The Peter Benjamin Master Class is an advanced concepts and practicum course for developing musicians who have successfully developed a degree of musical fluency and skill. Peter brings his considerable experience and expertise in performance, songwriting and collaboration, production, recording, and composition for media to this advanced course.
Participants will have access to a comprehensive set of tools with which to conceptualize the language and performance of music. They will explore the concept of tonality and tonal language as guiding principles with which to understand and master harmonic and melodic dimensions of music. They will also develop rhythmic fluency and literacy as part of an embodied and conceptual knowledge base in an exploration of the idiomatic landscape of various musical styles. Particular emphasis on composition, arrangement, improvisation, and recording technology will be used to focus our skills in this advanced track.
Teacher's Bio:
Peter's basic teaching philosophy and methodology: Music is a language of meaning that our brains create through interaction with sound. Peter's approach to teaching music acknowledges and emphasizes the way in which we learn language. All children develop language skills first by becoming fluent (the ability to understand and speak a language), and then becoming literate (the ability to read and write). You can see how, though the perception of music is something the brain does, the production of sound is something that our bodies must do! Becoming fluent in music is an embodied process- the same way we learn to throw a ball, ride a bike, or even walk for the first time. Many of us who’ve learned to play an instrument can attest to how awkward and unnatural it can feel to play even a basic chord or scale on the piano or guitar, for example. After time though, these novel ways of using our bodies become as natural as the use of a casual or even unconscious gesture to express ourselves. We must first learn to play music as something that our bodies do, rather than something that our brains understand conceptually. The fundamental grammar of music used for communication and expression is represented by distinct elements such as rhythm, harmony, and melody. Our goal is to develop mastery both within these distinct realms of music and in how they combine to form the music that we want to play. Peter earned a Bachelor of Musical Arts from Pacific Lutheran University in 1997 and has been performing, recording, composing, writing, producing, touring, and teaching music in and around his native Pacific Northwest ever since.
Style of Offering:
Interactive - via Zoom
Max Attendance:
10
Date and Time :
Fridays at 4pm PT