Media Arts Faculty and Staff
Michael Boyd
mboyd@chatham.edu
Assistant Professor
Hometown : Bel Air, MD
Joined Chatham : 2008
Academic Areas of Interest
Experimental music and improvisation; indeterminacy; creativity; site-specific, installation, and environmental art; sketch studies and analysis of post-1945 music (Reynolds, Nono); popular music analysis and criticism
Personal Areas of Interest
Road and mountain biking; bike commuting; rock climbing; hiking; vegan cooking; yoga
Personal Website : Visit Website
Biography
Michael Boyd is a composer, scholar, and experimental improviser who holds graduate degrees from the University of Maryland (DMA, composition) and SUNY Stony Brook (MA, music theory and history). His music has been performed throughout the United States in a variety of large and small venues. Boyd has published reviews in American Music, Computer Music Journal and Popular Music and Society, and his article “The Roger Reynolds Collection at the Library of Congress” recently appeared in Notes. He has previously taught at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, the University of Maryland, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Towson University, Frederick Community College, and SUNY Stony Brook. Boyd is the co-director and trombonist for the Bay Players Experimental Music Collective, and a founding partner for Silent Editions, an online experimental music publishing company. His music has been reviewed/discussed in The Washington City Paper, Asymmetry Music Magazine and Art Anomaly.
Artistic statement: I believe that every individual possesses significant innate creativity, but, for various reasons, rarely access this valuable personal resource. As a composer, one of my foremost concerns is countering this societal trend by helping individuals connect with and use their inner creativity. One way in which I address this issue is by (re)integrating performers into the creative portion of the music making process through graphic notation which immediately sheds many conventions of Western art music including the primacy of pitch and a roughly one-to-one correspondence between score input and sonic output. In addition to enabling non-specialists and musicians with lesser technical facility to offer viable or “accurate” performances, graphic scores provide greater creative agency to performers essentially resulting in an equal partnership between composer and performer(s). This configuration, paired with my interest in other experimental practices such as the incorporation of visual and theatrical elements, performance-based installation, live electronics and performance art, confronts many musical conventions and thus engages audience members in new ways, often presenting an experience that is both engaging and challenging.
Education
Publications
- "The Evolution of Form in the Music of Roger Reynolds (I)," Tempo, January 2012 (66:259): 36-48.
- "The Evolution of Form in the Music of Roger Reynolds (II)," Tempo, April 2012 (66:260): 34-49..
- "Jackson Mac Low (entry update)," forthcoming Grove Music Online.
- "Robert Erickson (minor entry update)," forthcoming Grove Music Online.
- "American Composers Alliance (entry update)," forthcoming Grove Music Online.
- "'Weird Al' Yankovic," forthcoming Grove Dictionary of American Music.
- "The Roger Reynolds Collection at the Library of Congress," Notes 64:3 (March 2008): 435-57.
- "Perception/Form: Thomas DeLio's Though for solo piano," In Essays on the Music and Theoretical Writings of Thomas DeLio, ed. Thomas Licata. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2008, 165-85.
- Contributor and researcher, “Moog and Early Synthesized Music” exhibit, Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library, Spring 2007.
- "DVD Review: SPACE/SOUND: Multichannel Electroacoustic Music," Computer Music Journal, Winter 2011 (35:4).
- "Book Review: The Place Where You Go to Listen: In Search of an Ecology of Music, John Luther Adams," Computer Music Journal, 35:2 (Summer 2011): 92-95.
- "Event Review: Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States 2010 National Conference." Computer Music Journal. 34:4 (Winter 2010): 74-75.
- "CD Review: Amnon Wolman's The Marilyn Series," Computer Music Journal, Spring 2010 (34:1): 111-12.
- "CD Review: Matthew Ostrowski's vertebra," Computer Music Journal, 33:3 (Fall 2009): 68-69.
- “Book Review: Dr. Dre: A Biography, John Borgmeyer and Holly Lang,” Popular Music and Society 32:1 (February 2009): 134-37.
- "CD Review: Dexter Morrill's Music for Stanford," Computer Music Journal 32:3 (Fall 2008): 108-10.
- “Event Review: SEAMUS 2007,” American Music 25:4 (Winter 2007): 521-23.
- “Book Review: Cybersounds: Essays on Virtual Music Culture, ed. Michael Ayers,” Popular Music and Society 30:2 (May 2007): 289-92.
