dewberry composition

Rising Senior Kitty Fields Cooks Up New Music for Mason and Beyond

Emily Schneider — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 14:56:57 +0000

Rising Senior Kitty Fields Cooks Up New Music for Mason and Beyond Emily Schneider Mon, 08/01/2022 - 10:56

In This Story

When Anne Catherine “Kitty” Fields (Music, 2023) isn't at her piano composing, she is engaged in a wide array of interests, from studying neuroscience to reading Carl Jung to enjoying bird songs on nature walks, in addition to cooking and baking.

Fields at her piano, exploring her next musical work.

On the surface, her many interests may seem unrelated, but Fields finds inspiration in her non-musical endeavors, which feeds her as an artist. Fields says that process of composing is akin to seasoning a red sauce. “You taste it and say ‘The prosciutto adds depth, but it needs some basil and parsley to brighten it, with a dash more of red wine and a pinch of salt, I think we’ll be closer to what we want.’ “said Fields. “In the same way, composers have agency to say what a piece needs: ‘The bass drum will reinforce this downbeat, but we need the reeds and flutes to brighten the texture, with bells doubling here and pianissimo crotales, I think we’ll be closer to what we want.’”

With several impressive compositions under her belt, including the premiere of her first work for a large ensemble in the spring of 2022, Fields stands on the cusp of her senior year, reflective of the road that led her to Mason and enthusiastic about what lies ahead.

The native Northern Virginian began composing small-scale works in high school. Her piano teacher, the classical pianist and church organist Olga Teulter, introduced Fields to the works of Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Ravel, and more. The richness and depth of their music profoundly impacted how Fields listens to music. Discovering the meaningful ways that other composers used musical elements to express ideas from their faith, bringing the influence of nature into a piece and evoking movement and emotion from the listener laid the foundation for Kitty’s understanding of how compositions are devised. Repeatedly listening to pieces and growing her understanding of their structure enhanced her desire to learn, driving her to discover more about theory and harmony so that her own ideas could come to life on the page. Another crucial influence was the Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi, best known for writing the soundtracks to films produced by acclaimed animation company Studio Ghibli. Fields says she “was always fascinated by the way a score could bring out the emotional undertones of a scene and suggest to the viewers where to direct their attention through auditory cues.”

Fields had countless ideas for new music but knew that continuing to study would bring her to a place where she could transform those ideas into fully-fledged works.

Putting what she hears in her mind's ear onto paper has taken training and patience. Repetition and exploration are central to her process. She plays through musical ideas multiple times at the piano as she brings the various elements into alignment, spending time with the music to discover whether it conveys what she intends in each piece, before she can begin to develop it fully. She then weaves these musical ideas together, creating colors through the orchestration, and conveying emotion through the pacing and structure of the piece.

Fields with her mentor, Professor Mark Camphouse. Camphouse is an acclaimed composer and retired from the Dewberry School of Music after 16 years in spring 2022.

Fields undertook her first composition explorations as a local high school student attending the Mason Community Arts Academy summer composition workshops with acclaimed composers Mark Camphouse and Vincent Oppido. Professor Camphouse retired in 2022 after 16 years with the Dewberry School of Music, while Oppido, a Mason alumnus himself, is an award-winning composer with credits that extend from video games and film scores to the Academy Awards ceremonies, in addition to his concert music catalog. She says, “I clicked with Professor Camphouse immediately and saw I had so much to learn from his vast experience in the field; his incredible talent and expertise in composing and conducting; and his warm and kind spirit.” Fields met Dr. Anna Balakerskaia, her current piano teacher, through Teulter and was “completely in awe of her musicality and intuition.” When it came time to select a university to continue her studies, Fields' choice of Mason made perfect sense.

Fields received her first song commission from Mason's own Professor Joseph Walsh in 2021, “The Hand and the Light,” in which she performed and recorded the vocals and piano accompaniment. The Fantasy for Piano and Wind Symphony is Field's first large ensemble work, and her eloquence is as apparent in her writing as it is in her musical compositions. She describes Fantasy as “partly inspired by reading the memoirs of the aviator, writer, and poet Antoine Saint-Exupery and by various stories told by pilots and adventurous souls [I’ve] encountered personally. In this work, Fields attempts to capture the exhilaration and profound beauty of soaring through the heavens and the loneliness that may haunt someone who is never in one place for long.”

The second movement of Fantasy, titled “Night Flight”, is a favorite in her portfolio.

