TEACHING BIOGRAPHY

MUSIC RESIDENCY

I have considerable experience giving lecture-demonstrations, master classes and residencies of 1-5 days time, which I have presented for the past 25 years, including work at the following schools:

Berklee School of Music, Boston MA
Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin OH
Manhattan School of Music, NYC, NY
New School/Mannes School of Music, NYC, NY
Univ. of California, San Diego
Stanford University
Graz Conservatory, Graz, Austria
Rotterdam Conservatory, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn, NY
Australian Institute of Music, Sydney, Australia
New England Conservatory, Boston, MA
Princeton University
Univ. of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
Southern Illinois Univ. at Carbondale
Simon Fraser Univ., Vancouver, BC, Canada
Univ. of Montana, Bozeman, MT
Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX
Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, Finland
Scuola Internazionale di Liuteria, Cremona, Italy
Hartt School of Music, Hartford, CT
Auroville International Community, Auroville, India
Pittsburgh State College, Pittsburgh, KS
Univ. de Sao Paulo, S.P. Brazil

I enjoy teaching very much and would like to increase the number of short-term residencies I do in conjunction with concert appearances. I have private students who have traveled from all over the world to study with me in Brooklyn.
I am an adjunct faculty member of the New School/Mannes School of Music in NYC, and was an artist in residence at NYC’’s La Guardia High School of the Performing Arts from 1991-4

Here is a list of topics I offer followed by detailed descriptions:
1. The Challenge of World Music for the Creative Musician
2. Course in Extended Technique for Woodwinds (This can be geared for instrumentalists, composers or both)
3. Group Improvisation– Idiomatic and ‘Non-Idiomatic’ approaches
4. Developing a Solo Program as a Composer/Performer
5. Finding Your Creative Voice as a Composer/Performer
6. Non-Western Music, a Subjective Listening List.

CLASS DESCRIPTIONS

1. The Challenge of World Music for the Creative Musician

This is the title of an article I wrote for Arcana II, a collection of writings by musicians on music edited by John Zorn. In today’s musical environment one can study classical forms or jazz (which is increasingly being treated as a classical form) in schools. Many designs are offered for courses of instruction. However, to respond to the myriad forms of music that are neither jazz nor classical in a creative way one must often chart his/her own course. How can the western composer/improviser address philosophical, technical and aesthetic issues that arise from the consideration of foreign traditions in a way that isn’t superficial or exploitative? Is it best to cast a wide net and consider as broad a range of music as possible? Or is it better to study a particular area in depth, given that pursuits like African drumming or North Indian raga can be a life’s work in themselves? My personal journey combined exposure and study of music from around the world with intense focus on a particular pursuit, the honkyoku music of the Japanese shakuhachi. This is a kind of ‘middle path’, which is presented in such a manner as to give guidance and alternatives to young musicians seeking to navigate these deep creative waters. This class takes 2-3 hours, including listening time to relevant music.
With additional class time, discussion turns to the complimentary case – the entrance of creative musicians from other traditions into ‘western’ musical settings. I discuss musicians with whom I have had working relationships such as Tuvan vocalist Sainkho, Indian tabla master Samir Chatterjee and Korean Geomungo artist, Yoon Jeong Heo. For instance, Samirji will often translate my rhythmic designs into his system of Tala. For a successful realization of one of my compositions it is necessary both for him to expand his outlook past the normal boundaries of this system and for me to understand the relationship between what I have written and possible antecedents within Tala, which Samirji will be using as a jumping-off point. Thus, collaborating artists must engage in a relationship where the role of teacher and pupil are constantly bouncing back and forth. The pursuit of mutual growth becomes the best insurance against making a shallow pasting together of musical traditions and working towards a successful synthesis.
(I will provide a copy of the Arcana article upon request).

