On this page, you can find the Culminating Experience (CE) Projects for all graduate students from the Berklee College of Music master’s program Global Jazz 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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Invisible Women: Homelessness and The Dehumanization of Modern Society
Anastassiya Petrova
2021The present culminating experience is a combination of research on the theme of homelessness, humanity, empowerment through music, and using music as a means of raising awareness of social issues and creating monetary support of humanitarian goals.
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TRAVELER’s SYMPHONY: Bridging musical worlds in search of a new personal aesthetic
Paride Pignotti
2021The main purpose of this work was to realize a research of some musical elements typical of particular genres, aimed at discovering a new aesthetic and musical identity, through the writing of original pieces. This journey through the various musical styles has been conducted mainly following my personal musical and life influences, starting from Italy, the nation where I was born and which was the first to have influenced me musically and humanly, up to my last experience in Senegal and America. The main aim was to find and discover new sounds that can bring together totally different and apparently distant expressive worlds. My goal was to analyse and compose music with elements that mix European impressionistic music (Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin) with Italian Music (Puccini aria’s Opera Melody) with Mandingo music originating from Mali, Guinea and Senegal, through the lens of the jazz Harmonic tradition. Some of the compositions has been designed for a classical string quartet combined with a jazz quartet composed of piano, double bass, drums and guitar. A variety of research has been conducted in order to helped me expand my knowledge in the musical and artistic field.
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Personal Journey Towards Freedom
Daniel Szczepanski
2021This project is about my personal journey through different stages, and how these stages affected me as musician and a human. I will be presenting different aspects of collectivity and how does it evolved in last century. Presentation is consisting of my original compositions, their music examples, scores, interviews , historic background, tradition in music and significance of mentorship. Each part will be describing different elements of music and it's own purpose.
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What You See from Here
Noam Tanzer
2021My project, “What You See From Here” is a four-part suite that discusses different issues and topics revolving around Israel and Palestine. It is the story of the region I was born and raised in, and it is my expression and call to action for new generations to start asking questions, and to seek communication and interest in listening to one another. With musical influences ranging from Shostakovich to Brad Mehldau, the instruments involved are piano, acoustic bass, electric bass, drums, Moroccan percussion, a string quartet, tenor saxophone, and flugelhorn.
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This Is Art School
Aretha Tillotson
2021My Culminating Experience project entitled This Is Art School, examines the experiences of intersectional women who have attended Canadian art institutions in post secondary institutions. I interview five different women from different parts of Canada who work in different mediums of artistic expression; trombone, piano, voice, painting, while I contribute my upright bass playing. After each interview, I write a musical portrait based on the discussion I have with each woman, and she contributes her skill to the piece. The final result of this presentation is an in-depth look into the conditions oppressed groups face in institutions, with each woman bringing to light a new subject: female representation in institutions, the physical and emotional stress lived in an institutional environment, oppression manifested through gendered instruments, and the continuation of colonial oppression. Through clips of the video interviews, and a sample of the pieces recorded, audiences are able to experience a snapshot into the lives of these artists during their post-secondary studies in Canada.
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Turning Within: Interlacing Jungian Psychology with the Creative Process to Heal Transgenerational Trauma
Nadia Washington
2021Turning Within is a project that explores the idea of interlacing Jungian psychology with the creative process. The suite of music utilized tools such as Active Imagination, Word Association, analysis of archetypes, and symbols to confront and process Trans-Generational Trauma within the Collective Unconscious. The musical element incorporated was tetrachord theory taught by The Artistic Director of Berklee Global Jazz Institute, Danilo Perez. The outcome of incorporating Jungian psychology with composition includes creating a sonic art piece that integrates visual and expressive art forms such as graphic scores, voice acting, and sound design. The intention is to create an immersive aural experience that is therapeutic for the composer and the audience and leads the composer towards a path to individuation within their personal and creative life. With further study and research, the goal is to create a technique to share with other creatives seeking personal and artistic growth.
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Nature’s Melody
Suwon Yim
2021When I was young, I had many opportunities to visit and hike in the forest and mountains with my parents but when I got older most of the places I’ve been have disappeared and reconstructed to apartments, buildings and other form of facilities. This made me to think more about the nature and started to get interest in the environmental issues. Ever since I started music my interest always leaned towards containing messages in my compositions, so I wanted to express my thoughts through this wonderful medium. As music can be a good form of giving awareness, I want to educate how Global Warming can give a negative impact on earth to the youths. This will be accomplished by writing lyrics on composition. Since global warming is major problem around the world, I want to tell the people that every small action will be helpful to the earth. Moreover, many countries have different methods and thoughts to the global warming issue but since I am in Korea, I want to deliver my music to the youth through social media and educate with music.
