Philip Adrian Ewell[1] (born February 16, 1966) is an American professor of music theory at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center.

[21] In his talk and in subsequent publications, Ewell argues that the "white racial frame" – a term coined by sociologist Joe Feagin – shapes knowledge practices in Western music theory and its institutions.

[25][26][27][28] The volume's contributing authors included the journal's co-founders Timothy L. Jackson and Stephen Slottow,[25][29] as well as Charles Burkhart, Richard Beaudoin (Dartmouth College, assistant professor of music),[30] Suzannah Clark, Nicholas Cook, and Jack Boss (University of Oregon, professor of music theory and composition),[31] as well as "An Anonymous Response to Philip Ewell", which itself drew criticism.

[28][32] Ewell's work on music theory's white racial frame—and the ensuing controversy from the 2020 publication of Journal of Schenkerian Studies' twelfth volume—has received wide-ranging media attention from Alex Ross at The New Yorker,[28] The New York Times,[33] NPR,[34] and Inside Higher Ed.

[35] The Society for Music Theory's executive board stated that it "condemns the anti-Black statements and personal ad hominem attacks on Philip Ewell perpetuated in several essays included in the 'Symposium on Philip Ewell's 2019 SMT Plenary Paper' published by the Journal of Schenkerian Studies".

[39] In Clifton Boyd and Jade Conlee's 2023 review, they argued that his book was less about Whiteness than about challenging the normative and canonical ways music theory has historically operated, offering the alternative subtitle, "How the Many Mythologies of the Western White-Male Musical Canon Have Created Hostile Environments for Those Who Do Not Identify as White Cisgender Men.