"I play a lot in my classes. I figure that if I talk about something a certain way and then I demonstrate it, that's very effective. Music is very dry on a piece of paper; so hearing it helps to motivate. In my Jazz Bass Lines class, if I'm talking about a particular way of connecting chords, I'll pull a Ron Carter or Ray Brown recording and play it. Just listen to the way this player plays, you can hear the energy and you can hear the conviction that he's playing with. When I play I always make sure I'm bringing that kind of energy."
"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."
"Berklee's a very unique place. I went to school here; I feel like it's my home. I understand the Berklee curriculum. Even though it's been rewritten a hundred times since I was a student, the core of that curriculum is still here."
"Now it's looking at the whole music industry. When I was a student there was basically a performance major, a composition major, or a music education major. That was it. Berklee has definitely grown to stay current with the industry. I do think that Berklee is in a position to give students the information they need to steer the industry, instead of accommodate the industry. I think Berklee can change the industry."
