On this page, you can find the Culminating Experience (CE) Projects for all graduate students from the Berklee College of Music master’s program Contemporary Performance (Production Concentration) (CPPD) from 2015 – present. Click on any title for more information and access to the full paper and other deliverables (if available).
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The Developing Drummer
Nathan Noel Acupan
2025The purpose of my project is to help intermediate drummers expand their rhythmic vocabulary and feel confident improvising in odd groupings and time signatures. As a drummer who struggled with soloing and timing, I wanted to create the resource I wish I had. The Developing Drummer is a multimedia curriculum combining notated exercises, instructional videos, and real-world examples from my own playing. I researched drum method books and educational theories like constructivism and scaffolding to make sure each concept is clear and accessible. My goal is to guide drummers step by step—from foundational rudiments to advanced groupings—while encouraging creativity and personal expression. By sharing the methods I used to improve my own playing, I hope to inspire other drummers to develop their own voice and approach complex rhythms with confidence.
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Self-Mirage: Self-Reflective Songs Through the Lens of the Seven Deadly Sins
Nazan Aktas
2025Self-Mirage: Self-Reflective Songs Through the Lens of the Seven Deadly Sins is a self- explorative creative project. In this thesis, I will share my personal history, my project proposal, my goals and my process. With this project I aimed to complete a significant body work consisting of songs all written/composed and predominantly arranged by myself using the “seven deadly sins” as the concept for my album and to improve my performance and recording capabilities. My ultimate goal as a musician is to create interesting and collaborative works that push boundaries but unite people under the scope of curiosity and creativity. Within this project you’ll find the lead sheets, transcriptions, lyrics, artwork and details of the entire process from beginning to end of writing and recording each song. Coming out of this project I have an almost finished album of seven songs, plus two interludes, that will be released as my first singer/songwriter and bandleader project. My hope is that this will ignite for me a fruitful career in music, in which I am involved in various creative projects of my own and also continue to collaborate with other creatives from around the world.
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Echoes of the Diaspora from choro to flamenco
Rafael Barros
2025This project explores the fusion of Brazilian music, flamenco, and jazz through original compositions centered on the bandolim and cavaquinho. Drawing on methodologies such as autoethnography and practice-based research, the work investigates shared rhythmic, harmonic, and cultural elements rooted in the African diaspora. Each composition reflects a dialogue between traditions, informed by historical research, transcription, and close collaboration with musicians from diverse backgrounds. The result is a portfolio that highlights the expressive potential of cross-cultural musical exchange, offering a contemporary perspective on identity, improvisation, and innovation. By situating personal narrative within broader social and musical contexts, the project aims to contribute to the global discourse on hybrid music practices and promote inclusive artistic expression.
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Finding a Songwriter's Voice
Itamar Baz
2025In this project, I document my journey as a bassist and composer of instrumental music into the world of writing song lyrics. Looking to incorporate my lifelong interest in words, literature, and prose writing into the music I create, I teach myself the craft of lyric writing via attentive listening and analysis of lyrics by songwriters whom I admire, intentional experimentation with various dimensions of lyric writing (such as point-of-view, rhyme scheme, and song structure), and the exploration of new approaches on the guitar (namely, open tunings and fingerstyle plucking) to facilitate the music I compose to my lyrics. As a result of this work, I present eight finished original songs, four of which I recorded and will release as my first EP, marking the beginning of an additional musical identity for myself as a songwriter. I document my writing process behind each song, showing the influences and techniques I incorporated into my work, my development as a lyricist through the lessons each song provided, and culminating in the method I developed for myself for writing songs by putting the lyrics first, which may be of use to other instrumentalists looking to begin writing their own lyrics.
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Los Rastros: Compositions Intertwined by Art, Colombian Armed Conflict and Resilience
Jorge Cabezas
2025Through this project called Los rastros: compositions intertwined by art, Colombian armed conflict and resilience, I aim to connect art, music, and the Colombian armed conflict into a cohesive narrative. By exploring how different art forms interpret the country’s complex history and cultural shifts, I seek to understand how these influences can shape my own music and how creativity fosters resilience and contributes to identity formation in Colombia. The project begins with an investigation into the origins and evolution of Colombia’s armed conflict and I will also explore the works of Colombian painters, writers, and photographers from 2004 to 2018 who have grappled with the realities of the conflict. By examining how these artists have used their mediums to document and interpret the human stories within this context, I aim to compose, arrange, record and mix five original compositions.
