Faculty

"It’s possible to appreciate the scientific side of music without losing your appreciation of the fact that it is a form of expression, that it is an art form. That’s something I try to communicate to my students so they don’t see me as some sort of dry scientist who just wants to reduce everything to a bunch of tedious equations. Mathematics isn’t just numbers and formulae and equations, it’s taking things that you know and trying to use those to find out something that you would like to know but do not currently know. I don’t expect to produce a class of mathematicians, but I at least hope that my students appreciate the greater role of mathematics and the ideas underlying it, not just in music but in the wider world."

"I love working with all kinds of technology and all kinds of instruments. New engineers, producers, songwriters are too easily enamored with thinking one tool is superior to another. What's more important is finding how each tool can be valuable in your bag of tricks. It matters not what technology you use or whether you use technology at all. All that matters is that you arrive at a recording that has the sonic and emotional impact that enhances the song."

"In my Ear Training classes, I like to keep the focus moving around the room, doing relays of rhythms and solfège, for example. I want everyone to participate and contribute. I don’t like to stand in front of the class and lecture; I like to keep the energy flowing and mix things up, to get performance and listening and analysis all going in the same session. Ear training in particular is something that involves a lot of interaction, a lot of back and forth."