Headshot of David Scott

David Scott

Professor
Affiliated Departments
Voice
Faculty Bio E-Mail
dscott@berklee.edu
Telephone
617-747-2822
Personal Websites
David Scott's website

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David Thorne Scott is a singer-songwriter and instrumentalist who performs in jazz, pop, and classical styles. He is also a composer, arranger, bandleader, and teacher.

Cadence Magazine said, "He phrases like a saxophone player and is as slippery and hip as the young Mel Tormé," and Herb Wong wrote, "I haven’t been this moved by a performance of 'For All We Know' since Carmen McRae."

Career Highlights
  • Performances as a guest artist include the Boston Pops, the Capital Jazz Orchestra, the Cape Symphony, Blue Heron, and the Four Freshmen
  • Vocalist proficient in piano, bass, and trumpet
  • Albums include Thornewood, Hopeful Romantic, Refilled (with Vocalogy), Wonderful You (with Syncopation), DYAD, and Shade
  • Studied with Phil Mattson, Mark Baxter, and Larry Lapin
  • Presentation of research entitled “New Vocal Group Music >From Old Sources” at the International Association for Jazz Education Convention
Awards
  • Top 5 Jazz Vocal CD (Jazz Education Journal)
  • Berklee Faculty Fellowship and recording grant for Boswells to Bop research and recording project
  • Finalist in the New England National Association of Teachers of Singing's Song and Aria competition, Professional Division
Education
  • M.M., University of Miami, jazz vocal performance
  • B.A., Drew University, English and music (magna cum laude)
  • A.A., School for Music Vocations, Southwestern Community College, professional music
In Their Own Words

"I try to remind students why we're doing music. It's about creating beauty, and it's something you enjoy, something your audience will enjoy. If you're singing out of fear, you have a 100 percent chance that it's not going to be right. Even if the notes are right, even if you're doing everything correctly, your listeners are going to be able to tell, and it's just going to ring false somehow. Now if you have a spirit of joy in creating music, you still might mess it up. But at least you give yourself a chance. I believe strongly in building competence and understanding, but I never want my students to forget that this is all in service of something that is beautiful and a pleasure."

"I am a performer, so I bring that experience to my teaching. I know how to choose an appealing song, how to write an exciting arrangement, how to make a logical set list. I am quite nerdy about vocal technique because I perform in many different styles. But also I emphasize the performance aspect: how you can change your body language, facial expressions, staging, instrumentation, to make a more profound impact on your audience."

"Berklee's Voice Department is unparalleled in its depth and breadth of expertise. The size of our faculty, and their wide-ranging experience, means there is something for nearly everybody. I don't think people realize that music school is hard. When my dad went to college, he thought he wanted to be a music major. He did that for a semester, couldn't hack it, so he got a biology degree and went to med school instead. I actually sat next to a guy at Fenway one time who said he was a Berklee student 20 years ago. He only lasted a semester; it was too hard. I asked him, 'What do you do now?' 'Oh, I'm an aerospace engineer. I work for NASA.' It's harder than a lot of people realize."

Additional Related Links
Vocalogy
'There Will Never Be Another You' by David Scott

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