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Reparations – An Exploration of Musical Narratives in an Australian Context
Stephen Byth
2020This project entailed the composition, recording and production of 8 pieces of music centred around addressing social issues in my home country of Australia through the use of musical narratives. These issues included Australia’s mistreatment of Indigenous Australians and inaction in combating environmental degradation and climate change. Throughout my research in these two areas, the intersectionality of these issues became more clear to me as I delved deeper into the history behind their manifestation in Australia. Throughout my research and composition process, I drew inspiration from a wide range of Australian artistic works including music, literature, photography and visual art, with the goal of creating an interconnected body of work that served the ultimate purpose of inspiring positive social change with regards to systemic racism and environmental degradation in Australia, as well as contributing to the global fight against these forces.
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The Journey of the Venezuelan Cuatro
Carlos Capacho
2020The Journey of Venezuelan Cuatro is the representation of my research based on my life experience as gratitude been able to bring the tradition into the academic perspective and developing a new path for the future.
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A Note To My Mentors
Anton Derevyanko
2020Public music education faces one of its most challenging eras yet. School administrators and local/federal governments make cuts to music budgets nationwide. This state of public music education is even more worrisome due to COVID-19, which contributes to the loss of educators jobs, programs, and livelihoods. Through a series of musical compositions and interviews, “A Note To My Mentors” comments on the state of music education. It explores the importance of having a music program, and the overall importance and advantageous impact that music has on young children, throughout their lives. Through interviews with figures of the Massachusetts educational community, the creative collaboration aims to highlight the importance of mentors and teachers, who have a tremendous impact on the worldview of a young, impressionable student. The findings and results shone a light on the difficulties of the job of a music teacher or administrator, but also the trials and tribulations a teacher faces. There is also an element of triumph and gratification when successfully changing the life of a student for the better. Music education is undoubtedly crucial to the development of children in the United States (and everywhere), and teachers hold the power to shape their future.
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Old and New Dreams
Daniel Elbert
2020‘Old and New Dreams’ is a brief, mixed-media essay on the state of modern America. With it, the artist hopes to provide an honest reflection of our many challenges, and propose that only in solidarity can we move forward. The suite has three movements. The first, ‘Vigil’, is comprised of three pieces, and deals with issues of violence, pain, and division in our country. ‘I Want a President’ presents an alternative: a world governed by very different values, and by very different people. Finally, ‘Old and New Dreams’ closes with the hope that this future can become a reality, if we demand it. Critically, the suite uses existing works of art, literature, photography, and film as a vehicle for the artist to make his own comments on the culture. These works serve as both an inspiration for, and in many cases, are integrated into the suite.
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Reclaiming A Stolen Future: A Musical Exploration of the Intersection of Climate Change and Racial Inequality in the Modern World
Eli Heath
2020Reclaiming A Stolen Future: A Musical Exploration of the Intersection of Climate Change and Racial Inequality in the Modern World uses music as a framing tool in order to raise awareness and generate emotional connections to the pressing issues of climate change and racial inequality. The suite consists of five distinct movements; each focuses on a different facet of these interconnected issues, and together they form a cohesive narrative arc. The first movement, “Calm Before the Storm,” is inspired by the beauty and natural biodiversity of our planet. Movement two, titled “Addicted To Risk,” deals with corporate greed and exploitation, unsustainable business practices and policies, and their inevitable consequences. The third movement, “Turning Point,” looks at the real people who are affected most by these irresponsible actions, with a special focus on patterns of racial inequality. In "Reflection,” the listener is invited to imagine what it would take to achieve a sustainable future and how we will need to fundamentally reshape our relationship both with the environment and each other in order to achieve this. And finally "Rise," the fifth movement, is a call to action in order to demand and implement these changes.
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The Greatest of These: Fighting for Freedom
Tyson Jackson
2020Throughout out my development as a young man I’ve noticed that every successful individual that I’ve ever encountered whose left a strong impression on me all have shared a common characteristic. What is that you might ask? Well, that’s faith. Given that it requires much maturity, and a constant choosing of consistency it is a topic that is touchy and rarely talked about. The purpose of my culminating experience project is to shed light/share how my faith in Jesus Christ has been the very thing that has fueled everything that I’ve ever done as well as everything I’ve ever attained throughout my life. In addition, I ultimately plan to use this presentation in an effort to help others clearly understand that in many of the battles that we face, we never face them alone. With God’s love as center, and with the consistent accountability and support of each other, we will be able to be more victorious in our longstanding daily fight for freedom.
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Avian Voices: Inspired by Imperiled Soundscapes, Advocating for Nature's Musicians
Minnie Jordan
2020This Culminating Experience project consists of five recorded compositions, inspired by birdsongs and natural soundscapes: “The Myrtle Warblers,” “Summer Song,” “May-Day Morning,” “May-Day Mid-Day,” and “May-Day Frogsong”. I was inspired by many disparate musical styles, as well as the croaking of frogs and the singing of birds, when writing these compositions. These five pieces were originally intended to be performed in a live concert organized to raise awareness of environmental issues and to benefit avian conservation, but due to COVID-19 those plans are on hold. In the interim the music will be a part of a video released to promote an online fundraising effort for the same cause. It is my intention to develop the connection between nature, and birdsongs in particular, and my own compositions and musical voice, and to use my music to practically benefit avian populations.