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Beyond Fado: Portuguese folk music with a twist
Joana Carvalhas
2025Beyond Fado: Portuguese folk music with a twist is a project that presents the Portuguese musical heritage in a fresh and unique way. One of the main goals is to keep the tradition alive by fusing it with modern concepts, techniques and sonorities and promoting the culture around the world. After researching and collecting some traditional folk tunes that are getting forgotten, I created some arrangements with the knowledge I got during my studies at Berklee Valencia to then present them in a performance where the audience can not only have a sense of what Portuguese music sounds like but also what my identity and skills as an artist are. Another part of this project is to compile the new version of the tunes I rearrange and reharmonize in a song book with some illustrations so that other musicians and musical groups can have access to this project. By doing that, Portuguese folk music will be kept alive and get spread easily as well as reaching more people and the future generations.
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Sound Wave: The Art of Blending Original Sound with the Cultural Pulse
Weilin Cheng
2025For my program. I’m composing four violin pieces inspired by minority culture. I didn’t want to just follow sheet music I want to express my own thoughts and feelings. For a long time, I played strictly within the rules. But I realized the real challenge is finding your own voice within those structures. I know Violin isn’t a Bai instrument, so I had to figure out how to extract Bai melodies, singing styles, cultural elements and keep that spirit alive, but present it through violin and modern musical language. To make the music more flexible and interesting, I really want to learn violin improvisation and production. My goal is to use my own musical voice to carry forward the folk and ethnic music I love, I want the violin to “talk.” For me, this isn't just four pieces of music. It's a cultural conversation. It's my journey from being a 'classical player' to becoming a 'cross-cultural creator'. I hope when people listen, they don't just hear the structure. I want them to feel the unique logic of Bai culture, its human spirit, and even a bit of my own life story. There's another reason: In China, even Asia, just a few people use the violin for improvisation. Today's music world values collaboration, quick creative responses, and sparking new ideas together. This is a big opportunity and that's a big part of why I came to Berklee. Finally, I’m also trying to use livestreaming and cultural e-commerce to share this music. My idea is to put “complex music” into “simple settings”. for example, playing music while selling local products. This way, people can not only enjoy the music and learn the culture behind it but also help support the local economy. This whole project has three steps. First step: I collected materials in Yunnan, that means taking photos and recording sounds. Then, after I came to Berkeley created the music using those things. Second step: I asked people for their feedback on my music. Then, I made changes to improve it. The last step is to combine music with local farm products and do a livestream performance, using music and culture to promote local goods.
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Music I haven't yet heard - Contemporary Creative Strategies
Cristian Chiaburu
2025Jazz has often intersected with world-music vocabularies, producing rich and diverse musical fusions. This thesis extends that lineage through the pursuit of radical originality, introducing new compositional systems—including ethnoserialism, rhythm rows, Morse code integration, and awareness composition—each intended to push the boundaries of contemporary music. A mixed, practice-based methodology combines analytical score study, iterative composition-improvisation, and semi-structured interviews with masters. Serial rows, Messiaen’s modes of limited transposition, and Balkan rhythmic frameworks serve as creative constraints, pushing the music beyond habitual harmonic and metric choices. The outcome is a portfolio of 15 original compositions that serve as practical case studies for these compositional models, alongside a written thesis that documents the process in detail. The findings demonstrate that deliberate and multidimensional constraint—applied to melody, harmony, and rhythm—can unlock sound worlds rarely accessed in current jazz or contemporary classical practice. While not claiming to have invented a genre, this work contributes the foundations for what could become a new branch of exploratory music—rooted in jazz, informed by academic rigor, and driven by the desire to imagine music not yet heard.
