbox Magazine
Currently serving as Classical Music Editor for Cashbox Magazine, Canada, and Jazz Critic and for Cashbox Magazine, U.S.
Dark Whisper – Victorian-style history fantasy novel – 2016
published by Etopia Press,
ISBN: 978-1-944138-51-6