 |
Allan Chase, Chair
DEPARTMENT : Ear Training Department"Ear training is a tool that allows you to express what you hear, what you want to play, and what you want to sound like. It allows you to interact with other musicians. If you're in a group that has any element of improvisation or surprise in it—which most popular contemporary music, jazz, and all sorts of world music have—ear training is what allows you to hear what somebody else is doing and respond to it with something that fits and isn't an accident, but is intentional and meaningful, and has feeling and confidence behind it. When you have a good ear it makes your rhythm better, because you're not hesitant, you're confident."
Read More |
- B.A., Vassar College
- M.M., New England Conservatory
- Toured with Cirque du Soleil, Joe Jackson, and A.R. Rahman
- Performed with Lee Konitz, Joan Osborne, Greg Osby, and Kanye West
- Broadway work includes "Les Misérables" and "Cats"
 |
"I found yoga 15 years ago, which had a profound effect on me as a performer. Whatever has helped me in my music career, I try to bring into the classroom. We do a lot of singing with warm-ups and drilling to develop vocal skill and confidence. In this business, time is money, and if you're not struggling with the notes and intervals, you can work on the delivery and 'feel' of a piece of music, which saves a lot of time. Although mature and dedicated practice regimes are a key to successful performances, I try to have fun with it as well. My mission is to help the students find a comfort zone within themselves so the sharing of their music is a blissful experience."
Read More |
"I want students to come away with an understanding and an appreciation of why the basics are so important. Because at 18, 19, 20 years old, I had certain ideas of what music I wanted to play. But life changes and takes you in different places, and you're an artist, but you're also a craftsman. You have to be able to do a variety of things to make a living in music. It's important to get those basic things in place so that when you leave school you'll have options. What you do now may not be what you're doing in ten years. If you don't have the groundwork in place you're going to fall short somewhere along the line."
Read More |
Scott deOgburn, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Ear Training Department"The listening aspect of music is probably the most important part. Ear training is all about comprehending what you are listening to and knowing how to analyze it. The goal is to be able to look at a piece of music and know what it sounds like without having to listen to it; or conversely, to listen to a piece of music and be able to notate it."
Read More |
"The genius of the Ear Training curriculum is that it's incredibly well designed, while not biased towards a particular style of music. And the rigorousness of it is impressive, as well, pulling in a general freshman population and bringing them up to a really high standard after four semesters. In my classes I try to give my own twist to the curriculum and always make sure the students create music, rather than drill exercises."
Read More |
Rick DiMuzio, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Ear Training Department"I like to bring a lot of supplemental material into the ear training classroom. I feel responsible for exposing the students' ears to great music that they may not have heard before and for educating them to become better critical listeners. It's not uncommon for the class to learn a North Indian raga or to dissect the harmonies of a piece by Stravinsky or Ellington."
Read More |
"Ear training is such a fundamental thing. It's a feedback system involving several factors: reading, writing, and listening to and imagining music. As any one of these abilities improves, the others improve as well, so I always try to come at ear training from all those angles. You get these gradual, incremental realizations: 'Oh, now I understand that song I've been listening to all these years!'"
Read More |
Robin Ginenthal, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Ear Training Department"I think that Berklee is way ahead in terms of how students are learning ear training. When you're learning solfege at most conservatories, there's a system called the fixed do system. If you're in the key of C, C is do (do re mi…). And if you're in the key of F, C is still do. Which means that the relationship of the pitches is going to change all the time according to the key signature. Berklee uses the movable do system. With the movable do system, once students learn the scale, that can be applied to any scale. Once you know how to sing in C major, you know how to sing in F major. Once the students learn the pitch relationships in one key, they can do them in any key."
Read More |
"Ear training gives a broad foundation of musical skills that adds to one's musicianship. I want my students to be able to figure out rhythms accurately, sing pitches clearly, and hear common chords and harmonic movement in different instrumental and stylistic contexts. These are the skills we work with, regardless of our instrument or the style of music we play."
Read More