Academic Departments: Modern American Music
Modern American Music Studies at Longy
The first graduate performance degree of its kind, Modern American Music at Longy is an advanced program in performance of modern musical styles. To flourish in an increasingly competitive profession, advanced improvisational skills, high technical proficiency, and an understanding of contemporary and traditional repertoire are required of both jazz and classical musicians. Incoming students need not have extensive experience in both areas. Rather, they should exhibit expertise in one tradition and have a strong desire to explore the other.
Programs Available
Master of Music Degree in Modern American Music Performance
Graduate Performance Diploma in Modern American Music
Program Highlights
STUDIO LESSONS: Collaboration with a faculty mentor is the cornerstone of conservatory education at Longy. Together you will explore your unique artistic and professional goals while expanding technical and musical insight. The Modern American Music (MAM) jazz faculty contains some of the finest teachers and performers in the Boston area, and the classical faculty boasts an array of active performers in the contemporary music scene. Individual instruction focuses on both written and improvised works with one of the two major American traditions emphasized, depending on the individual’s interests and needs. In most cases, one year of private instruction is devoted to jazz improvisation and performance, and one year to modern American classical music.
MASTER CLASSES AND SEMINARS: Through workshops, master classes, discussions, and presentations, weekly seminars offer insight regarding interpretation, repertoire, and teaching methods for both improvised and notated music. Performance opportunities are rotated to ensure every student has numerous chances to work with visiting artists and master teachers.
GEORGE RUSSELL’S LYDIAN CHROMATIC CONCEPT OF TONAL ORGANIZATION: Students examine the behavior of all tonal elements in an objective organization that ultimately embraces all of Western music.
JAZZ ANALYSIS—THE COMPOSED AND THE SPONTANEOUS: Through analyzing 90 years of jazz performances, students investigate the intersection of composition and extemporization that contributes to jazz.
TECHNIQUES OF JAZZ COMPOSITION AND ARRANGING: Students compose and arrange music using various techniques, with compositions integrated into various MAM ensembles.
ENSEMBLES: The MAM department offers many performance opportunities, including traditional, avant-garde, and Latin ensembles. These groups reflect the diverse nature of the department in their broad selection of repertoire.
Faculty
Peter Cassino, chair
AFRICAN-AMERICAN MUSICAL TRADITION
Dave Bryant, ensembles
Peter Cassino, piano, improvisation
Jeff Galindo, trombone
Bob Gullotti, drums
Hiroaki Honshuku, flute
Greg Hopkins, trumpet
Charlie Kohlhase, ensembles
John Lockwood, bass
Joe Morris, guitar
Ben Schwendener, theory
Timo Shanko, saxophone
Stan Strickland, saxophone, flute
Nando Michelin, visiting faculty, ensembles
EUROPEAN-AMERICAN MUSICAL TRADITION
Laura Bossert, violin, viola
Pascale Delache-Feldman, double bass
Marco Granados, flute
Robert Honeysucker, voice
Terry King, cello
Takaaki Masuko, percussion
Robert Merfeld, piano
Vanessa Breault Mulvey, flute
David Patterson, guitar
Kenneth Radnofsky, saxophone
Thomas Van Dyck, double bass
Sylvie Zakarian, percussion
Members of the faculty
LITERATURE AND MATERIALS
Peter Evans
Calvin Hicks |
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