“It evokes the unease of flying over a large body of water at night. The piece plays with fear, light, darkness, life, and death. The slow, deliberate beginning of the movement feels as though it is suspended in the air, only drifting, as an ascending motive makes gradual entrances. The ascending motive is then juxtaposed with the Lux Aeterna Gregorian chant from the Requiem Mass (played by the piano), almost like a prayer for light to scatter the strangely inviting darkness. The low brass comes in, roaring to depict the depth of the water, an abyss that could swallow one instantly. Throughout the piece, there are many images and moods that Fields leaves open to the listener to interpret. One thing is for sure, though: at the end, when the Lux Aeterna takes its final form as a resplendent fanfare, the light does not merely illuminate the darkness but shatters all fear.”

Fields' college career has been marked by the pandemic. She says, “Lockdowns happened the second semester of my freshman year, and when we came back to school after a year and a half of trying to make music over Zoom, I realized what I had missed through most of my time here: the forging of musical relationships through collaboration and ensemble playing.” She explains that the most rewarding part of being a composer is working in partnership with other musicians who breathe life into her creations. Fields got to experience this in full last April when the Mason Wind Symphony premiered Fantasy. She says, “The energy was incredible that night. I also performed the piano part, which meant I not only got to hear my peers play my music, I also got to play with them. The experience of that musical synergy is unforgettable!”

Fields at the premiere of her piece "Atmospheric Study No 1", which has been accepted for publication and distribution by C. Alan Publications.

Her summer has continued to build on the energy of collaboration and the enriching relationships that evolved during her time at Mason.

Two of her compositions have been accepted by C. Alan Publications for distribution, one of which is her Fantasy. The other is titled Atmospheric Study No. 1, for piano and vibraphone—a minimalist piece that experiments with the timbres the two instruments can create together, at times focusing on one instrument, at others blending the two into an indistinguishable sound. Fields attended the National Band Association Young Composer/Conductor Mentor Project as an observer just a few weeks ago. The program is the brainchild of Mark Camphouse, offering young composers and conductors a three-day intensive partnership with an experienced working mentor from the field. At the event, Fields connected with renowned composers Thomas Duffy, Viet Cuong, and Kevin Day, among others. Currently, Fields is working on a setting for soprano and orchestra of the beloved American classic “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” by Robert Frost.

For the rest of the summer, she hopes to write lots of chamber music that will be performed during her senior recital in the spring of 2023, after which she plans to continue her studies in graduate school. Fields' goal for her final year at Mason is to continue to foster as much of this collaboration as possible and continue cultivating these supportive and transformative friendships through the binding power of music.

Topics

composer

dewberry composition

composing

Dewberry School of Music

music student

Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music

College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) School of Music

Prof. John Jansen

Pam Muirheid — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 15:21:31 +0000

Prof. John Jansen Pam Muirheid Mon, 08/16/2021 - 11:21

Adjunct Faculty, MUSIC TECHNOLOGY, Dewberry School of Music, CVPA

Contact Information

Campus: Fairfax
Building: de Laski Performing Arts Bldg
Mail Stop: 3E3

Biography

John C.L. Jansen is an active composer, multi-instrumentalist, luthier, author, recording engineer, and teacher of music technology and music theory, based in Takoma Park, Maryland.

John’s compositions are influenced by a reverence of nature, a love of patterns, and the energy of minimalism. He currently divides his time between writing chamber works for ensembles of existing instruments and writing for original instruments and tuning systems he designs himself. His music has been performed across the United States by the Partch Quartet, the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble, Duo Atmos, chamber band Drive (J:), Decho Ensemble, the violinist Todd Reynolds, and saxophonist Jacob Swanson.

A strong advocate for new music, John has appeared at Strange Beautiful Music VI and VII in Detroit, Michigan with the GVSU New Music Ensemble, as well as accompanied the same group on four tours of the national parks—reaching twenty parks spanning the West Coast to the East Coast. In 2016 John co-founded Drive (J:), a chamber band from Fredonia, New York. With Drive (J:), John has appeared at the New Music Gathering in Boston, MA, and released two studio albums: places/spaces, and Phenomenology. As a solo performer, he has appeared at the New York City Electro Acoustic Music Festival and the Hot Air New Music Festival in San Francisco, California. John has also collaborated with Bang On A Can to restore Glenn Branca’s Movement Within, a piece for an ensemble of original instruments designed for a seven-octave overtone tuning. He worked directly with the original instruments, and the final product was performed live on WNYC’s New Sounds program.

As an instrument builder, John invented a 3rd bridge instrument called the duochord, a 9-foot-long amplified zither which allows the user to isolate string partials, and to generate clouds of reverberant harmonics. He is also one of the only builders of daxophones, and pick-behind-the-bridge guitars, little-known inventions by Hans Reichel.

