Ethnomusicology PhD candidate Benjamin Pachter is currently in the midst of a busy travel schedule while conducting fieldwork for his dissertation. A current recipient of the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship, Pachter has rarely been in one place for very long, traveling to a wide variety of places as he conducts research on the transnational nature of contemporary Japanese taiko performance and how this has affected conceptions of tradition. His travels started this past summer when he spent two months in Honolulu, Hawaii conducting interviews and taking classes and workshops at the Taiko Center of the Pacific. He then traveled to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California to participate in the 2011 North American Taiko Conference, the largest gathering of taiko performers and enthusiasts in the world.
After a brief stopover back here in Pittsburgh, Pachter’s next destination was California, where he spent two months traveling between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to seeing a number of incredible concerts, he was able to conduct interviews with some of the top performers of taiko in the United States, delving into the history of the art form in this country and how it is evolving today. He was also able to visit a number of taiko groups and observe their rehearsals, allowing him to see the breadth of taiko activities happening today in California.
The next stop on Pachter’s research journey was Japan. Based in Tokyo, Pachter not only continued many of the activities that he had been doing on his travels – conducting interviews and attending concerts – but he was also able to acquire a large amount of CDs, DVDs, books, and journals that will prove vital to his research and are only available in Japan. One highlight of his time in Japan was a visit to the Chichibu Night Matsuri, an annual festival held in early December featuring music that has come to be performed by taiko groups around the world.
Blog
Blog categories 
RSS
Ensembles
Subdisciplines
Concert Series
People
Additional Tags
EXTENDED DEADLINE: Feb. 3, 2012
Travel to the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, & Austria! May 20–June 5, 2012
3 Pitt credits
Taught in English
No music background required
Limited seating available
For more information and apply here.
MUS 1362: This new study abroad program is the first and only program of its kind organized by a US institution of higher learning to focus on Roma/Gypsies, the most discriminated minority in Europe. Students will become familiar with debates relating to development aid and initiatives put forth by internationally-sponsored non-governmental organizations. This course provides an excellent hands-on ethnographic opportunity to see the ways politics, economics, media, and performance informs human rights agendas. This course is highly recommended for students in anthropology, history, political science, economics, sociology, social work, area studies, and music. Please contact Dr. Adriana Helbig to learn more about the academic component of this awesome course.
PhD student Bomi Jang’s composition, Three Little Pieces for Piano, was performed as part of a solo piano recital by Pablo Amorós at The XVIII Ciclo de Music Contemporanea de Malaga on January, 16, 2012 (Malaga, Spain). The concert also included music of CMU composer Leonardo Balada and was featured in Modernicolas, a Spanish arts magazine.
The recital in Spain continues Jang’s recent successes. In 2010, she won the Creative Music Competition for the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts. Su:m, her composition for Dae-gum, Violin, Cello, Bass and Percussion, took first place in the large ensemble category. The competition prize included $2500 and a concert premiere that was also broadcast on television in Seoul. Su:m will be performed again in Seoul in the near future and a recording of the work may also A CD of the winning pieces is also due to be released.
IonSound Project will premiere a new piece by Jang in April as part of the annual concert of works by graduate composers.
The Music Building has extended its hours to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday. This is particularly useful for those who want to use the practice rooms and the piano lab.
The new, expanded hours are as follows:
Basement-level Practice Rooms
Monday–Thursday, 8:30 a.m.–10 p.m.Friday, 8:30 a.m.–4:15 p.m.Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m.–5 p.m.
Room 121 Piano Lab
Monday–Thursday, 9–10 p.m.Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m.–5 p.m.
The Pitt Men’s Glee Club will join the Bach Choir and Oakland Girls Choir for a pair of concerts this February. Titled Con·sol·i·da·tion, the concerts will take place in Alumni Hall at the University of Pittsburgh on Saturday February 4, 2012 at 8 p.m. and Sunday February 5, 2012 at 2 p.m. The pieces selected for this concert embrace a variety of styles spanning three centuries of music. Featured composers include such Thomas Morley, Benjamin Britten, Sergei Rachmaninoff and W. A. Mozart, along with contemporary artists Ralph Manuel, Morten Lauridsen, Joan Szymko, James MacMillan and Pittsburgher Sean Pack. For more information about this event, visit the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh on the Web.
2011 was a very fruitful year for recording projects by members of the Department of Music. Eric Moe, Nathan Davis, Bryan Wright, Donna Amato, and IonSound Project all released new CDs.
Boston Modern Orchestra Project released a CD of music by composition professor Eric Moe on the new BMOP Sound label. Kick and Ride takes its title from the Moe’s concerto for Drum Set and Orchestra with Robert Schulz as soloist. The CD also contains earlier Moe works Superhero and Eight Point Turn.
Tomorrow International released jazz studies professor Nathan Davis’ Parisian Hoedown, featuring 12 of his original compositions. Another of Davis’ earlier recordings, Rules of Freedom, was reissued on Universal Music Classics & Jazz France for a record series entitled "Jazz in Paris." The concept of this series is to re-release jazz albums recorded in Paris from the 1930s to the 1970s.
IonSound Project, the Department of Music Ensemble-in-Residence, released its first CD, one that focuses on the music of Jeremy Beck. The collection of Beck’s works was released in September on the Innova label and features a composition written specifically for IonSound pianist Rob Frankenberry titled In Flight Until Mysterious Night.
