We, by nature, have definite expectations of those a certain age. Cynical, I guess, but realistic.
I was only walking down the main drag of my home town this morning – a quaint seaside town in north-west England – surveying…
Greetings enthusiastic music students, and congratulations. You have chosen the entertainment industry as your profession. I have been in it for the last forty-seven years, and I can tell you it’s truly a fantastic industry. The number of options and…
Many jazz fans would agree that John Coltrane is one of the most experimental and pioneering players in jazz history. At the height of bebop’s popularity, he made his jazz debut by joining Dizzy Gillespie’s band. Not long after, though,…
Edited text of Video
Being at home has had me thinking. Thinking about how everything was interrupted. Almost violently, in some cases. If you were a student living in the dorms, you had to very quickly pack your things and…
I have often felt that, with my art, I could strike a blow against mediocrity. Thumb my nose at power, hate, and injustice. Lift a story that inspires joy. Pull from life a creative melody that guarantees a sigh and wonders about beauty. Build a room where everyone could find a friend. Change the mind of a young person to find a better truth for themselves . . . Wow, that would be a goal to work, live, and die for, happily having tried.
Well, after being at Berklee for fifteen years, that is what I feel I can see forthcoming. I say that because this is a school that potentially will change the future due to talent, energy, and the power of music ...
Despite his importance as the first Muslim intellectual to make use of ideas from the Greek philosophical tradition, we don’t know much about the life of al-Kindi. We do know roughly when he lived (the ninth century CE), that he…
“What Hurts” is based on a poem by Sara Pirkle Hughes. It is the first piece in a song cycle of five art songs for mezzo soprano and piano that I composed within the last year and recorded this past…
It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences
-Audre Lorde, Our Dead Behind Us: Poems
Within the confines of the orchestra, the violin’s role as both a solo instrument…
The overwhelming majority of Bulgarian folk music happens to be in odd meters–typically 5, 7, 9 and 11, with occasional combinations of those creating 13, 15, 17 and larger. Some musicologists have linked these odd meters to the history…
Two Case Studies Examining the Voyage of Jazz to Africa
Abstract:
Over the past century, American jazz recordings have transformed from the music of New Orleans to at least 13 unique sub-genres. Given the importance of West African music on…
