Composition

"It's very easy sometimes in academic settings to begin to live in an unreal world, especially if you're talking to other composers all the time. It's the rockers, the jazzers, and the business majors who are going to keep us healthy and keep us in the real world. I firmly believe this: a composer is one who should have wide horizons. The great masters of the past were very involved in the popular music of the day. Beethoven didn't look down his nose at writing a good waltz. Even Schoenberg composed and arranged cabaret music in Berlin."

"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."

• B.A., Harvard University
• M.S., D.M.A., the Juilliard School
• President of Rhythm, Rhyme, Results, an educational rap music company
• CEO and creative director of Belvedere Productions, a music production company specializing in educational materials
• Guest conductor with the New York Philharmonic; the Cleveland Orchestra; the Los Angeles Philharmonic; the National Symphony (Washington, D.C.); the symphonies of San Francisco, Toronto, Houston, and Dallas; and the Boston Pops

"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."