Musicology doctoral candidate Bryan Wright released a new CD on his Rivermont label. Featuring pianist Martin Spitznagel, A Handful of Keys contains traditional ragtime, new ragtime, and ragtime covers on game themes by Koji Kondo (such as Legend of Zelda), show tunes, and more. Wright recorded the CD in Pitt’s own Bellefield Hall Auditorium using the Department of Music’s prized Steinway D.
Piano instructor Donna Amato released a double CD on the Altarus label on which she tackles the massive Symphony brevis by the English composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji. The single work, which places tremendous technical demands on the performer, spans both discs. Amato gave the world premiere of Symphony brevis in 2003 at the Vredenburg Music Center in Utrecht.
Many of these releases are available on Amazon, iTunes, and from other vendors. Get a copy for yourself and enjoy the sounds coming from the Department of Music.
David Hidek (BA 2008) may be the only person we know who has heard his orchestral music played by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and seen his hip hop video splashed over the jumbotron at PNC Park. In March of 2010, while completing his master’s degree in composition at Duquesne University, Hidek’s orchestral composition was chosen for the annual Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra student readings. He is also Chief Recording Engineer and Mix Engineer at Turtle Creek’s Treelady Studios where one of the many projects he has produced is music for a video shown during the “hotdog shoot” at Pirates home games. Those experiences may seem worlds apart, but he finds strong connections between the two.
“I think the paramount thing is attention to detail,” Hidek says when asked about the connections between orchestral composition and audio engineering. “When you’re doing a mix, whether it’s rock or country, or whatever, you can’t just set your level and compress your instruments and say, ‘That’s it! That’s how it going to go.’ You have to ride your faders and bring them up and fade things out, and really listen to a piece from the beginning, over and over again and try to create this experience through dynamics. And that applies probably the most to chamber music or smaller ensembles, but definitely at the same time to larger ensembles… You’re thinking about how to create these dynamic experiences with musicians instead of software.”
Hidek started at Treelady as an intern while he was an undergraduate in the Department of Music, and says that, “My first couple years at Pitt really helped me get that internship… I was able to present those foundational skills in a more professional way because of the theory and ear training you get as an undergrad.”
Hidek continues to work on multiple projects simultaneously. His solo debut CD, The Worthy Ghosts, received critical acclaim and has sold in fourteen countries. He’s also a regular contributor to the highly regarded magazine Tape Op where he reviews recording gear and software. Most recently, he tracked Flyleaf’s Lacey Sturm performing a song by Geno Lenardo (formerly of Filter) for the new film Underworld: Awakening.
Keep your ears and your eyes open for more of David Hidek’s work, now playing at a cinema (or a jumbotron, or a club, or a concert hall) near you.
The Department of Music of the University of Pittsburgh seeks to make a faculty appointment in Jazz Studies beginning September 1, 2012, pending budgetary approval. The appointment will be made at the level of Assistant Professor in the tenure stream.
Title: Coordinator of Jazz Studies
Duties: Teach undergraduate courses in jazz (courses include History of Jazz, Arranging, Improvisation, and Jazz Ensemble); administer jazz program and the Academy of Jazz-African American Music program under the supervision and direction of the current Director of Jazz Studies. Share in departmental responsibilities.
Qualifications: Master’s or higher degree in music; record of excellence in lecturing on jazz history and related subjects; outstanding international record of accomplishment in jazz performance, recording, composition/arranging; potential for distinguished leadership in the field of jazz studies; interest in working with colleagues in the department and in related disciplines.
For the Coordinator of Jazz Studies position, we seek a colleague with a special combination of skills as dedicated teacher, musician, and administrator, who will continue and strengthen our program in jazz studies and who will work closely with other members of our faculty. The jazz program includes the Academy of Jazz–African American Music; the annual Jazz Seminar, Concert, and outreach program; International Jazz Archives; International Jazz Archives Journal; International Jazz Hall of Fame; and William Robinson Studio.
The Department of Music offers the Bachelor of Arts degree in a liberal-arts curriculum—including a jazz-oriented B.A. track—and Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees with concentrations in composition and theory, ethnomusicology, jazz studies, and historical musicology.
Candidates should submit a letter of application, a curriculum vitae, samples of their work (1 commercially released compact disc, and 1 score of an original composition or arrangement with accompanying compact disc) and three letters of reference to:
Coordinator of Jazz Studies Search CommitteeDepartment of MusicUniversity of PittsburghPittsburgh, PA 15260(412) 624-4126
In order to ensure full consideration, applications must be received by February 13, 2012. Electronic applications will not be accepted.
The University of Pittsburgh is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity employer. We particularly invite applications from women and members of minority groups under-represented in academia.
Missed out on Heinz Chapel Choir Holiday Concert tickets? Tune into WQED 89.3 tonight (December 6) at 7:30 p.m. From the WQED website:
"The most intimate Christmas concert in Pittsburgh is always sold out, so host Ted Sohier saves you the best seats in the house on the radio as the Heinz Chapel Choir processes down the center aisle for a candlelit concert in the hushed atmosphere of Heinz Chapel."
One of the pieces on Friday night's concert by the Women's Choral Ensemble is Kevin Siegfried's arrangement of a Shaker song titled "Peace." Here's a performance of that song the WCE gave on our October Choir Showcase.
You may need: Adobe Flash Player.