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Jazz as a Language of Peace: Composing for Unity, Resilience, and Social Change
Qian Chow
2025This project explores the role of jazz as a medium for peacebuilding, focusing on the genre’s capacity to convey messages of resilience, unity, and social engagement. Drawing inspiration from jazz’s historical significance in movements like the Civil Rights era, the research revolves around the composition and arrangement of six original works. Developed in collaboration with Berklee musicians, these pieces are informed by critical study of jazz history, stylistic analysis, and genre diversity, aiming to communicate both emotional nuance and socio-cultural themes. To assess the effectiveness of the music in promoting peace-related concepts, structured feedback will be gathered through questionnaires from a varied audience that includes musicians, non-musicians, and faculty members. The project ultimately seeks to demonstrate how jazz continues to serve as a powerful tool for fostering empathy, encouraging dialogue, and addressing contemporary social issues.
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“Portraits de mon chez moi”: My Compositional Journey Through Quebec’s Musical History
Thierry Du Sablon
2025With my project “Portraits de mon chez-moi”, or “Portraits of my home” in English, I embarked on a compositional journey focused on exploring my cultural and musical heritage, aiming to help me find and develop my own artistic voice. As a Québécois, I feel a strong connection to culture and its preservation, a sentiment I embraced from a young age. I created this project to deepen my understanding of my culture and its roots, allowing me to incorporate it authentically into my music and preserve it in the process. Through detailed case studies, transcriptions, and practice of the music, I was able to connect with it on a profound level, gaining the musical tools and inspiration needed to compose a personal and culturally authentic album. This project will return to Quebec, where it will be presented not only as a show and musical performance but also as a cultural and historical exploration of Quebec’s musical tradition. I mention “a part” here because this is only the beginning of something much larger, as I have opened a door to endless possibilities by exploring different styles, each of which could form different theses. I will continue researching and composing, extending my project into new musical directions and locations around the world, all while sharing my story and preserving the essence of my identity and voice that I discovered during the creation of this project.
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Alex’s Blues; An exploration of the confluence of IDM and Jazz, given current sociopolitics
Alexander Farrar
2025This body of research examines the artistic development of its author through the research of various facets of the music creation process. The main goal of this research is to create the music of an album fusing electronic music with jazz improvisation in unique and innovative ways, while simultaneously speaking on the issues that arise from the current late-stage capitalism that affects the working class. To accomplish this goal, capitalism and current American politics are examined, niche sound design softwares are explored, techniques for recording and mixing are discussed, and strategies for building a dedicated fan base are investigated. This final point will allow the artist to use the material created to effectively distribute their music and their ideas, spreading class-consciousness and pushing the boundaries of musical genres.
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Melodic Contours and Harmonic Language: Brazilian Songwriting as a Foundation for Instrumental Composition
Henry Galli
2025This project investigates how the melodic phrasing and emotional depth inherent in Brazilian popular song can inform and reshape contemporary instrumental composition. Emerging from a personal reconnection with Brazilian song traditions during the author's graduate studies at Berklee Valencia, the research marks a shift from an initial focus on electronic textures to an approach grounded in melodic and song-based sensibilities. Influenced by artists such as Chico Pinheiro, Daniel Santiago, and Pedro Martins, the work explores how vocal phrasing can serve as a guiding force in the development of harmony, formal structure, and emotional expression within instrumental contexts. Drawing on performative, action research and autoethnography methodologies, the project blends original compositions, collaborative songwriting, and reflective documentation to build a portfolio rooted in Brazilian melodic aesthetics. Pieces such as “Composition 1,” “Valensambando,” and “Xangô” exemplify how lyrical phrasing and intuitive songwriting practices were adapted to instrumental forms. Through this creative inquiry, the project offers a renewed perspective on the expressive capabilities of melody in instrumental music, positioning songwriting as a culturally resonant and emotionally rich foundation for contemporary composition.