In 2020, John founded JLJ Instruments, a company that produces experimental musical instruments. The company has shipped globally, with orders ranging from daxophones to microtonal guitars.

Adjunct Faculty

Music and Computer Technology

Education

BA Music Composition, Grand Valley State University
MM Music Composition, SUNY Fredonia

Dr. Robert Gillam

Pam Muirheid — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 18:23:09 +0000

Dr. Robert Gillam Pam Muirheid Wed, 07/28/2021 - 14:23

Director of MUSIC TECHNOLOGY and COMPOSITION, Dewberry School of Music, CVPA

Contact Information

Campus: Fairfax
Building: de Laski Performing Arts Bldg
Mail Stop: 3E3
Email: rgillam@gmuedu

Biography

Robert W. Gillam holds a bachelor’s degree in Music Theory and Composition from Azusa Pacific University, a master’s degree in Commercial Music from California State University Los Angeles, and a doctoral degree from the University of Arizona in Music Composition with a minor in Music Theory. He also holds a certificate in film scoring from the highly acclaimed UCLA extension program in Los Angeles.

Dr. Gillam is an active educator, having taught at several higher-education institutions across the United States. His primary areas of interest are in music technology, composition, sound design, commercial music and music for media. While teaching at Lamar State College-Port Arthur, Robert helped develop and implement an innovative sound design curriculum.

As a composer, Robert has written music for several independent films and his concert music has been performed in the U.S. and in Europe. He has received commissions from the Azusa Pacific University Wind Ensemble and his piece “American Fanfare” was chosen as a finalist in the 2013 Dallas Winds Call for Fanfares competition. His music’s wide range of influences includes 20/21st century concert music, jazz, film scores, folk music, popular song, and electronic dance music.

Dr. Gillam is also active as a performer. He has played in groups across Southern California, Arizona, and Texas. Robert plays several different keyboard instruments including piano, Hammond organ, and his personal favorite: keytar. He is also a highly skilled synthesizer and drum machine programmer.

Associate Term Professor of Music

Music Technology courses

Education:

B.M., Azusa Pacific University
M.M., California State University Los Angeles
D.M.A., University of Arizona

Dr. Glenn Smith

admin_alpha — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 23:30:01 +0000

Dr. Glenn Smith admin_alpha Tue, 10/20/2015 - 19:30

Professor (retired 2023), Dewberry School of Music, CVPA

Personal Websites

Learn More about Dr. Smith's work

Biography

Glenn Smith is a composer, teacher, performance-artist, and sound healer. He has written more than 500 pieces, including choral, chamber and orchestral works, as well as jazz and electronic music for concert, dance, video, film and television. He has taught at the college level for the past 40 years and has given numerous recitals and public performances as a composer and multi-instrumentalist.

His music has been performed in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia and includes commissions from ensembles, institutions, and individual artists. Major performances include Carnegie Recital Hall, Wolf Trap Farm Park, National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, CBC Television, local public and cable television and National Public Radio. He was the first composer-in-residence of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra and several of his works are available on compact disc. His composition teachers were Fred Fox and Bernhard Heiden. He earned his BA in bassoon performance and an MA in Theory and Composition at California State University, Hayward, and received his doctoral degree in composition with distinction from Indiana University. He is a recipient of numerous composition awards from ASCAP, and has more than 40 chamber works published by Seesaw Music Corporation, NY, and MMB Music, St. Louis, MO.

In recent years, Dr. Smith has been composing music for healing and therapeutic applications. He is a certified Reiki Master Practitioner and has a limited therapeutic healing practice employing healing modalities that include Reiki, crystals, tuning forks, and overtone singing as well as theta-state meditational therapies using crystal singing bowls. His music has been used therapeutically in hospital intensive care units, with challenged children, and in a published music education study involving mood problems in elementary school children. He frequently gives lectures, seminars, and workshops on music and healing, and has performed regularly for the elderly at several assisted living centers in the area.

When at Mason he created a new University Minor in Music and Well-Being, teaches its core courses, Music as a Healing Art, Music and Consciousness, and previously directed ��AV’s Healing Arts Ensemble, where students learn to apply music healing principles in performance. A more extensive Graduate Certificate in Music and Well-Being is is newly in place for Fall 2016.

Dr. Smith was a professor at ��AV in Fairfax, Virginia 1976 until his retirement in 2023. As previously serving as the Director of Composition, he taught graduate and doctoral level theory courses and a private composition studio. Several of his private students have won prestigious composition awards and have had their works performed throughout the metropolitan DC area.

