Global Jazz

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  Color Me Joy

  Farayi Malek
  2018

  My culminating experience project, entitled “Color Me Joy” was a concept album and performance project of seven compositions in which each song addressed a different issue that young women, especially women of color have to struggle through and overcome. The purpose of this project was to look beyond the terms racism and sexism, and address the underlying issues within both subjects, such as identity, body image issues, sexual assault and harassment, the fetishization and objectification of women of color, and how all of these issues negatively affect mental health. I wanted to write music that was uplifting, empowering and joyful, but also reflective, cathartic, and healing. I wanted to discuss the intersectionality of being female and a person of color, and the silencing that so many women like myself feel and have been fighting against for hundreds of years. To enhance this goal further, I wrote spoken word poetry for each composition to be presented between songs along with free improvisation. I wrote this material from the perspective of a biracial woman living in America, because that is what I am, but I wanted all women, especially women of color to be able to relate to this project in some way.

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  Dreams in Motion: Community Through Music Performance Initiative

  Sean Pentland
  2018

  The objective of this project was to create music reflective of the process of overcoming addiction and mental illness, raise awareness of music's capacity to empower and heal those in recovery, and to establish a performance series where those attributes can be employed, providing spiritual nourishment and psycho-social integration for all present. The music includes compositional devices to express the searching, reaching, and yearning for resolution and spiritual wholeness that one in recovery experiences. The performance series will take place in various settings, the first of which is a composers' workshop to deepen contact between local creative musicians and the people of their community.

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  Phos Project- Refugee and migrant journeys of hope

  Eirini Tornesaki
  2018

  My project is a tribute to my great grandparents who were refugees. It also reflects on current crises and the issue of discrimination against immigrants and refugees.

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  The Power Of Sound & Vibrations

  Lior Tzemach
  2018

  My project was very challenging on a lot of levels, taking concepts from the past, the ancient world, concepts that are not exactly musical but involve sound and make a clear connection to today’s world using technology and production techniques as a vehicle for these ideas to bloom. I wanted to take a few symbols from ancient cultures – The Flower of Live, and the Staff of Asclepius. These shapes appear in many different parts of the world with no clear evidence that they are connected. It was my opportunity to showcase the connection. In the end I finished recording a whole album combining 3 long pieces : +,0,- that resembles the motion of a Sine Wave, purest form of sound in nature. Because I wanted to feature so many artists I had to use some recording skills and make everyone play on top of each other on a separate recording and align that later (overdubs). Although my intention was to create a very organic feeling like everyone is at the same room, I had to make some adjustments on a technical level.

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  Explorations Through Writing For Strings and Jazz

  Margaux Vranken
  2018

  My project was to write four new pieces of music for a large jazz ensemble including singers, horns, a typical jazz piano trio and a string quartet. I had the intention to analyze the classical repertoire of string quartets. I have been writing for strings since my first year of Masters at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (Belgium). I am more and more passionate about writing and arranging, so this is the reason why I wanted to dig deep into the string writing process.

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  New Songs of Resistance

  Jason Yeager
  2018

  My culminating experience project, New Songs of Resistance, consists of four chamber- jazz arrangements of politically salient and historically significant songs from the nueva canción and related Latin American musical and social movements. The project also includes three original compositions of my own addressing contemporary issues. The final work consisted of these seven recordings, plus three solo piano interludes, scores, and a multimedia presentation. The presentation outlines the history of nueva canción, the principal artists whose work I studied, and samples of the scores and recorded works to illustrate compositional tools, orchestration choices, and performance techniques used therein. I selected the four nueva canción songs—“Gracias a la vida” (Violeta Parra), “Aquí me quedo” (Victor Jara), “Cinco siglos igual” (León Gieco), and “Apesar de voce” (Chico Buarque)—based on extensive listening and research, choosing pieces by songwriters who were historically significant, and whose music touched me most deeply. I also considered the songs’ contrasting musical elements in the context of an album as criteria for their selection. In addition, I highlight particular Latin American folk rhythms and styles, such as cueca, merengue venezolano, and chacarera, which I studied and practiced during the year in the context of learning and adapting this repertoire.

