---

Learn More About Brian's Experience:

bass guitar I have been playing fretted stringed instruments for over ten years, and have been a performing bass guitarist in a rock band for the last two years. I am proficient in the rock and funk styles. I have taught the guitar to students before, and have every confidence that my technique and savvy make me a qualified bass guitar teacher. I am comfortable teaching beginning students through intermediate-advanced students in theory, technique, composition, and improvisation. clarinet I have played the clarinet for over twelve years in a variety of styles including classical, jazz, and klezemer. As a high school student, I participated in the All-State Band and All-State Orchestra for several years as one of the half-dozen best young clarinetists in the state of Pennsylvania. In college, I was a member of the Mount Holyoke College Klezmer Ensemble, where I played the clarinet and the piano. I have had the pleasure of instructing two students on the clarinet. I am comfortable teaching beginner through advanced pupils in the styles of jazz, classical, or klezmer. I will teach theory, technique, and improvisation. composition (music) My major course of study at Amherst College was Music Composition. I studied under Professors Eric Sawyer and Lew Spratlan, both Pulitzer Prize-winning composers of modern classical and electroacoustic music. A suite of lullabies that I produced using computer-manipulated oscillators premiered at Amherst College in 2005. My production work spread to wider audiences in Western Massachusetts as humorous pop group The Jupiters performed my compositions throughout the five-college area. I have also been writing songs for various bands I have been a member of for the last ten years. I am a firm believer that composition is a different process for everyone; I hope to introduce some of the exercises and techniques that have been handed down to me to present my pupils with a broad palette of compositional approaches. Of particular inspiration to me is the work and thought of John Cage, Christian Fennesz, and Steve Reich, along with countless pop avant-garde influences (from Bjork and Radiohead to Daft Punk, Silver Apples, David Byrne, and Brian Eno). I invite pupils of all experience levels, as I don't believe there is such a thing as an "advanced" or "intermediate" composers. There are, however, "advanced" compositions, and I'm sure there are a few in every one of us. Let's find yours. music history In addition to the composition work I did in college, I took a serious academic interest in the history and culture of 20th century music. While I do have a background in the history of Western music dating from the 1400s, my favorite subject is the abundant century just behind us. I wrote a historical/critical thesis about production values in recorded music and their relationship to genre conventions and values. I am a fanatic crate-digger, and my voracious rate of music acquisition is focused on the past more than the present, latest music around. For years, I was invested heavily in the history of punk rock and American post-hardcore "indie" music of the 1980s. Lately, my historical interest has been concentrated in the broad realm of Soul music, from Memphis to Miami, Detroit to Philadelphia, Motown to Stax, hard funk to deep soul. For me, the study of history is an approach, and the subject is anything you want it to be. An historical approach to music seeks answers to certain questions, such as: who were the musicians, and what was their place in society? How was their work consumed, and by whom? How were they thought of, both broadly among the music community and within their more immediate circle? What elements of their sound can be traced to earlier performers, and where can their sound be heard in future compositions? Did they operate within a genre or subculture, and did they innovate within the context of that genre or form? There are thousands of stories to tell. I'm interested in telling the ones that are told less often, but as a teacher, I am dedicated to helping you tell whatever story you want to tell. My background in anthropology and ethnomusicology equip me with the analytic approach needed to be an effective historian of music.