Chairs

• 

  Gregory Fritze

  Title: Chair
  Department: Composition

  Other Departments: Brass

  "Students who get a composition degree learn how to write their music so that other people can perform it. Very often students have ideas and they don't know how to put them down. Sometimes they don't have the experience to connect their ideas. Or in many cases, they have too many topics. Most beginning students do overwrite. We teach the students how to develop an idea completely and how to trim away the excess. And the main thing is that the students do hear their work performed. Most of what they write can be performed right here at the college."

  Primary Specialty: Tuba

  "Teaching in the Composition Department is all about trying to inspire the creative process in students. Creativity is like a beam of light. It can come at any time, anywhere. Like a beam of light, though, sometimes the light is not there. Then the technique will take over. That's where composition technique can build on ideas.

  "Being a composer is very similar to being a speech writer or anybody writing a composition on a specific topic. Spoken language has to be concise, it has to be interesting, and it has to be complete. That's very similar to music.

  "Students who get a composition degree learn how to write their music so that other people can perform it. Very often students have ideas and they don't know how to put them down. Sometimes they don't have the experience to connect their ideas. Or in many cases, they have too many topics. Most beginning students do overwrite. We teach the students how to develop an idea completely and how to trim away the excess. And the main thing is that the students do hear their work performed. Most of what they write can be performed right here at the college.

  "In addition, we teach the fundamentals of music to all Berklee students: composition, theory, and conducting. These fundamentals are necessary for everyone working in the music industry, not just performers or composers. Even a music business person working in the field will get greater respect and confidence, the more musicianship he or she has."

  • B.M., Boston Conservatory of Music
  • M.M., Indiana University
  • Performer with the Boston Ballet, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and other orchestras
  • Fulbright scholar to Spain
  • Compositions published by Seesaw Music, Tuba Press, and Musica Nova
  • Recipient of a Walt Disney Fellowship and a Meet the Composer grant
  • Recipient of several composition awards from ASCAP, first prize in T.U.B.A. composition contest, and 1996 composition award "Menzione d'Onore del Premio" from Accademia Angelica Constantiniana
  • Performer and clinician in the United States and worldwide
  • Compositions performed nationally and internationally
  • Recordings on Mark Records, Crystal Records, and CRI
• 

  James Smith

  Title: Assistant Chair
  Department: Composition

  "The courses in our department give students the nuts and bolts that will give them a real leg up. When they walk out of Berklee, they can also do arranging, orchestration, transcription—a world of things to keep them in the business while they're still waiting for that one song that becomes the big one. The more tools they've got, the more ways they have of staying in the profession."

  "I'm now analyzing certain songs by the Beatles, which will be relevant to what we do in our theory and counterpoint classes, and some of our composition classes. Besides, it's just good music; it's a real labor of love for me.

  "Some of our composition majors actually come to Berklee targeting what is considered to be modern classical music. Some of them come planning to do something else, then see what we're doing and say, 'Wow, I want to do that.' Which is kind of cool.

  "The courses in our department give students the nuts and bolts that will give them a real leg up. When they walk out of Berklee, they can also do arranging, orchestration, transcription—a world of things to keep them in the business while they're still waiting for that one song that becomes the big one. The more tools they've got, the more ways they have of staying in the profession.

  "I know it's sometimes a stretch for a music business student to understand why conducting is part of the core curriculum. But that student may end up being an agent to someone like Gunther Schüller. I've talked to Schüller's agent—he knows an awful lot about what Gunther does. It's nice to understand the work of the people you're promoting—knowing what the job is, and knowing the language of music."

  • B.M., University of Memphis
  • M.M., Catholic University of America
  • D.M.A., Boston University
  • Composer of various chamber, orchestral, and commercial musical works
  • Assistant conductor, Arlington Philharmonic
  • Active freelance percussionist with the Boston Ballet, Harvard Chamber Orchestra, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and others
  • Member of Dinosaur Annex contemporary music ensemble

  My Top 5 Influences

  	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band The Beatles The epitome of my expectations for the Beatles and all pop/rock music.The standard by which all others fail to measure.
  	Affinity Bill Evans/Toots Thielemans Although this is not a groundbreaking album for Bill Evans, it is the album that made me a devoted follower of his style and compositions.
  	The Nine Beethoven Symphonies Eugene Ormandy/The Philadelphia Orchestra Although not the best recording perhaps (I prefer my present CD set by John Elliot Gardner on Archive), nonetheless, these were the recordings that revealed these all important, groundbreaking symphonies to me.
  	Four Brahms symphonies Eric Liensdorf and BSO These are fine recordings of these priceless works. It was this recording that hooked me on Brahms. Thank you Erik, thank BSO and double thanks to Herr Brahms. "We are not worthy."
  	Firebuird Suite Guillini in Los Angeles I believe that this is an old Seraphim recording with the Los Angeles Orchestra. It is not especially well played or well conducted, and I now prefer the complete ballet to this suite. However, this introduced me to Stravinsky and, as a know-nothing freshman studying toward my undergraduate degree in 1968, I was blown away. Now, as a know-nothing old guy, I'm still grateful for the influence of this rather pathetic recorded offering.