Peter Hollerbach
Associate Professor of Music
Music and Art
EMAIL: phollerbach@bmcc.cuny.edu
Office: F-1130L
Office Hours:
Phone: +1 (212) 220-1468
Expertise
Degrees
- Ph.D. University of Maryland, Ethnomusicology,
- M.M. The Peabody Conservatory of Music, Music History and Literature,
- B.A. Wayne State University, Guitar Performance, Guitar Performance,
Courses Taught
- A listening approach for the understanding of Western music. Students will explore musical examples across various genres with particular attention paid to styles, form, and compositional techniques as related to music history. Credit can be granted for MUS 102 or MUS 103 but not both.
- This introductory survey explores the musical and social histories of jazz from its American origins to its global present. Its focus encompasses jazz's development in the United States, its impact around the world, and the contributions of musicians who have shaped its creative and cultural significance. Requiring no prior knowledge of music, students will develop the analytical listening skills required to identify both the music's defining stylistic features and its leading figures. In addition to the music itself this course will examine the meanings jazz has acquired in its diverse geographical, social and historical contexts. Credit will be granted for MUS109 or MUS104 but not both.
- This introductory survey course explores the worlda??s music cultures with emphases on traditional and popular music styles. Ranging from local ritual musical practices to global commercial hip hop, this course considers the worlda??s music in relation to broad historical, cultural, and social contexts. Requiring no prior knowledge of music, students will become familiar with basic principles of musical organization as well as the culturally specific ways in which people engage them. Through guided listening, assigned readings, critical writings, and focused discussion this course will cultivate an understanding of and appreciation for the worlda??s musical and cultural diversity by examining the important link between music and the society that produces it.
- This course is open to all students and designed to acquaint beginning students with the world of percussion. Students will gain basic music reading skills as well as basic percussion techniques on a variety of percussion instruments.
- This course is the first level of a four-semester sequence in jazz performance skills. Students will focus on the study of improvisational concepts, chord progressions, interpretation, conception, phrasing, harmonic awareness, dynamic sensitivity, rhythmic and melodic development, and phrase construction. Students are required to participate in performances. Ensembles perform at least one concert per semester.
Prerequisite: Permission of the department and admission is by audition - This course is the second level of a four-semester sequence in jazz performance skills. Students will focus on the study of improvisational concepts, chord progressions, interpretation, conception, phrasing, harmonic awareness, dynamic sensitivity, rhythmic and melodic development, and phrase construction. Students are required to participate in performances. Ensembles perform at least one concert per semester.
Prerequisite: MUS 301 - This course is the third level of a four-semester sequence in jazz performance skills. Students will focus on the study of improvisational concepts, chord progressions, interpretation, conception, phrasing, harmonic awareness, dynamic sensitivity, rhythmic and melodic development, and phrase construction. Students are required to participate in performances. Ensembles perform at least one concert per semester. Students at this level will be expected to take leadership responsibilities in the ensemble.
Prerequisite: MUS 302
Research and Projects
Publications
- “(Re)Voicing Tradition: Improvising Aesthetics and Identity on Local Jazz Scenes,” Popular Music, Vol.23/2, 2004 (Cambridge University Press),
- “Rite of Swing: Stravinsky, Woody Herman, and the Ebony Concerto”, International Jazz Archives Journal, University of Pittsburgh, Vol.2, #3, Fall 2002,
- “Rite of Swing” abstract published in, James Heintze, Igor Stravinsky: An International Bibliography of Theses and Dissertations, 1925-2000, (Warren, MI: Harmonie Park Press, 2002),
- “The Sound of Surprise: The Politics of Thought and Action in the Music of Thelonious Monk”, International Jazz Archives Journal, University of Pittsburgh, Vol.1, #3, Fall 1995,
Honors, Awards and Affiliations
- The Edith and Irene Ashworth Prize for Academic Excellence, The Peabody Conservatory of Music, 1986