He holds active memberships in ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), CMS (College Music Society), and ACEP (Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology). He is affiliated with the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being – originally called the Center for Consciousness and Transformation.

Professor of Music

Applied Composition
Music Theory
Orchestration
Healing Arts Ensemble

Degrees

B.A. and M.A., California State University
D.M., Indiana University

Dr. Jesse Guessford

admin_alpha — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 23:27:01 +0000

Dr. Jesse Guessford admin_alpha Tue, 10/20/2015 - 19:27

Founding Director of MUSIC TECHNOLOGY and COMPOSITION, Dewberry School of Music, CVPA

Contact Information

Phone: 703-993-4113
Campus: Fairfax
Building: de Laski Performing Arts Bldg
Room A419
Mail Stop: 3E3

Email: jguessfo@gmu.edu

Biography

Dr. Jesse Guessford received a BS in music education from West Chester University, a Master of Music in music composition from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, and a DMA in music composition from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Guessford has studied composition with Andrew Simpson, Zack Browning, Sever Tipei, Warren Burt, Vinko Globokar, and Lucas Foss. His music has been heard throughout North America, including performances during the SEAMUS Nation Conference, in Europe at the Etchings Festival in Auvilar, France, and in Africa on South African Radio. Guessford has received numerous awards, including the Subito Grant for Emerging Composers, awarded by the American Composer’s Forum. As an associate professor in the School of Music at Mason, Guessford has focused on the scholarship of teaching with and about technology and the music of John Cage. Guessford is also co-founding director of Music, Motion, Technology, a dance and music collective based in Northern Virginia, creating evening-length works involving dancers, musicians, and interactive audio and visual technologies.

Associate Professor of Music

Applied Composition
Music in Computer Technology
Music Technology courses

Education:

BS Music Education, West Chester University
MM Music Composition, Crane School of Music
DMA Music Composition, University of Illinois

Dr. Michael Nickens

admin_alpha — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 23:24:01 +0000

Dr. Michael Nickens admin_alpha Tue, 10/20/2015 - 19:24

Director of ATHLETIC BANDS, TUBA, Dewberry School of Music, CVPA

Contact Information

Phone: 703-993-9031
Campus: Fairfax
Building: Northeast Module, 109
Mail Stop: 3E3

Email: mnickens@gmu.edu

Biography

Serving as Director of Campus Life Ensembles and Collaborative Arts, and as an Associate Professor of Music, Dr. Michael W. Nickens (a.k.a. Doc Nix) is most recognized as the leader of the “Green Machine”, which in 2015 was named the #1 pep band in college basketball by the NCAA and commended by the Senate and House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In addition, Dr. Nickens launched Mason’s fife and drum corps and WGI world-champion drumline, and oversees Mason’s winterguard. This collection of performing units, known as the “Green Machine Ensembles”, are internationally known for their thrilling, high-energy performances at Mason ceremonies and basketball games, professional sports games and events (Capitals, Nationals, Wizards, and Redskins), community events (Celebrate Fairfax, and the Nike Womens’ Half Marathon), and marching competitions, as well as their popular internet videos that have over 100 million views collectively.

Dr. Nickens was named the 2016 Faculty Member of the Year by the ��AV Alumni Association. He served as a Faculty Representative to the Board of Visitors, Chair of the Faculty of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Chair of the CVPA Diversity Committee, and as a member of the School of Music’s Graduate Committee. Having joined the faculty of Mason’s School of Music in fall 2006, he has taught courses in sight-singing/ear training, popular music in America, improvisatory music, brass methods, applied tuba, composition, chamber music, and jazz improvisation, as well as collaborations with Mason’s School of Dance. In addition, he was a co-founder and co-conductor of the Colonial Athletic Association’s “Breakfast with the Bands” intercollegiate pep band showcase.

During summers, he has taught tuba and euphonium, conducting, jazz performance, composition, improvisation, chamber music, large ensemble performance, and theory at the Performing Arts Institute at Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Pennsylvania, the Music, Art, and Theatre (MAT) Camp in Evanston, Wyoming, and the Northern Arizona University Music Camp in Flagstaff, Arizona, and at Mason’s Potomac Arts Academy. He has also coached a professional marching ensemble, “Mix It Up”, at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Dr. Nickens was born in Washington DC and grew up in the Fairfax County Public Schools in Alexandria, Virginia. He completed his academic degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, Yale University, and the University of Michigan.

Associate Professor of Music

The Green Machine / Pep Band
Applied Tuba
Composition

Degrees

BM, Manhattan School of Music
MM, Yale University
DMA, University of Michigan