Berklee Blogs

First-hand accounts of the Berklee experience

Tag: Michael Farquharson

Michael Farquharson

Improvising Global Connections

By Jason Camelio, director of international programs.

Art of Improvisation Global Connection

Lollapalooza - Brazil award winner Sarah Messias and Ipshita Roy from India hang with Rick Peckham after the Art of Improvisation afternoon master class.

The afternoon session at the end of the first day of the Art of Improvisation: Blues and Jazz program was coming to an end. As the room began to clear an oddly familiar — in the land of Berklee — event took place. Two young women were having a discussion with assistant chair of the guitar department, Rick Peckham. This is fairly common. It gets interesting when you learn about the two talented musicians speaking with Rick.

First, we have a young Brazilian Blues vocalist and harp player Sarah Messias. Sarah is the winner of the 2012 Lollapalooza – Brazil Scholarship. The award affords her the chance to attend the Art of Improvisation program at no cost! Her peer is also a talented young Blues vocalist from India, Ipshita Roy. Both musicians are enjoying some level of musical success in their home countries. Both have traveled a great distance to the new campus in Valencia to make this connection.

For some, this would be the makings a fine Odd Couples sequel. But, for those of us at Berklee it is just another day in the classroom. The exceptions being that these two musicians totally ROCKED it during the afternoon master class. 

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Schooled in Groove

To many musicians, the groove is the basis of all that we do. It’s the feel; the groove moves us. As we wrapped up the last day of the Berklee Groove School program at the new campus in Valencia, the groove was in full effect.

2012 groove school dance

George Russell, Jr. wants you to feel the groove. So, get up and dance!

I do not think the students had any idea what pianist, composer and professor of harmony at Berklee George Russell, Jr. had in mind when he asked the group to get up out of their chairs and start to get their bodies in motion. The result put the icing on the cake of this 4-day program by making the students do what they had been studying over the long weekend. Shake it, baby! 

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スタジオレコーディングの風景 The Recording at Mix One Studio

今日は、私が今学期とっているクラスの中から、introduction to Writing/Productionという

クラスで行ったレコーディング風景をお届けしたいと思います!

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Berklee in L.A. in the classroom: Songwriting and Production lecture with Michael Farquharson


Michael Farquharson teaches an elective on Michael Jackson and perfection in songwriting and production.

For one of the Berklee in L.A. electives this week, Michael Farquharson, a faculty member in the Contemporary Writing and Production department, gave a special topics lecture entitled “Michael Jackson: Perfection as a Songwriter and Producer.” Using two of Jackson’s songs as examples, he broke the approach to effective songwriting and producing into categories. “What makes a record amazing?” Farquharson asked, then outlining the five key aspects he feels must be perfected for a truly great piece: composition, performance, recording, mixing, and post-production/mastering.

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