Faculty
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Steve Langone, Assistant Professor
DEPARTMENT : Percussion Department"I studied with Alan Dawson and use many of his approaches in my teaching. Even with technical exercises, Alan would have his students sing a song and play an exercise at the same time. It’s relevant, when playing a groove, to have a melody going on. Singing helps you internalize the physical motions; what your hands and feet are doing becomes subconscious. I’ve applied Alan’s methods to Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, jazz, funk, and other kinds of world music. Alan Dawson was and still is a great source of inspiration."
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"Before I came to Berklee, I had two great mentors, both of them really good musicians and teachers. One brought an awareness of how the instrument should be played; he stressed control, relaxation, keeping solid time, getting a great sound. The other helped me nurture my musical intuition and the creative spark by turning me on to the great improvisers of our time. Both mentors stressed musicality as the only viable starting point. This is what I strive to impart to my students. There has to be a musical idea first and foremost! There are times when I will stress the importance of the mechanics (technique), but only as a means to make better music. As Joe Hunt, one of my teachers at Berklee, used to say, ‘Technique is a vehicle which makes it possible for your musical idea to come across.’"
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"With more than 24 years of music industry experience in London, Los Angeles, and Boston as a recording engineer, mixer, and producer, and more than 7 years of teaching audio, I bring a depth of technical knowledge in both the analog and digital realms and a wide breadth of professional music industry experience to the instruction of music production and engineering."
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Vessela Stoyanova, Assistant Professor
DEPARTMENT : Harmony Department"I look at theory as a tool to enrich creativity. It is a language to communicate with other musicians, using the most common terms. When I teach, I try to give students all the proper grammar and correct spelling. But they must use these tools to express themselves in their own way. If they don’t have anything interesting to say, the class is useless."
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Colin Sapp, Assistant Professor
DEPARTMENT : Guitar Department"Students sometimes forget to nurture their artistry while they’re in school. It’s easy to get caught up in becoming proficient at specific skills like ear training, playing at quick tempi, improvising over difficult changes, etc. I think it’s critical to use learned music concepts to inform one’s individuality. The learning process is a creative process, so students should compose and/or improvise new ideas as soon as they are struck with that inspiration."
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George S. Clinton, Chair
DEPARTMENT : Film Scoring"The most significant thing a film composer brings to the table is the ability to emotionally connect with a film and express that through music. If you’re not able to do that, you’re not going to be very good, no matter how much training you’ve had. This is why it’s so important for composers to trust their instincts. That’s one of the main things I’ve learned—I do best when I don’t get in my own way and over-analyze things. There is a magical thing that happens that is almost like alchemy when music and image link up in a way neither you nor the director could have predicted. Those are the moments I live for."
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"I make a living doing the things that I teach in class. I write arrangements of jazz and pop music for recordings, concerts, and television broadcasts. I speak passionately about the subject because it is not a theoretical exercise for me; I am living it. I try to make my classroom reflect my reality in the professional world. I assess my students given where they are in their education, but I also try to assess them as someone outside the Berklee community would. They’ll get two grades from me on their projects: the student grade and the grade they would get outside of Berklee. I like to think of myself as their client. From week to week I am commissioning them, and I expect them to wow me every time."
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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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Victor Bailey, Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT : Bass Department"Teaching is all thinking, but performing is different. When it’s right, performing is an out-of-body experience and thinking goes out the window. You just let it happen, like riding a bike. There is always fresh inspiration even week to week when I perform, which is an outgrowth of being well rounded and ready to play anything. And there’s a difference between playing an instrument well and playing music well. Some people have an incredible amount of technique and can do unbelievable things—by themselves. But when they have to jam with a band they have no idea what to do. It’s like a guy on the basketball court who has all the moves and looks really great, but the ball never goes into the hoop."
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- Vibraphonist and composer
- Guest appearances with the World Festival Orchestra under the direction of Paquito D’Rivera, the Milan Svoboda Orchestra in Prague, sold-out shows at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and in Tel Aviv, and as soloist with the Carlos Chávez Symphony Orchestra in Mexico City
- Solo appearances with the 85-piece Banda del Puerto in Valencia, Spain, under the direction of award-winning conductor Isidro Coll Ballesteros, as well as the Granada Symphony in Spain
- Recordings and performances with his own group, as well as with artists such as Paquito D’Rivera, Claudio Roditi, and Giovanni Hidalgo
- Named one of the Outstanding Latin Jazz Artists of the Year by Latin Beat magazine Black Bean Blues named one of the best Latin jazz recordings of the year by Modern Drummer magazine
- Named "the genre's leading vibraphone practitioner" and "one of today's most resourceful composers" by Jazziz magazine
- Clinician for Yamaha and Vic Firth