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  Bright Colors on A Dark Canvas

  Naseem Alatrash
  2017

  This paper is a reflection paper on my culminating experience project. It summarizes the project. I will discuss how the project aligned with my expectations and how it didn’t. How I had to revise the project to meet the expectation. I will also discus future plans for the project and how to further develop it. I will discuss how the project contributes to the field and how the project impacted me.

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  Making a Performance Therapeutic Through Improvised Compositions

  Arvid Andersson
  2017

  A performance is therapeutic when two or more people have a common experience that involves emotional regulation. I plan to visit a couple of different music therapists in the Boston area. While there, I will conduct interviews about, improvisation, emotional regulation and effective repertoire. For my second visit with the group I will compose music that I will perform together with the participants. Each song will become a small game, where some information is given but many elements are open for improvisation. By involving communities that usually are not engaged by music, my project has the potential to reach further. Afterwards, I will arrange and record the ideas captured in the session for a band from Berklee. The CD will be a business card, promoting me as an artist as well as a teacher, and give an example of the findings of this project.

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  Contra ' Verses: Jazz with the intersectionality of race and politics

  Nzinga Banks
  2017

  This project is both a musical performance and an original album idea. My intention is to explore the trope of creating contrafacts from jazz standards (i.e. Tin Pan Alley, Great American Songbook). Inspired by the contrafacts I was required to submit of: “All the Things You Are,” “Inner Urge,” and Footprints”; which I submitted as: “All the Things Emmett Till Could have Been,” “Inner Outer Africa” and “Harriet Tubman’s Feet” respectively. My contrafacts both play on the wording of the standard and allude to a historical and racial significance replete with contradiction. They have relevance to both American history and current socio-political unrest in this country. The notion of relevance is essential here. I want to create jazz that is engaging and entertaining to my generation, and without relevance that becomes impossible.

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  The Sounds of a Starr

  Lee Fish
  2017

  For my final culminating experience project, I am planning to arrange and record the wonderful compositions of my mother and Berklee graduate, Lori Starr. Sadly, about three and a half years ago she passed away but left an incredible legacy for me to carry on. Starting in high school, she was an extremely hard working musician who performed, taught, and then took on the job as a full-time mom while continuing to pursue her passion for composing. I remember very clearly hearing her visions for arrangements and instrumentation. Recording her original music was always her dream, but because of her competing responsibilities it never became reality.

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  CE Project

  Alix Goffic
  2017

  I would like to create a new musical concept linked with social and environmental values to raise awareness in my home place. It will be a tool to promote French Guiana. The long term idea is to be a able to travel and perform the music and share the social and environmental messages thru it. I will also get in touch with fellow cinematographer, choreographer, painters... to extend the movement to a much global experience.

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  Old and New Spirituals

  Gregory George Groover Jr.
  2017

  For my Culminating Experience I want to make a recording that features arrangements of Negro Spirituals as well as my own original compositions that are inspired by these Spirituals.

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  Freedom of the Wilderness

  Jared Henderson
  2017

  Freedom of the Wilderness is a 5 movement piece that I created in collaboration with choreographer Jayne Paley and videographer Ashli Bickford. The piece features 10 musicians and 4 dancers and is presented as a short film. The message behind the project is to promote awareness for environmental conservation. Each movement is inspired by a different landscape from my hometown in Sisters, Oregon.

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  Music and Dance in Culture (The Global Groovements)

  Eunjeong Hwang
  2017

  By researching on finding correlations between music and dance in many different cultures, I would like to present both formats, a documentary and a performance/flash mob.

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  Music with film

  Seulgi Hwang
  2017

  My intention regarding the culminating experience/final project is to compose, perform, and record an album with original music that will be based on different and very important musical influences that made an impression on me during my childhood and adolescence.

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  The Kalesma Project (The Calling)

  Vasileios Kostas
  2017

  My artistic project is an offering to revitalize into a contemporary context, the little-known, yet passionate and relevant , bhakti poetry from the Indian Subcontinent. Etymologically the word bhakti has atleast two levels to its meaning. The root bhaj means to share, to participate, to belong to. It also means, a state of being in ‘loving-devotion’, ‘absorption in love’, and ‘a spontaneous expression of love’.