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A Blur of Color: One Violist's Redevelopment of the American Idiom
Andrew Keeve
2025“A Blur of Color” discusses and illustrates a creation of new American music, its process, and my personal artistic refinement in parallel. As a classically trained violist, I reflect upon and develop musical ideas derived from the people, stories, and landscapes of the American West, while applying concepts that emulate and celebrate a variety of American musical styles. Genres of interest include jazz, modern bluegrass, old-time, funk, prog rock, chamber music, and American music informed by 20th-century theories of the harmonic series. Throughout, I illustrate the use of composition strategies that integrate these genres into my unique sound, while creating a cohesive and compelling EP. An intensive study of jazz performance and transcription supports these new compositions for the viola and an unorthodox string band. This study addresses challenges specific to the viola, and my approach to adapt to a variety of contexts. Further exploration includes the entire production process: pre-production planning, recording, editing, and mixing. The resultant music is highly innovative, and embodies the resilience, unity, and diversity of the American people in the face of current adversity.
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Clamo a Dios, al Altisímo
Brittany Kurgat
2025This project, “Clamo Dios al Altisimo,” was unique in its collaboration because it is not often that someone such as myself will come from the United States to Spain and develop such a deep connection with a Gospel choir in Valencia. This was not only a collaboration with people from Spain, but it was an international merging of cultures through the many different sounds that my classmates and I brought from our different countries around the world. Through this deep connection, I was able to find more of my voice and my place within the music industry. I am able to now reflect on the experience of the joint collaboration concert with Coro Goria and Berklee Valencia. We were able to present Gospel music in a way that is not so common by incorporating the fusion of sounds from different influences of Black Gospel music, Latin American music, and of course music that is authentic to Spain. This moment was very impactful and it also left a lasting impression on the community of Valencia and people afar because the people of Spain really enjoy Gospel music. Many were able to connect with my colleagues and I with very open minds.
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SYNCHRONIZATION LICENSING: for the Modern Musician
Dan Kwak
2025This project is important to me because it arose during a period of injury and self-reflection. The motivation stemmed from the exhaustion accumulated over ten years of performing and touring. Its purpose was to alleviate the physical difficulties I faced both as a performer and following a recent car accident. My main goal was to support my ambitions as a creative musician while sustaining my musical aspirations through work that is both musically related and enjoyable. To complete the project, I employed model observation and performative research as my primary methods. It became apparent that although the process from start to finish can be lengthy, having a clear goal makes it achievable and a reliable way to generate income. Deliverables include harmonic analyses, lyrics, fully produced and mastered tracks, contracts, metadata suggestions, and pitch templates. Throughout this process, I learned to value each stage and developed respect for specialists in these fields. While I expected mixing to be the most challenging aspect, it was instead the effort to achieve tonal and mixing characteristics specific to different genres that proved most difficult.
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7 Rayos: The Art of Integrative Musicianship
Nicole Lopez
2025This Culminating Experience explores the intersection of music and spirituality throug the creation of a seven-song album inspired by the philosophy of the 7 Rays, a universalist framework that examines archetypes of nature. Integrating field research conducted at Carnacura in Brazil with intensive compositional and production processes at Berklee Valencia, the project seeks to honor ancestral wisdom while developing a contemporary artistic voice rooted in spiritual practice. Each composition was approached as a journey of self-reflection, weaving original songwriting, arranging, production, and intentional lyricism to capture the essence of each ray’s energy. Additionally, this work introduces the foundations of Integrative Musicianship, a pedagogical framework that synthesizes mindfulness, embodiment, and cultural knowledge within music education and creation. The final outcome is both a deeply personal artistic statement and a proposal for a holistic approach to musicianship that bridges technical mastery with spiritual integration, laying the groundwork for future research, teaching, and interdisciplinary gatherings centered on music as a transformative practice of self-knowledge.
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Pipa Revolution: A Cross-cultural Journey of Sound and Identity
Yiwen Lou
2025This project reimagines the role of the pipa and other Chinese traditional instruments in modern music. Working with producers from India, Colombia, and the United States, I created three original compositions—Mask, Fog, and Risky—each blending the pipa with different contemporary styles, including trap, reggae, and hip-hop. These works highlight how the pipa’s traditional techniques can adapt to modern rhythmic and production frameworks. Beyond recording and performance, I also arranged The Godfather Waltz into a hip-hop context, emphasizing how the pipa and ruan can function in melodic, comping, and counter-melodic roles. My composition Eclipse further explored the use of pedals and effects with both Western and Chinese instruments, laying the groundwork for integrating sound design into traditional performance. This work demonstrates the value of cross-genre experimentation and cultural exchange in expanding the artistic possibilities of Chinese instruments. It aims to inspire musicians to see tradition not as a limitation but as a foundation for innovation.
