Ross Feller joined the Kenyon College faculty after having taught at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. His research interests include the cognition and embodiment of sound, the impact of technology on compositional praxis, semiotics, composition, computer music, rock, jazz and improvisation.
He has published book chapters with Cambridge University Press, Routledge, and Schott, articles and reviews in journals such as the Computer Music Journal and ex tempore and has presented papers at music theory and interdisciplinary conferences in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Canada and the U.S.A. He was also the first external scholar to receive a year-long research grant to study materials in the Brian Ferneyhough Collection, housed at the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel, Switzerland. His dissertation on Ferneyhough was nominated for an award from the Theodore Presser Foundation.
A recent recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for Composition…
Ross Feller joined the Kenyon College faculty after having taught at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. His research interests include the cognition and embodiment of sound, the impact of technology on compositional praxis, semiotics, composition, computer music, rock, jazz and improvisation.
He has published book chapters with Cambridge University Press, Routledge, and Schott, articles and reviews in journals such as the Computer Music Journal and ex tempore and has presented papers at music theory and interdisciplinary conferences in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Canada and the U.S.A. He was also the first external scholar to receive a year-long research grant to study materials in the Brian Ferneyhough Collection, housed at the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel, Switzerland. His dissertation on Ferneyhough was nominated for an award from the Theodore Presser Foundation.
A recent recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for Composition, he has also received awards and grants for his compositions from the Gaudeamus Foundation, ASCAP, Illinois Arts Council, Bent Frequency, and Ingenuity: Cleveland's Festival of the Arts, Music, and Technology. His compositions have been commissioned and performed by ensembles such as the Prism Saxophone Quartet, Kenyon College Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Oberlin Conservatory Contemporary Music Ensemble, Ensemble Luna Nova, Goliard Ensemble and members of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Performances at venues including: Symphony Space (New York City), Roulette (Brooklyn), Presser Recital Hall (Philadelphia), Green Mill (Chicago), De Ijsbreker (Amsterdam), Plateau (Brussels) and at many universities, conferences and festivals. Recordings of his compositions are available on New Dynamic Records, Athena Records and UIUC Experimental Music Studios.
As a saxophonist he has specialized in contemporary classical repertiore, improvisation, extended techniques and jazz. With Kenyon College dance professor Kora Radella he co-founded Double-Edge Dance, a contemporary dance and music company for which he has composed many works. He has also collaborated with Kenyon dance professors Balinda Craig-Quijada and Julie Brodie, art professors Claudia Esslinger and Marcella Hackbardt and performs jazz regularly with professor Ted Buehrer in Padula Oblongata.
Professor Feller also serves as the review editor for the Computer Music Journal and often adjudicates competitions such as the MTNA Ohio Music Teachers Association Young Composers Competition.
For more information visit: www.rossfeller.com.
Composition, music theory, computer music, jazz studies.
This is an intensive course in the basic materials of music: pitch elements (scales, intervals, chords), time elements (meter, rhythm) and notation. Emphasis is on the development of basic techniques of music-making: sight-singing, ear-training and keyboard work. Suggested for first-year students or those new to the department. No prerequisite. Generally offered every semester.
MUSC 122Y will cover extended chromatic harmony. Emphasis will be on writing skills and visual/aural analyses of musical scores. Also included will be an in-depth study of the parameters of music and how these parameters function within a composition. This course takes a holistic approach to style and compares elements of music with similar principles in the other arts. Student work will include short composition projects. MUSC 102, 105 or 107, which can be taken concurrently with this course, are recommended, however students can take only one of the introductory courses. This counts toward the theory requirement for the major and minor. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or placement. Offered each fall.
This course introduces students to the principles of computer music. Beginning with a historical overview and introductions to the physics of sound and digital audio, the course will provide students with an understanding of basic acoustics, tuning, synthesis techniques, musique concréte, MIDI, and the composition, processing and recording of digital audio using Macintosh-based software programs. Students will compose, edit and mix original work, as well as remix extant material, and will learn how to discuss, critique and write about issues, techniques and approaches of importance to the field of computer music. This counts as an elective for the major and minor. No prerequisite. Offered every year.
This course presents a study of musical forms and compositional techniques from ancient times to the present. Smaller sectional forms will include binary (simple and rounded), ternary (simple and compound) and strophic. Larger forms will include rondo, variations (continuous and sectional), sonata-allegro, sonata-rondo and through-composed. Concurrent to this study of musical forms will be an investigation into the compositional applications of common-practice harmony (pre-1900) and various approaches to musical organization post-1900. Students will engage these topics through detailed study of existing pieces, the application of common analytical techniques, and composition. A holistic approach to music will be taken, and comparisons with other arts and sciences will be investigated. This counts toward the theory requirement for the major and as an elective for the minor. Prerequisite: MUSC 102, 105 or 107 and MUSC 122Y. Offered every fall.
This course offers instruction in the craft of composition. Exploring a variety of approaches and aesthetics, students will be encouraged to employ traditional formal structures, tonal and atonal materials, as well as recent techniques from the 20th and 21st centuries. Students' work will be routinely presented and discussed during class time and presented in a final concert at the end of the semester. Attendance at concerts in metropolitan areas such as Columbus and Cleveland will be required. This course may be repeated for credit one time. This counts as an elective for the major and minor. Prerequisite: MUSC 102, 105 or 107 and 122Y. Offered every year.
This course is designed to be a follow-up to the current introductory course in computer music. Students will continue to develop fluency with the technological tools for composing and producing original, computer-assisted music. Students will learn about algorithmic composition, advanced synthesis and processing techniques, and how to implement them, designing their own patches and applications using current software packages such as Max, ProTools and various open source programs. This counts as an elective for the major and minor. Prerequisite: MUSC 124 or permission of instructor. Offered every other year.\n
Individual study is available to junior or senior music majors wishing to explore, with a music department faculty member, a topic not normally offered in the curriculum. The student proposes the topic to the faculty member, who then brings the proposal before the department for approval. The department will discuss the feasibility of any proposal. Individual studies supplement the music curriculum and may not be used to satisfy major requirements. Individual studies will earn either 0.25 or 0.50 units. After identifying a faculty member willing to oversee the individual study, the student should work with that professor to develop a short (one-page) proposal that will be shared with the department for approval. The proposal should articulate the nature of the proposed study; present planned readings, assignments and other work; and describe how or what in the proposed study will be assessed at the end of the semester. Meeting schedules may vary, but at a minimum the department expects that students will meet once per week with the faculty member. Because students must enroll for individual studies by the end of the seventh class day of each semester, they should begin discussion of the proposed individual study preferably the semester before, so that there is time to devise the proposal and seek departmental approval before the established deadline.
"E-Sketches: Brian Ferneyhough's Use of Computer-Assisted Compositional Tools," in A Handbook to Twentieth-Century Musical Sketches, Patricia Hall and Friedemann Sallis, editors, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 2005.
"Involuntary Grimace: A Semiotic Morphology of Facial Gesticulation in Jazz Performance Practice," Proceedings of the 2004 Dutch Music Theory Society Annual Conference, Utrecht, the Netherlands, 2005.
"Resistant Strains of Postmodernism: The Music of Helmut Lachenmann and Brian Ferneyhough," in Postmodern Music/Postmodern Thought, Judy Lochhead and Joseph Auner, editors, Routledge, New York City and London, 2003.