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Armand Qualliotine, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Composition Department"Berklee is a really practical college. Most of the students come in and they know what they want, and so they're motivated to go after that particular field. It's a mission of the college to provide not just an abstract learning experience, but a practical learning experience as well. There is a success rate here. I've had students go to Tufts and Yale and all kinds of really high-end schools for graduate school. Or they graduate and they get a job in whatever field it is they're interested in."
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James Reyes, Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT : Composition Department"Our courses are designed to give students a foundation in classical music and theory, and in conducting. These are skills they learn that they can apply to all kinds of music, both classical and pop. They're learning something about themselves in terms of leadership and in terms of how they present themselves in front of people. I always tell them that these are basic people skills as well as specifically musical skills they're learning."
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James Ricci, Assistant Professor
DEPARTMENT : Composition Department"The beauty of composition is that you can essentially slow down time; you can focus all your energy and attention on a microsecond of music. In a sense, that gives you an equal playing field with some incredibly brilliant improvisers."
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"When I was about four or five years old, growing up in the Soviet Union, I remember my parents listening to Enrico Caruso and Mario Lanza in one room, and at the same time my older brother listening to Blood, Sweat, and Tears, Chicago, and the Beatles in another room. I really had this kind of double music world from the very beginning, but it was so natural to me. And I think this was a really great thing—it opened my ears to every type of music."
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Eric Stern, Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT : Composition Department"In the classroom we try to explore leadership issues in conducting, as well as technical issues: the intangible qualities that allow an individual to convey his or her ideas to a group. Paramount are musical preparedness, physical practice, and expressive skills. We try to get everyone up on their feet every week, conducting me at the piano, as well as the NOTION playback software. It is particularly exciting when a student conductor takes a musical idea in a direction no one expected, choosing a different tempo or a different way of feeling a phrase. These moments bring together the elements of musicality and leadership with a satisfying clarity."
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Louis Stewart, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Composition Department"The technique Attilio Poto taught me is what I teach my students. It is essentially Italian opera conducting, and it is not hard; a person with some musical background can learn enough in six weeks to conduct an ensemble. It's just a matter of learning to use gravity so that the beat is predictable and doesn't look choppy. I tell my students, 'If you come to class, retain what I teach you, and practice 10 to 15 minutes a day, seven days a week, you will learn the technique.'"
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Valerie Taylor, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Composition Department"Even if a person never conducts any kind of ensemble after this, the whole notion of getting music incorporated into the body is just so vital. It's gaining that sense of how your body conveys, and not just simply responds to, music. As a result of my vocal training, I try to get people to sing things, because that is the clearest and simplest road to incorporating the music into their own bodies. If they treat it gingerly at finger's length, their musical mojo is not going to be involved. If they sing while they conduct, they can use their body to teach their body."
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"When I teach, I connect concepts to real, live musical moments. I draw listening examples from a range of styles and encourage students to find their own examples and bring them into class. I incorporate my professional experience into the class through my own composition and performance on the violin and piano. By discovering your personal connection to a concept, you turn theory into practice—you make an abstraction come alive through your own musical experience."
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"I really think it's important to link music theory with the practice of music. I'm actively playing as a hornist, and equally actively creating contemporary concert music as a composer. In the classroom we'll do a counterpoint assignment together on the board. I'll start by putting something up, then have everybody in the class contribute a measure or two, eventually leading up to writing a whole exercise. By the end, when I play what we've written out of thin air on the piano, there's a real feeling of accomplishment."
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Arthur Welwood, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Composition Department"I think composition is best taught by people who are out in the field writing music, performing it, and interacting with audiences. Berklee's composition department is made up of composers and conductors. They're bona fide professionals getting paid for what they're doing. They're not just teaching in ivory towers."
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