Newsical Newsletter of the Department of Music

California State University, Dominguez Hills College of Arts and Humanities

Dr. Scott Morris Elected Chair

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California State University, Dominguez Hills Department of Music has announced that Dr. Scott Morris has been unanimously elected by the faculty to serve as its Department Chair. Morris had previously served as the Supervisor of Guitar Studies for the past decade.

Dr. Morris is an accomplished classical guitarist with numerous commercially available recordings on record labels such as AIX Records, Eroica Classical Recordings, and Centaur Records. He is also the author of the popular guitar method book series, Classical Guitar Complete: From Basics to Bach.

His latest project is a book of his original arrangements and CD recording of the music of Erik Satie, entitled: Phonology the Music of Erik Satie for Guitar. AIX Records released the recording and MidShelf Music Published the book of scores. The project featured rare French guitars by makers such as Bouchet, Friedrich, Rohé, Ligier, and Field supplied by Guitar Salon International. GRAMMY-winner, Andrew York, joined him as a guest artist on the recording.

Congratulations to Devin Pruden, Ismael Pineda, Eda Villegas, and LaTanja Walker for receiving honors at their Fall 2016 jury in December. Honors are awarded to, and recognized for, students who perform exceptional end-of-the-semester jury presentations and score an average adjudicator grade of 95% or higher. These select few students are then invited to perform either at the Annual Fall Convocation, or a special Honor Jury Recital in the fall semester. Congratulations on a job well done! Continue your hard work and inspiration to your colleagues.

Fall ’16 Honor Juries

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This summer, Dr. Morris will be the course coordinator for La guitarra española, a three-week classical guitar course offered in beautiful Granada, Spain through CSU Summer Arts. Students will participate in master classes and attend recitals by guest artists Pepe Romero, Vicente Coves, Margarita Escarpa, Kai Narezo, David Martinez, and Rafael Aguirre.

Contact Dr. Morris at smorris@csudh.edu for registration details or you may visit the website at http://blogs.calstate.edu/summerarts/courses/la-guitarra-espanola/.

1000 E. Victoria Street, Carson, CA 90747 http://www4.csudh.edu/music/ (310) 243-3543 Winter, 2017

CSU Summer Arts: Granada, Spain

CSUDH jazz and classical guitar faculty, Matthew Greif, has been busy teaching and touring, including the premiere of Pat Metheny’s

new piece, Road to the Sun, which was written for the L.A. Guitar Quartet. Matt also played the L.A. Philharmonic production of John Adams’s El Niño at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Steinway by Starlight Featuring pianist Sean Chen

February 2nd 7:30 p.m. University Theatre

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In addition to preparing for the premiere of his Five Pieces for Flute and Guitar (2016), programmed by CSUDH colleagues Scott Morris and Rik Noyce for a Spring Faculty Recital, Dr. Jonathon Grasse is currently composing a new piece for the ensemble Brightwork to premiere in October at CSUDH’s 2017 Festival for New and Improvised Music.

Highlights of an eventful 2016 include:

• Grasse’s 2015 work, Sete Letras for plucked strings and mezzo-soprano was recorded and performed by ensembleFRET.

• CSUDH faculty Mary Au (piano) and Chika Inoue (saxophone) premiered Invisible River on a November concert sponsored by the National Association of Composers, USA.

• Grasse performed electric guitar in performances of Terry Riley’s In C, in an Open Gate Series program led by Chicago Modern Orchestra director, Renee Baker, and in various improvisation series throughout Southern California. Grasse continues to work on his book on music from Minas Gerais, Brazil, and presented a paper related to this research project in March to the Southern California chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology at UCLA.

Dr. Jonathon Grasse’s Year

In addition to his work here at CSUDH, Dr. Rik Noyce is a co-founder of a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization, Whole Musician.

Recognized by the National Flute Association (2014) for being a creative and forward-thinking organization, the Whole Musician team educates all facets of modern musicians with the goal of helping participants realize their individual potential for success.

This highly qualified, specialized, and discipline-certified team collaborates to offer unparalleled intensive retreats addressing the mental, physical, and musical demands placed on the 21st century performer.

Whole Musician has worked with musicians around the globe and welcomes performers on any instrument, vocal range, or experience level.

Currently, 2017 events include a tour of Texas Universities in March, a 5-day retreat in Toronto in June, and a 5-day in Minneapolis in August.

For more information, biographies, certifications, and retreat applications, please visit wholemusician.net.

Whole Musician Retreats

Devin Pruden Sr. Recital Sunday, April 23, 7:00 p.m. Marvin Laser Recital Hall

Early Music Collegium Concert

Friday, April 28, 7:30 p.m. Marvin Laser Recital Hall

Perry Hayes Sr. Recital

Sunday, April 30, 3:00 p.m. Marvin Laser Recital Hall

Jazz Ensemble Concert

Wednesday, May 3, 7:30 p.m. Marvin Laser Recital Hall

Wind Ensemble Concert

Wednesday, May 10, 7:30 p.m. University Theatre

Music Department Events Dr. Grasse Composition Recital

Tuesday, March 21, 7:30 p.m. University Theatre

Rod Butler Scholarship Concert

Thursday, March 23, 7:30 p.m. University Theatre

Guitar Day at Dominguez

Saturday, April 22

Rodolfo Magistrado Sr. Recital Saturday, April 22, 2:00 p.m.

Marvin Laser Recital Hall

Michelle Castillo Sr. Recital Sunday, April 23, 3:00 p.m. Marvin Laser Recital Hall