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Music
Instructors
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Ed Macan, Ph.D., Professor of Music and Chair of the Music
and Drama programs at C.R., is a musicologist, pianist,
mallet percussionist, and composer. He studied piano with
Flavio Varani, musicology with Roland Jackson, and composition
with Christopher Yavelow, Nadia Boulanger's last student:
he keeps aspects of Boulanger's pedagogical approach alive
in his own harmony classes. Macan is the author of two books
and of numerous articles and reviews, and writes about both
popular and classical music. He is the founder, chief composer,
and featured instrumentalist of the experimental music trio
Hermetic Science, whose three albums (released 1997, 1999,
and 2001) represent one of the most important contributions
to contemporary progressive music, and are especially admired
for Macan's innovative vibraphone work.
EDUCATION: B.M., Oakland University; M.A., University of
California, Riverside; Ph.D., Claremont Graduate University.
COURSES TAUGHT: Introduction to Music (Music 1), Beginning
Harmony and Musicianship (Music 2), Intermediate Harmony
and Musicianship (Music 3), Music in History(Music 10),
American Popular Music (Music 12), Class Piano (Music 25). |
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Bill Allison, M.A., Associate Professor of Music at C.R., is co-founder of the Monterey Peninsula Jazz Orchestra, serving as Educational Director and band vocalist from 1989-1993. He is a past member (1998-2001) of the Northwest Composers' and Improvisers' Collective, and an alumnus of the Jim Knapp Chamber Groove Orchestra, which explores new cross-genre compositions in both live performances and recordings. Bill, who has also taught through the Humboldt State University Music Academy since 2001, has recorded several CDs in conjunction with some of the Northwest's finest jazz musicians.
EDUCATION: B.A., Cornish College of the Arts; M.A., Humboldt State University.
COURSES TAUGHT: Music Ensemble (Music 42), Jazz Orchestra (Music 62), Studio Band (Music 64). |
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Joseph Byrd, M.A., Associate Professor of Music at C.R.,
is a retired composer, musician, arranger, producer, and
scholar. He studied with John Cage, Morton Feldman, and Carlos
Chavez, among others, and was a member of the FLUXUS group
of experimental artists in the early sixties in New York.
In Los Angeles, he pioneered the use of electronic sound
and performance art in rock music with his band United States
of America. His commercial work included film scores for
Robert Altman and George Roy Hill, the theme for the CBS
Evening News, and arrangements for artists from Linda Ronstadt
to Ry Cooder. He has written, performed on, and/or produced
nineteen albums, among which is the seminal three-volume
LP set Popular Music in Jacksonian America. He was amongst
the first to teach a course in American popular music in
the early 1970s, and a founder of The International Society
for the Study of Popular Music.
EDUCATION: B.M., University of Arizona; M.A., Stanford University.
Coursework towards the Ph.D. completed at UCLA.
COURSES TAUGHT: Introduction to Music (Music 1), Music in History
(Music 10), American Popular Music (Music 12), Songwriting
(Music 100). |
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Ruben Diaz, Associate Professor of Music at
C.R., learned to play guitar from G.I.T. guitar wizard Danny
Gill at Musicians Institute and from his father, Ricardo
Diaz, an accomplished flamenco guitarist. He has played professionally
for 22 years, and has worked with many rock, funk, and soul
luminaries, including The Hurley Brothers, Mo Pleasure, Maxxan,
Bobby Vega, Ray White, Prairie Prince, and Terry Haggerty.
Besides teaching guitar at C.R., he is also guitar instructor
for Center Activities at Humboldt State University.
COURSES TAUGHT: Class Guitar (Music 29). |
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Howard Kaufman, B.A., is Associate Professor of Music at
C.R. He has studied all areas of percussion and is a specialist
in Afro-Cuban, African, Trinidadian, and Brazilian popular
and traditional drumming. He is the founder and producer
of the Explorations in Afro-Cuban Dance and Drum program
held each summer at Humboldt State University. He composes
for and performs with the groups SamBatá and Samba de Alegría.
He has recorded with the groups Kachimbo, Humboldt Calypso
Band, and Zumba, and he has performed and studied in the
West Indies, Cuba, Mexico, and Europe. He will be a participant
in the World Percussion Tour this winter in Rio de Janeiro
and Salvador, Brazil. He is also a member of the Humboldt
State University music faculty.
EDUCATION: B.A., Humboldt State University.
COURSES TAUGHT: Introduction to Conga Drumming and African
Polyrhythms (Music 23). |
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Brian Newkirk, M.A., Associate Professor of Music at C.R.,
studied conducting with Gaylord Browne and William Hill (both
CSULA), Frederick Fennell (Eastman School of Music), and
Clarence Sawhill (UCLA). He studied saxophone with Lee Kalinsky
and William Hill, and jazz doubling with Buddy Collette.
For the past 30 years he has taught instrumental and choral
music in the Pasadena, Monrovia, Los Angeles, Covina Valley,
and Klamath-Trinity school districts. He has also taught
at the CSULA Saturday Conservatory of Music, Citrus Community
College, and is presently the Director of the C.R. Concert
Band. He is also presently on the Board of Directors of Wildwood
Music Institute and has been the orchestra manager and jazz
band conductor for the past 27 years.
EDUCATION: B.A., California State University, Los Angeles;
M.A., California State University, Los Angeles.
COURSES TAUGHT: Concert Band (Music 61), Activity Band (Music
63). |
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Carol Ryder, M.A., is Associate Professor of Music at C.R.,
where she is voice instructor, choir director, and musical
theater director. She holds degrees in vocal performance
and musical theater from Humboldt State University. She has
worked with San Francisco Opera Merola Program, Roundabout
Theater in New York, and the Music Academy of the West in
Santa Barbara. Ms. Ryder is also a member of Humboldt State
University's music faculty. As Artistic Director of Humboldt
Light Opera Company, she has directed and/or produced over
fifty productions since 1990.
EDUCATION: B.A., Humboldt State University; M.A., Humboldt
State University.
COURSES TAUGHT: Class Voice (Music 26/27), Musical Theater
Production (Drama 34), Opera Production (Music 44), Chorale
(Music 59), Oratorio Choir (Music 70). |
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