Cali School Faculty
Posted in: Cali News
Faculty
Prof. Brian Abrams (Music Therapy), Coordinator of Music Therapy Programs at the Cali School of Music, had two notable peer-reviewed publications during the past year, including “Evidence-based music therapy practice: An integral understanding” (Journal of Music Therapy, 2010); and “Exploring a perspective on the nature of music and health as they relate to the Bonny Method: A response to Summer’s (1992) ‘Music: The Aesthetic Elixir'” (Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 2010). He presented scholarly papers at professional conferences on various interdisciplinary topics, primarily concerning arts-based, humanistic perspectives on clinical practice and evidence of expressive therapies, across the USA as well as in the United Kingdom (at the First International Health Humanities Conference). He served as guest lecturer at Molloy College (Long Island, NY) and at Maryville University (St. Louis, MO). In addition, he became a North American co-editor of Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy.
Magdalena Baczewska (Adjunct Professor-Piano) spent her summer teaching and performing at the International Keyboard Institute and the New York Piano Festival (New York City). In September she made her Icelandic debut with a lecture-recital in Reykjavik. To commemorate the Chopin bicentennial, she gave Chopin recitals in the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland and the Polish Mission to the UN in New York. Dr. Baczewska is the music director of Bluesleep (bluesleep.com), where together with a medical team researching and treating sleep disorders, she studies the connection of music and sleep. Her CD Music for Dreams is currently undergoing clinical tests.
Director of Choral Studies Heather J. Buchanan conducted the NJ All-State Mixed Chorus in both Atlantic City and at NJPAC in November.
Dr. Lisa DeLorenzo (Music Education) was awarded a book contract from Rowman and Littlefield Press. Her book is titled Sketches in Democracy: Notes from an Urban Classroom and is based on her experiences during a sabbatical in the Paterson School District. A tentative publication date is set for February 2012.
Professor Karen Goodman (Music Therapy) was named Academic Faculty Consultant: Research Academy University Learning, Montclair State University; Music Therapy Consultant, Lake Drive School, Mountain Lakes (NJ) Hearing Impaired Infant/Toddler Program; named as reviewer, Arts and Humanities Journal, Penn State School of Medicine; Visiting Artist, Berklee College of Music, Music Therapy Program, Boston, MA. Her book, Music Therapy Education and Training: From Theory to Practice was released in 2011. She has recently been contracted to write a third book on socio-political issues relevant to the growth of international education and training.
Dr. Jeffrey Kunkel (Director of Jazz Studies) directed the 2010 New Jersey All-State Jazz Ensemble, sponsored by NJMEA and NJAJE. Concert performances were held in November at the Trump Plaza Theater (Atlantic City), and NJPAC (Newark). The band’s repertoire included Dr. Kunkel’s composition Blues for the Sake of Art, and a number by Montclair State adjunct jazz trombone instructor Alan Ferber, The Compass.
Anthony Mazzocchi (Adjunct Professor-Trombone) was appointed Executive Director of the Kinhaven Summer Music School in Weston, VT. The school has been in existence for 59 years. Alumni include University faculty member Jesse Mills as well as other major symphony orchestra musicians around the world.
Director of Bands Dr. Thomas McCauley presented a lecture at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago (IL) in December 2010. The talk was titled, This Rehearsal is Available to You in High Definition. The Midwest Clinic is the largest annual gathering of school band and orchestra conductors in the world. McCauley hosted and taught the 4th annual Weekend Wind Conducting Symposium on the Montclair State campus. This two-day event brought band directors from across the United States onto campus to work with Dr. McCauley and special guest clinician Professor Craig Kirchhoff, Director of Bands, University of Minnesota. On December 12, the MSU Wind Symphony and MSU Symphonic Band performed in the annual Beatrice Crawford Memorial Concert in Kasser Theater. The program featured music of composers who have been influenced by jazz. Special guest artists included the Manhattan Brass Quintet, the New Hudson Saxophone Quartet, and jazz trumpeter Warren Vaché.
As a member of the international faculty of YOA (Youth Orchestras of the Americas – Placido Domingo, Gustavo Dudamel, Artistic Directors) Mary Ann Mumm (Adjunct Professor – Violin) was named Director of Strings for 2010 inaugural season of Filharmonica Joven de Colombia, a national orchestra comprised of 18-24 yr old Colombian musicians. Highlights include a nine-city concert tour of Colombia and a week of work and recording with Phillip Glass in Quito, Ecuador. In addition, in December, Mumm traveled to Lima, Peru, as an independent international music educator to observe and write an evaluation report for continued grant funds for the Orquesta Juvenil del Rimac, a fledgling string education program in an economically compromised area of Lima. In addition to teaching private lessons at the Cali School this fall, she worked with Interim Director of the MSU Symphony Jeffrey Grogan as violin sectional coach. She also taught violin masterclasses to New Jersey violin teachers at the 2010 American String Teachers Association – NJ String Symposium in October.
Collaborative pianist Steven Ryan accompanied the NJ All-State Mixed Chorus in both Atlantic City and at NJPAC in November. He played Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Greater Trenton Symphony on New Year’s Eve at Trenton’s War Memorial Auditorium. In the fall, he performed a recital with violinist and faculty member Boris Kucharsky at Hamilton College in New York.
Professor of Clarinet and Chamber Music David Singer’s recording of the Aldridge and Copland Concerti was released in July by Naxos and received international acclaim. A review in Gramophone Magazine (UK) noted: “…Singer’s playing is exceptional. Sensitive and technically brilliant, he plays with great sass and swing. His style is just right.”
Adjunct Professor Joseph Smith’s article “Three Piano Misereres” appeared in the Journal of the American Liszt Society. It deals with piano versions of the Miserere from Verdi’s Il Trovatore by Gottschalk, Liszt, and Jelly Roll Morton. Smith’s latest piano anthology, Mano Sinistra, of etudes for the left hand, is being released by International Music Company.
Alumni
Music Therapist Paula Unsal (MA ‘08) received the annual Health Care Advocate of the Year Award as music therapist for Hudson Milestone’s adult clients with developmental disabilities.