markl-m@umail.ucsb.edu
www.ml-m.net

Biography

I live with my wife, Kara, and my son, Jonah (June 18, 2004), in Santa Barbara, California. Kara teaches English Composition at Santa Barbara City College. You are likely to catch us strolling along the local beaches and hiking trails, attending concerts, and enjoying local restaurants. When I am not relishing my family or engaged in music, I partake in meditation, Tai Ji, Qi Gong, yoga, swimming and bodysurfing.

I am currently an M.A./Ph.D. composition student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, studying composition with Professor Joel Feigin, and classical piano with Dr. Hee-Kyung Juhn. At U.C.S.B., I have also studied composition with interim Corwin Professor Karen Tanaka and collaborative piano with Professor Anne Epperson. In 2003, I was honored with distinction in Music and honors when I graduated with a B.A in Music from U.C.S.B.

I have received two Sherrill C. Corwin-Metropolitan Theatres Awards in composition: one, in 2003 for Excellence in a Large Ensemble Composition with a sinfonietta entitled The Five Elements; two, in 2004 for Excellence in a Vocal Composition with a chamber vocal work (for two voices and cello) entitled Embrace Peace.

Norman Mamey was my primary piano and composition instructor at Citrus Community College, where I graduated with high honors and was awarded three certificates of academic achievement, three “All American” swimming titles and five school swimming records.

Aesthetics

Before I was born, my mother bought a piano with the intention of learning to play it while I was napping; however, the converse occurred—I explored its magic while she slept. Since I was three, improvisation and composition have been avenues for my emotional catharsis, intellectual curiosity and soul expression. Mysticism, nature and human intimacy have been my muses, while western classical, jazz, folk rock, and music of various mystical traditions have mingled in my consciousness to shape my musical language.

While I continue to draw upon all of the aforementioned influences, in the fall of 2003, I began focusing more intently on expressing my experiences of the universal. Mystical principles have begun to shape my works. In these pieces, I aspire for the performers and audience to experience the immediacy and balance of their breath and/or heartbeat, as well as the consciousness behind it. Thus, intrinsic biological/spiritual processes determine the unfolding of any particular composition. To aid in facilitating the quality and immediacy of the experiences evoked by these compositions, three further principles shape them:

1) Macrostructure
When a work has a unified form, its content is more readily communicated.

2) Flux
Using gradual transitions (rather than discrete juxtapositions) in one or more of the compositional elements promotes a subjective experience. Flux, such as a sinuous line or a morphing timbre eludes concrete analysis, freeing the performers and audience to experience the essence of the work.

3) Improvisation
Improvisation vitalizes a performance through encouraging performers to express their immediate experiences.

When apposite, I also incorporate the following:

1) Spatialization
Placing performers around or within an audience contributes to a composition’s immediacy, while emphasizing its form.

2) Sacred Text
Sacred text infuses a piece with a depth of consciousness that can be drawn upon by the performers and felt by the audience.

www.ml-m.net