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Discovering My Identity As A Latino Musician
Evan Luna
2025This thesis by Evan Luna explores the intersection of personal identity and Latin American musical traditions through original composition, performance, and reflective analysis. Raised in Lubbock, Texas, Luna experienced early dissonance between his Mexican American heritage and the predominantly white cultural environment of his upbringing. Music served as both refuge and revelation, guiding him through church drumming, studio experiences, and ultimately to a deepening engagement with Latin genres such as salsa, reggaeton, mariachi, and cumbia. The project employs a hybrid methodology combining case study research and auto-ethnography. Through composing and recording a series of original works, including 7 compositions which integrate Folkloric Afro-Cuban bata rhythms while preserving his innate jazz vocabulary, Luna investigates how traditional elements can be respectfully reinterpreted in a contemporary musical context. This creative process is paired with scholarly analysis, transcription, journaling, and collaboration with other Latin musicians to ensure authenticity and depth. Luna’s culminating experience, a recorded album, serves not only as an artistic portfolio but as a vessel for exploring questions of cultural authenticity, musical hybridity, and the role of the Latino musician in modern contexts. By blending technical growth with emotional introspection, the thesis affirms composition as both research and self-expression. The outcome is a body of work that challenges genre boundaries and affirms the value of cultural complexity in artistic identity.
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Hua: Fusing Chinese Aesthetics Into Contemporary Styles
Yuetong Ma
2025Hua pioneers a deep structural fusion of traditional Chinese aesthetics, centered on the philosophy of 韵味 (Yùnwèi), or resonant artistic essence, with contemporary global music practices. Moving beyond superficial hybridity, it develops rigorous approaches to embedding cyclical phrasing, modal lyricism, and heritage sensibilities within modern frameworks. Using inspiration from Mediterranean folk traditions, studying their rhythmic vitality and communal storytelling, creating dialogue between shared oral lineages. Through ethically grounded collaboration and production, the work transforms Yùnwèi into both creative compass and technical discipline: harmonizing improvisational spontaneity with contemplative depth. This methodology offers diasporic reconnection through embodied cultural memory, challenges global audiences with anti-exoticized narratives of Chinese culture, and provides musicians a blueprint for meaningful cross-cultural innovation. By treating tradition as an evolutionary continuum rather than an artifact, Hua asserts Yùnwèi as essential to the modern artistic identity, proving heritage’s capacity to catalyze forward-moving expression when rooted in integrity and intercultural respect.
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Reimagining Iconic Works by Bach and Beethoven
Millicent McFall
2025This Culminating Experience (CE) project is an original EP of four tracks that reimagine and reinterpret works by J.S. Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven through the lens of contemporary genres including jazz, rock, house, samba, Afro-Cuban, and romantic solo piano. Rooted in my classical training, this project reflects a deeply personal and artistic journey toward bridging my classical foundations with a broader musical identity. Each piece explores iconic classical repertoire—Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and Bach’s Preludes in C major, C minor, and Bb minor from The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I—through processes of analysis, composition, arrangement, and collaboration. My primary objective was twofold: to diversify my artistic voice by composing and performing across multiple genres, and to increase the accessibility and relevance of classical music for contemporary audiences. Methodologies include case study, autoethnography, action research, and practice-based research. I studied existing reinterpretations by artists such as Adam Birnbaum, Hiromi, Muse, and the Klazz Brothers, to guide my own compositional approach. This project also served as a personal exploration of grief and healing, particularly in the track “Hold Me Up,” which was inspired by the loss of my stepfather. Each composition not only represents a musical reinterpretation, but also a stage of growth in my development as a composer, arranger, and performer. The final work stands as both a professional portfolio and a statement of artistic identity, positioning me for future endeavors in mainstream and cross-genre music creation, performance, and recording. It is a testament to the value of classical music as a living art form—one that can evolve, resonate widely, and still honor its roots.
