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 ...

“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…

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…

When is there not music? ... bursts of morning sun or night shadows in a full moon rising ... thundering spring waterfalls or silent mountain snows in winter ...

Aliya Cycon is an 8th Semester CWP major at Berklee. Her band, Aliya Cycon Project, just released their first album called “We Will Be Light” this past spring. Y—Xingyu Yao A—Aliya Cycon Y: Hi Aliya, Congratulations on your first album…

Tadgh Dall Ó hUigín (Blind Taigue Higgins), a professional poet in 16th Century Gaelic Ireland, had seen two patrons suffer ignominy and defeat before he wrote The Lion and Fox for his patron Brian MacGuire in 1588 AD. This poem…