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Resonance as an act of Resistance
Yessaï Karapetian
2020Resonance as an act of Resistance is an exploration of the philosophies of Gilles Deleuze and Hartmut Rosa through my personal prism on the crucial role of art and artists in our societies. How can art help us develop the tools to deal with the biggest issues the world is facing right now? In this presentation I navigate through the relationship of figures like Etty Hillesum and Primo Levi with what they experienced during Holocaust, as well as Rodolpho Mendoza Denton’s studies on cognitive sciences and racism. We will observe how human beings are victim in some contexts and persecutor in other contexts. How we are all part of the problem and part of the solution at the same time. How to transform poison into medicine through art, religion and nature (vertical resonance).
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Temple Beyond Sanctuary: A personal study of hybridizing Indian music and Jazz
Kavyesh Kaviraj Chirayil
2020Temple Beyond Sanctuary is a suite of compositions written to utilize Carnatic music and its' hybridization in a modern jazz context. This project studies the requisite devices that characterize Carnatic music, and explores the central attributes to its performance. These devices are then expanded upon by combining concepts from the jazz genre, adding upon like elements like improvisation, motivic development, and rhythmic complexity, but carefully contextualizing elements as authentic to each genre that are absent in one another, such as harmony or dissonance. Theses compositions are derived from personal stories of immigration, that the author has collected from his family, or personal experiences as an immigrant.
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The Power Of Us
Nathan Kay
2020The Power Of Us explores collaborating beyond the barriers that we perceive as genre. It is a musical project that involves people from very different backgrounds working together to create a personal and relevant small body of work. The Power Of Us represents the humanity in individuals while also building bridges as a collective to further create a sense of community at a time dominated by a world pandemic and social injustice.
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Connections: creating bonds and building bridges in music and society
Gregory Loughman
2020For my culminating experience I chose to record a musical suite and to start an organization. Both of these endeavors were focused on the ideas of connection and disconnection in the US today. For the musical suite I wrote 7 pieces that, taken together, have an arc that starts by addressing issues we face of division and isolation, then moves toward a possible solution. The second aspect of my culminating experience was to put these ideas into action. In the fall of 2020 I created and organization called New England Jazz Connections (NEJC). The goal of the organization is to put on jazz concerts in unique spaces to raise money for worthy causes. In the future I plan to release this music and continue with the work of this organization.
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Ndombe: The musical landscapes of Argentina and its African origins
Rosina Scampino
2020I started this project driven by the strong desire to know more about the music of my home country, Argentina. As a drummer, I have spent most of my formative years playing and studying jazz and Brazilian music; but I have always felt that I needed to research the music of my home country in order to broaden my musicality and to explore my musical identity. This project was a first attempt for me to incorporate some of these rhythms and musical elements of Argentinean music to my playing, in an honest and respectful way.
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The Taboo of a Woman's Tragedy
Matthew Stubbs
2020This project sought to musically represent unspoken tragedies befallen specifically to women around the world in an effort to begin the healing process for their victims, and educate a community complicit in allowing such anguish to go unrecognized by our governments failing systems. First person accounts and testimonials were used as research instruments to create cinematic compositions both from the perspective of the victims, and the composer coming to understand the harsh apathy to women’s pain. This study showed that music is a vital tool for the supplemental emotional education of these issues, yet what still remains unclear is if a listener is compelled to adapt their perspective off of the music alone. This project recommends that an artist fully realize their intentions before sharing socially active music. At the cost of spreading ideology, omitting the inspiration for a piece in presentation can allow for the listener to use their imagination to draw meaning, and thus has potential to affect a larger audience. Inspirations can always be made available upon request.
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Sicily: The Mediterranean Melting Pot of Cultures and the Arab Connection
Giacomo Tagliavia
2020Sicily has been home to dozens of cultures that have brought different traditions and music styles to the island. My goal was to dive into these traditions and understand how they influenced Sicilian folklore that was very active until the 1950s. Learning about these music styles made me realize how broad the topic was and I decided to focus on the Arab musical tradition, which I recognized as the most prominent in the recordings I was able to discover.
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Hiding Underneath - Our Oppression, Identity and Gender
Wenjun Wu
2020The Project "Hiding Underneath - Our Oppression, Identity and Gender ” aims to explore the themes of awakening society to respect gender and identity issues. Through the interviews, compositions, story/ poem, paintings and visual, based on self-therapy, rediscover who I am, and awaken from a part of my life spent hiding and covering my gender identity as a result of gender-related physical and mental abuse. I want to make society aware of mistreatment because of gender identity and inspire people to respect and learn it.
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ahon: explorations of a global Filipina artist
Hosanna Jireh Calo
2019Explorations of a global Filipina artist who, in search for her cultural and ancestral roots, ultimately finds a deeper connection to the inner self and to the world.
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Polish culture as a means of preserving nationality and identity during the partition 1795-1918
Agnieszka Derlak
2019Project about the influence of the Polish artists on regaining the independence of Poland combined with a compositional work based on Polish classical music from XIX century conveying the idea of social change through art.