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Seasonal Affection: Time, Doubt, Fear, and a Reclamation of Self
Alida McKeon
2025This project aims to establish my artistic identity as a singer-songwriter while documenting the creation of my first release, from conception to completion. It also explores how I navigate being a female artist with ADHD. Within this scope, I share the origins and inspirations behind seven of my compositions, detail how I developed their arrangements, and describe the recording process. Additionally, I reflect on the exploration of my visual identity and outline my plans for releasing the work. I address the fears and insecurities I faced at the start of this journey and explain how collaboration with other artists, musicians, engineers, and producers helped me overcome many of these challenges.
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The Fire Within: Navigating Identity, Emotion, and Sound Through a Cross-Cultural EP
Yaren Özhuy
2025This Culminating Experience project, titled KOR: The Fire Within, explores the transformation of emotional rupture into creative expression through the composition and production of a four-track original EP. Rooted in themes of cultural hybridity, vulnerability, burnout, and self-reclamation, the project reflects the artist’s journey as a Turkish interdisciplinary performer navigating between tradition and innovation. Each song—“Neden,” “Kalsan,” “Yoruldum,” and “Patliycam”—emerged from distinct phases of emotional upheaval, later shaped into sonic expressions of resilience, grief, irony, exhaustion, and creative rebellion. Using a hybrid methodology of creative research, autoethnography, and model observation, the project evolved from a solitary, loopstation-based plan to a collaborative and genre-fluid process involving live instrumentation and multi-layered production. While initially envisioned as a cohesive EP, the final decision to release the songs as individual singles reflects the emotional uniqueness and non-linear nature of the project. KOR ultimately serves as a sonic journal—an archive of self-inquiry, creative failure, and redefinition—that reclaims voice and artistic authorship through emotional honesty and cross-cultural identity.
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Make it Happen. The Development of Artistic Vision and Direction
Gavin Rushing
2025This project explores the concept of artistic vision and its application across music performance, production, and organization. In various musical roles, I aim to deepen my understanding of how leadership, creativity, and collaboration intersect in diverse musical settings. By actively participating in my peers’ projects and leading various productions, I will develop practical skills that translate across genres and contexts while expanding my portfolio and professional experience. The culminating project itself will be a reflection of my artistic journey—a fusion of my roots, influences, and personal growth as a musician. My involvement in each project celebrates the music that has shaped me and highlights the evolving path I continue to pursue.This experience marks a creative milestone and a step forward in building a career driven by purposeful and visionary musical contributions. “Regardless of the situation, it is my job to make it happen!”
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Simple Songs: “How to compose music with a simple groove and melody”
Beihe Tian
2025This project aims to enrich my different musical identities as an artist. I will produce a personal EP as a performer, composer, producer, etc. Composing and producing are new attempts for me. I will develop and explore new identities while consolidating the existing foundation and expanding more career possibilities. The EP contains 4 songs in total. The content of the songs is a complete storyline, which tells about my learning and growth experience in Berklee this year, as well as my yearning and expectations for the future. The themes of songwriting are all derived from the simple melodies and rhythms I created when playing and practicing bass, and they are developed into a complete whole. I hope to have my own representative works and show my ideas through performance and production. The method used in my project belongs to the field of performance research. I expressed all my inner thoughts in my works, and experienced many choices and difficulties in the creative process. These works are the final result of my continuous thinking and practice. At the same time, they also cultivated my ability to think from multiple angles, and finally completed these works with warm power.
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What’s Your Truth?: My Journey to Creative Freedom
Auriyan Tillman
2025This Creative Experience explores the pursuit of artistic authenticity and creative freedom through the development of a personalized toolkit for songwriting and performance. Inspired by the journey of creating my debut album InnerLivin/New Bloom, this project examines the processes, tools, and environments that have allowed me to express myself most freely as an artist. Central to the project is a four-phase study, Analysis & Reflection, Experimentation & Exploration, Framework Development, and a Live Performance Recording, each building upon the last to guide both self-discovery and artistic refinement. Through journaling, songwriting, collaboration, and live recording with a studio audience, I aim to demonstrate how embracing live energy in controlled environments can unlock deeper creative expression. The final outcome is a live-recorded album supported by a reflective, replicable toolkit that other artists can use to access their own creative freedom.