Joe Bennett

"I want my students to learn something new every time they listen to music. By listening forensically to a song recording we can learn about form, lyric narratives, production techniques, harmony, vocal technique, arranging—in fact, any part of music's creative process."

"Berklee students are a pleasure to teach because of their deep skills and because the curriculum provides such a strong technical foundation in music: ear training, harmony, music technology, and arranging. So when we're analyzing a song, we can say 'that section when the vocal rises a minor third and the low-pass filter slowly sweeps across a six-bar phrase,' or whatever, and everyone on the room just gets it. Then from this technical platform of musical facts, we can talk about what's really important: the way the music makes us feel."

"In my first job as a guitar magazine music editor, I was transcribing music pretty much every day, and this note-for-note immersion led to a fascination with songs and how they are constructed. Then, many years later for my Ph.D. research, I spent five years investigating how commercial songwriters collaborate, through interviews, cowrites, and song analyses, and this helped me to get a better understanding of the creative challenges that our students face when they're developing new material."

"My curriculum outlook leans toward the progressive. I take the view that music exists as a vibrant, living art form in contemporary society and evolves constantly through new technologies, distribution channels, and cultural dynamics. So I ask my students to stay current with the latest tech and to immerse themselves deeply in others' creative work from the most diverse cultural landscape possible. If they can combine technical knowledge, musical skill, and deep, human, artistic empathy, they're all set to create new work that truly moves people."