Dr. Charlie Griffin has a lifetime's worth of musical knowledge to share with his students. 作为课程主任 项目和组合V 在 音乐制作 degree program, he calls on his advanced degrees in 音乐 Theory & Composition and his years of professional experience as a composer to help 满帆 students create their own original compositions for their professional portfolios.

Charlie taught himself to play the drums and piano in high school and decided to pursue his love of music with a degree in 音乐 Theory & 纽约皇后学院的作文. 他获得了博士学位.D. a few years later, then he started doing as much freelance work as he could get his hands on.

"I started getting commissions to write new pieces of music for local and national ensembles,他说. “我还做过抄写员. I did copy work for President Clinton's inauguration, and my music got performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center."

Charlie's extensive musical education and freelance experience helped him excel in his next role as a Guest Lecturer for the US Embassy in Latvia. 他做关于美国音乐的讲座, 包括蓝调之类的话题, 拉格泰姆, 爵士乐, and rock at cities throughout Latvia and Lithuania. He also collaborated with musicians from Scandinavia and the Baltics, and his music was performed in Paris and London. Charlie returned stateside in 2010 and put his background to work as one of the 音乐制作 program's first hires.

In 项目和组合V, bachelor's students compose their own songs or instrumental music. Charlie teaches them how different streams of music – classical compositions, 欧洲民间音乐, 非洲传统音乐, 早期摇滚乐, and more – all form the foundations of the contemporary music students love today.

“我们探索形态, 和谐, and rhythm… I provide dozens of listening examples that include sophisticated approaches to time, which is useful for all kinds of commercial music,查理说.

Charlie's students build the foundation of their projects by taking a pre-existing melody (like "Auld Lang Syne" or "Ode to Joy") and convert them from 4/4 time to composite meter. 从那里, students add harmonic color and targeted craft elements, then finally apply the concepts to an original composition for their own portfolio.

On top of educating the next generation of music producers at 满帆, Charlie has continued to educate music fans 在 greater Central Florida area. He's given guest lectures at Walt Disney World's 国际 Festival of the 艺术s at Epcot on diverse topics like 爵士乐, 特立独行和女性作曲家, 跳起嘻哈舞, 以及约翰·威廉姆斯的电影音乐, Danny Elfman这样, Michael Giacchino, 和汉斯·季默.

学生 learning the nuts and bolts of composition are in good hands with Charlie, but that's not the only thing that makes him a great instructor: He's also never forgotten what it's like to be a student. He draws on his own undergraduate experience to help students succeed in 满帆's fast-paced program.

“当我在皇后学院读大二的时候, I found myself in this 爵士乐 composition class with master's-level 爵士乐 students... I didn't have the vocabulary that everybody else 在 room had, 所以我不得不努力争取. And I talk about that process [with my 满帆 students]; what that fight looked like and what I did to kind of get myself up to speed. I give them some strategies around that to help them relax about what they know and what they don't know."