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Faculty

The members of our faculty are more than teachers. They’ll be your mentors, your collaborators, and your instant list of more than 500 industry contacts. They are experienced and talented professionals in their field—and bring a thorough knowledge of music to the classroom that comes from a rich professional background in the music industry. They also bring an energy that will inspire you to push your talents and thinking beyond what you thought were the limits. You’ll find yourself transferring their influences to your ensemble rehearsals, performances, recording sessions, and gigs. In addition, the student-teacher ratio averages 8 to 1. Which means you’ll never feel like a number.

Find a faculty member

Jamie Baum, Associate Professor

DEPARTMENT : Woodwind Department

  • B.M., New England Conservatory
  • M.M., Manhattan School of Music
  • Jazz flutist, composer, and clinician
  • Performances with George Russell, Mick Goodrick, Randy Brecker, Donald Brown, Kenny Barron, Dave Douglas, Ralph Alessi, Uri Caine, Wadada Leo Smith, and Karaikudi Mani
  • Four CDs as a leader: Sight Unheard, Moving Forward, Standing Still, and Solace
  • Leader of Jamie Baum Septet, including Ralph Alessi, Douglas Yates, Tom Varner, George Colligan, Johannes Weidenmeuller, and Jeff Hirschfield

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Jim Odgren, Professor

DEPARTMENT : Woodwind Department

  • Alumnus, Berklee College of Music
  • Alto saxophonist
  • Member of East West Standard Time
  • Performances with Gary Burton, Steve Swallow, and JoAnne Brackeen
  • Recordings with Gary Burton, Hiromi Uehara, Vinnie Colaiuta, Antonio Sanchez, Victor Mendoza, Michael Brecker, and Jim Kelly
  • Major publications include Saxophone Quintet Arrangements for Advance Music and Berklee Practice Method - Alto Sax

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Mia Olson, Professor

DEPARTMENT : Woodwind Department

"I feel that the school environment should be opening students to try different things. Then they gather what works well for them, and ultimately it creates their own voice. I try to be very open and all-inclusive, and I also try to approach a particular topic in a bunch of different ways: visually, aurally, and kinesthetically. Since a lot of woodwind students are classically trained, I want them to have the freedom to be able to explore and try new things, to free the mind from negative self-talk and just go ahead, dive in, and take a chance and explore. When you're in school, it's the time for exploration, for seeing what's out there rather than being close minded. So I do teach classical students, but I also teach people who are interested in branching out in other types of improvisation."

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Margaret Phillips, Associate Professor

DEPARTMENT : Woodwind Department

"Most of my students are not performance majors, so I see them coming from all fields of study at Berklee, such as MP&E and music therapy. I focus on sound bassoon technique, great tone production, and the ability to sight read well, because you're only as good as your sight reading! I try to develop critical listeners, so that whatever field in which they end up, they still know what a good sound is."

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Wendy Rolfe, Professor

DEPARTMENT : Woodwind Department

"Performers have to wed the physical to the emotional and the creative. Poor posture can lead to injury, so I try to work on helping students get their bodies into a relaxed but aware position. I study the Alexander Technique, which is a way to align the body and work on breathing. But the most important thing for me is that my students keep their love of music, and that they’ll have the tools to impart that to other people. I also hope they develop ways to become their own teachers. That’s what we’re all striving for—to become our own teachers."

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Bill Thompson, Assistant Professor

DEPARTMENT : Woodwind Department

"Some students may know a great deal about harmony and be adept at hearing and identifying chords, yet they cannot read a note of music. Some are great performers and can sing with great persuasion, yet they can't read a note. For these students, formal ear training at Berklee introduces them to general facts and musical situations they've never encountered before. It helps them understand the make-up of music's mathematical systems, like note values and time durations, as well as the whole idea of connecting rhythms and melodies to make up a complete musical thought or phrase."

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Frank Tiberi, Professor

DEPARTMENT : Woodwind Department

"I take a very technical approach. You must know your notes and tonalities, and not play by ear. One thing that I really emphasize is to be able to use restraint, texture, and balance in your approach, in your 'deceptive inserts' and other things which require a lot of technical knowledge. A lot of students can come in and just move their fingers around, but when they play a ballad, where does it come from? Where's the restraint? Of course you're not going to be playing a ton of technical things in a beautiful ballad that should be really heard soulfully."

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