2. A Personal Catalogue of Extended Technique for Woodwinds Where is the Music!- a Course for Performers and Composers

Western musical tradition looks at instruments largely from an orchestral model – a good technique is one that creates an even, unified sound at all dynamics from the top to the bottom ranges of the instrument. Thus, composers of large-scale works can combine instruments as a painter mixes his oils, with consistent colors no matter what the subject matter. Certainly, the ability to create this kind of focused, consistent tone quality is a necessity for students of wind instruments.
The course on extended technique, however, focuses on those incredibly interesting non-linearities of instrument capability. For instance, all clarinetists work to be able to unify the notoriously uneven registers of the instrument. However, what sort of musical possibilities arise when these tonal differences are accentuated, rather than minimized? (Many of the wonders of the Turkish clarinet tradition lie within). Circular Breathing allows nonstop playing on winds, but when is this appropriate musically? Individual multiphonics are often just strange, out of tune noises. How are they created, how do you find them on your own, but, most importantly(!), what are ways they can be utilized with musical expressivity?
This course focuses primarily on the clarinet and saxophone families. However, commonality and divergence with flute, oboe and bassoon will be addressed when appropriate. The following techniques will be covered:

I Multiphonics

II Tonguing, Ornamentation and Other Articulations

III Circular-breathing – Its Uses and Limitations; Proper avenues of Study

IV Creation of Polyphonic motifs, true polyphonic and quasi-polyphonic (for example, hocketing) techniques

V Microtonality and Its Timbral Implications on Woodwinds. Stylistic and Non-Idiomatic Implication

VI Uses and limitations of Notation

3. Group Improvisation– Idiomatic and ‘Non-Idiomatic’ approache

What are the goals of the ‘open’ group improvisation? Is it ‘instant composition’? Is it a social occasion? Are there stated or unstated rules about the sonic materials we can use? What are the roles of equality and leadership? Where do factors of independence, imitation and orchestration fit in? Can we use our musical training in other areas as a resource or must we ‘free’ ourselves from it? How can players with different levels of experience and training interact?I find that many musicians, especially those who are highly trained in classical and jazz forms, bring unexamined agendas to the improvisation situation. These ideas are not necessarily a bad thing at all but they should be honestly examined. By playing together and looking at both the resulting music and the thought-process which goes into it, the class will explore what we bring to the improvising situation. This understanding can help us define and achieve our musical goals.
This class can go from 2 to 5 2-hour sessions. Some of the ideas can be approached in a single class but I think its much more effective when there is time for integration of ideas.

4. Developing a Solo Program as a Composer/Performer: Solo Performance and its Discontents

In a lecture/demonstration I’ll touch on various topics of consideration in developing a solo performance. In a longer residency situation this becomes a kind of master-class with students presenting their own solo work for discussion and critique. I start with general considerations, which apply to any solo work regardless of instrument or style and move on to subjects relating more to my specific oeuvre and instruments besides the piano and guitar which are thought of as less capable in this area. This will be organized from two directions -
1) The modes of practicing both on the instrument and in listening sessions, which have particular bearing on solo performance.
2) Performance and programming considerations - how does one plan a concert? We will look at topics relating to variety, focus, sense of length and endurance.
I’ll also talk a bit about the professional benefits and pitfalls of working alone.

5. Finding Your Creative Voice as a Composer/Performer

The most common stated goal of my private students is: “I want to play my own music, not someone else’s. “How can I find my own voice?” My quick answer is “Play what you love. Do you know what that is?”. What is entailed in this?

1. Write your own exercises – a guide for expanding technical capacity in an aesthetically focused manner.

2. Find what you most value in other music and figure out what you can emulate in your own playing. This may entail study of other traditions but also translation from different families of instruments. For instance, how could musical motifs which are common on percussion instruments be applied to winds?

3. How to honestly examine one’s musical strengths and weaknesses. How it is both a good thing to work on weak points but also to realize that musical limitations can also be avenues to realize creative identity. The musician who can do anything (and who rarely exists) must still make creative choices; a major choice is what NOT to play/compose.

I can present my ideas here in as little as an 90 minutes (basically a lecture with Q &A afterwards) or up to 6 hours with musical demonstrations and some masterclass-type interaction.

6. Non-Western Music, a Subjective Listening List

This is a necessarily brief (even if its up to 6 hours of class!), utterly subjective tour of musicians/anthologies/ensembles that were important to me during my formative years of musical study. I generally limit it to ‘classic’ instrumental music from outside the African-American (jazz/blues/rock/pop/gospel,etc.) or Western European classical traditions with which many students are already familiar. Even with those limitations an authoritative overview with full information on available recordings would be an encyclopedic endeavor. So I pick out a few recordings or artists that students of music may not know. This is a kind of seminar, which can complement some of the classes listed above. Depending on the situation, students might be invited to bring their own favorite recordings for class discussion and critique.
If requested I can concentrate on my particular area of expertise - Japanese Shakuhachi Music.