Jean-Francois Charles

Harvard Music Building - picture by eileansiar During the Spring, the students in the music department met a number of candidates for a new position: professor in composition at Harvard. All of the students who met with candidates were asked to share their thoughts with the recruiting committee. Here is an excerpt from my letter to the committee. I was not completely clear on the type of profile the department was looking for (see the original announcement for this tenure position ), so I imagined a course that could be a great addition to the department's offering: an exciting Gen Ed class about 20th and 21st century music... ...A Gen Ed class that would show how great and influent have been creative artists such as (I'll name just a few from the top of my head, trying to keep in mind the American orientation) George Antheil Milton Babbitt John Cage George Crumb Miles Davis Duke Ellington Michael Jackson Scott Joplin Alan Parsons Les Paul Pink Floyd Steve Reich Buddy Rich Ka

After watching my recent dancing clarinetist video, my friend Behtash Babadi shared with me the following video, another fusion between music & dance. Quite a number of different styles in this work! Watch till the end to see the modes of interaction in the different sections. ( link to video on youtube ) Behtash told me that The ethnic music/dance is from southern Iran, by the Persian Gulf. With Mehrtash Babadi, they founded The Garden Throne project. Listen to their music, too!