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  The Anthropocene

  Isaac Levien
  2017

  My project will be in two parts. The first part will be a composition based around the idea of the "anthropocene" and how humanity has affected and lives alongside the natural world around us looking at our past, our present and our future through music. The second part will be a business proposal for a non-profit artist collective that consumers will gain access to through proof of making a positive environmental change.

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  Music of the Great Lakes

  Andrew McAnsh
  2017

  My vision is to compose a 5 - part suite entitled "Music of the Great Lakes" where each lake hosts a different tribe.

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  Free Spirits

  Lesley Mok
  2017

  Much of my experience in Global the past three years has challenged me to think about the union of multiples roles as performer, composer, educator, social activist, and therapist into one. For my culminating project, I want to explore the work of Mary Lou Williams, Abbey Lincoln, Alice Coltrane, and Denise Levertov. These women all have overcome enormous adversity and made significant contributions through their work as artists.

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  G. Jazz Music tools, to compose a Suite for educational purpose

  Orion Morales Gonzalez
  2017

  I want to create a musical suite, with the lenguaje learned at the BGJI, specifically the rhythmic concept learned in "Danilo Perez Performance Lab", Choose in a concrete way, 6 musical tools, learned and compose, based on these tools, 4 movements, An estimated time 35H40 minutes, in jazz approach, in an orchestral format of approximately 12 musicians, including strings, horns and rhythm section. With the purpose that the performer identifies these tools in the movements and can learn to develop them consciously. For this we will recording the suite, and the musical scores will be edited with a manual of instruction, of how the Global Jazz tools have been used in the composition. With this to inspire other kind of orchestras, professional or students ensembles, for study and performance the jazz suite, and at the same time to integrate into their language these concepts.

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  Classical and Jazz - Collaboration and Communication

  Chase Morrin
  2017

  This project seeks to bring Classical and Jazz musicians together in the form of a Jazz quartet and Classical string quartet, teaching and documenting the process of collaboration and communication of ideologies.

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  Songs of love-thieves

  Sujatha Rajasekar
  2017

  I will compose music based on film. I have two possiblities now, first is having project with film director, and I will be music director of the film. But it might be hard to find someone. So second posible project will be compose music based on films that I got inspired by. Both project will be representing the film and I will play both music and the film for my final presentation.

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  CE Project

  Max Ridley
  2017

  This project will involve me bringing two of my greatest loves in life together, Music and Science Fiction. I will do this in three ways, the first being writing pieces based on some of my favorite Sci-Fi stories and authors. The second will be to put together a group using non-conventional instrumentation to create a sonic palate somewhat unfamiliar. This is to have an effect of the futuristic, treating this ensemble as if it’s a standard format but in another time period. Like a classical string quartet or a jazz quintet but in an age where we have evolved into another “standard” format, whatever this may be. This is only a creative projection, much like an author’s vision of a future to set a story in. This is not a prediction based on current trends in music. The third is going to be using certain effects (electronics/pedals) on acoustic instruments to bring in a “cyborg” element of having both the organic and the mechanic operating in the same organism. The obvious thing to do would be to use all electronics or programing but I really want to take it in a different direction and have everybody first and foremost playing an acoustic instrument before this electronic element is added.

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  Embracing

  Jonathan Suazo
  2017

  Into the musical part of the 1st season in the Video Cultural Documentary series “EMBRACING”; An entertaining and educational series focused on learning, sharing, and documenting the treasures that certain parts of the world have in three specific categories: Gastronomy, Historic Monuments and of course Art. The 1st season of Embracing will be about the Dominican Republic, an integration of Afro-Dominican Folkloric Rhythms in a contemporary setting providing new interesting combinations and possibilities. A huge part of my roots and only the beginning of a life long journey.

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  Redemption

  Nathaniel Winn
  2017

  This recording project will consist of compositions written in reflection of stages in my life that have brought me to where I am today.