Courses

In this class, students will gain strength and knowledge of their bodies through barre movements and ballet positions, as well as yoga postures and Pilates movements, all set to contemporary music. Vocal warmups, proper ballet postures, and breath technique will be incorporated into each session. Core strength training and proper alignment and movement will help the singer achieve a supported, relaxed sound and performance. Students will be expected to perform barre method techniques while singing by the end the semester. They will create their own series individually and teach their series at the barre to fellow classmates.

A recording orchestra of 37 musicians, the Film Scoring Studio Orchestra will integrate and improve orchestral performance skills in an actual Hollywood-style scoring stage setting. A collaboration between the Ensemble, Music Production and Engineering, and Film Scoring departments, the orchestra will meet in Studio 1 of the 160 Massachusetts Avenue building. Each week the ensemble will play music composed by professional film composers or Berklee Film Scoring students, and be recorded by Berklee students in related MP&E classes. Through participation in film scoring sessions in a state-of-the-art scoring stage venue, students will improve their overall efficiency of sight-reading, technique, rhythm (including click track competency), intonation, articulation, style orientation, and ensemble-centered production (listening/response sensitivity).   

This ensemble focuses on exploring open improvisation and the arrangement of Italian music. The source material will range from traditional folk music to classical arias, to popular songs, and through jazz interpretation. Students will be required to arrange one piece of music, approved by the teacher, specifically for the ensemble, to be performed at the end of semester recital.

Please note: this course is for performance majors who are accepted in the Berklee Global Jazz Institute only. The global jazz ensemble is designed for high level student performers who are focused on their development as jazz instrumentalists. This ensemble will perform a wide range of jazz styles including, swing, bebop, free, avant-garde, and contemporary. Students will gain ensemble experience through weekly performances that focus on group interaction, swinging, dynamics, phrasing, as well as individual and group improvisation. Emphasis will be given to hearing and expressing your musical ideas with stylistic integrity, as well as melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic accuracy. This ensemble is for 

This course will focus on the recordings and improvisations of Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock, and Chick Corea. Students will analyze and learn compositions and improvised solos of each pianist, and will perform one transcription of each pianist's solo or trio improvisations. Through in-depth discussion around the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic devices employed by those pianists, students will also learn to utilize those devices in their own improvisations, and how those concepts apply to the music of today.

Brass pedagogy has been codified primarily in the European Classical genre of music. Various solo and étude books have been the go to resources for brass players wishing to create a solid pedagogical foundation for whatever music they decide to play. This course examines standard trumpet literature from various études, orchestral excerpts and solo repertoire that have become the foundation for pedagogical study in brass.

This course focuses on developing the necessary skills to work as a freelance brass player in today's music world. A brass player can get called to play an Easter gig on a Sunday morning, a salsa gig that same afternoon, and a big band gig the same evening. It is important to know how to approach each genre and musical setting in a professional and informed manner. In this course students will learn how to correctly read and play articulations, play in tune, and listen to their fellow section mates as well as section leaders. The courses covers a variety fo genres, including jazz, big band, classical, pop, funk, and Broadway musicals. Students will be given music a week in advance and expected to prepare the music before each class. Class time will be spent analyzing recordings and finetuning the prepared pieces.

This course will explore the fundamentals on how to build a successful commercial brass section. Primary emphasis will be placed on the big band stylistic phrasing of Duke Ellington, to the modern day funk and R&B horn lines of Stevie Wonder; Tower of Power; Earth, Wind, & Fire; Al Jarreau; and more. Concentrated study of specific duties within the brass section will also apply to this course, i.e. lead playing, section playing, soloistic styles pertaining to specific genre, as well as proper usage of mute techniques. Emphasis of learning how to listen across the brass section via concentrated study of past and present recordings will also enable students to perceive and interpret section playing at an advanced to professional level.

This lab prepares the Berklee bass student to record themselves and deliver studio-quality performances to clients anywhere in the world. Increasingly, bassists are expected to work remotely with producers---they find jobs online, are sent project files, record and edit their own parts, and deliver high quality recordings---all from their home studio. To stay competitive in this environment a contemporary bassist must master the interpersonal and technical challenges of remote collaboration. Weekly assignments and in-class activities give the student the experience of working with producers to develop the perfect tone and performance for a project, then performing, recording, editing, processing, and delivering on a tight deadline. Topics include effective communication, remote collaboration, mic placement, recording equipment, performance techniques, DAW configuration, editing, sound processing, and preparing deliverables.