- “CD Review: Neuma’s Electro Acoustic Music VII,” Computer Music Journal, 31:1 (Spring 2007): 98-100.
- “Book Review: A Rock Reader, ed. Richard King,” Popular Music and Society 30:1 (February 2007): 117-19.
- “CD Review: Roger Reynolds’s all known all white and Process and Passion,” Computer Music Journal 30:2 (Summer 2006): 99-102.
Certifications
- Previous Higher Education Teaching:
- Peabody Conservatory of Music, Johns Hopkins University: Music Theory I (year-long course)
- University of Maryland Baltimore County: Music Theory IV and V; Music History II; Rock and Related Music, 1950-present
- Towson University: Music Theory I-IV
- University of Maryland: Ear-training labs for Music Theory I-II and Advanced Music Theory I-II; History of Rock; Music Fundamentals
- Frederick Community College: Music Fundamentals
- SUNY Stony Brook: Music Fundamentals; Music in the Middle East (TA)
Awards
- Bike Pittsburgh 2011 Advocate of the Year.
- Central Minnesota Arts Board Grant, Spring 2009.
- College of Fine Arts and Communication Travel Grant, Towson University, Spring 2007.
- Jacob K. Goldhaber Travel Grant, University of Maryland Graduate School, Spring 2006.
- University of Maryland Theory/Composition Graduate Travel Grant, Spring 2006.
- Davis Award for Excellence in Graduate Scholarship, University of Maryland, Spring 2004.
Organizations
Achievements
- Recordings of compositions:
- invasion/symbiosis (III), SEAMUS Electroacoustic Miniatures 2012: Re-Caged, 2013.
- Bit of nostalgia... on Axiom, part of the Society of Composers Inc. CD Series, Navona Records, 2011.
- Selected performances of recent compositions:
- the ongoing process for laptop duo (2011-12): Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music, Pyramid Atlantic, Silver Spring, MD, 3/2/13; Society of Composers Inc. National Conference, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 2/6/13.
- invasion/symbiosis (II) for (optional) trombone and electro-acoustic sound (2012): Ear to the Earth 100 x John, 2012.
- this inversion is expected to persist - pre-concert installation for three or more performers: League of the Unsound Sound, the Windup Space, Baltimore, MD, 3/20/11; League of the Unsound Sound, Catholic University, Washington, DC, 3/19/11
- invasion/symbiosis for trombone and electro-acoustic sound: Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States National Conference, University of Miami, Miami, FL, 1/20-22/11; Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Silver Spring, MD, 10/16/10.
- cooperation/convolution for large instrumental ensemble (2009): Society of Composers, Inc. National Conference, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 11/13/10
- Reconstruction for solo performer with found object and live electronics (2009): Electroacoustic Barn Dance, Mary Washington University, Fredericksburg, VA, 10/27/11; Studio 300 Digital Art and Music Festival, Transylvania University, Lexington, KY, 9/16/11; Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States National Conference, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN, 4/9-10/10; American University, Washington DC, 1/20/10
- Twelve Actions for solo performer (2008): New Media Monday, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN, 3/2/09; Studio Z, St. Paul, MN, 3/1/09; Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore, MD, 2/13/09; Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, 9/29/08; Art Enables Benefit Concert, Washington DC, 5/3/08; Faculty Recital, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, 4/27/08.
- Assemblage for solo performer with found objects and live electronics (2007): Society of Composers, Inc. Region V Conference, Clarke College, Dubuque, IA, 10/10/09; Society of Composers Inc. National Conference (solo performer), College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM, 4/2/09; New Media Monday (solo performer), St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN, 3/2/09; Studio Z (solo performer), St. Paul, MN, 3/1/09; Art Enables Benefit Concert, Washington DC, 5/3/08; Faculty Recital, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, 4/27/08.
- Friday May 18 – a multimedia event for three or more performers (2007, with S. Lilly): Arrow Bicycle Gala Opening, Hyattsville, MD, 5/16/08; Artomatic 2007 (trombonist, vocalist), Crystal City, VA, 5/18/07.
- Bit of nostalgia… for one or two percussionists and live electronics performer (2005-06): Juventas New Music Ensemble, Boston Conservatory and First Church in Boston, Boston, MA, 9/18-19/09; Society of Composers Inc. Region II Conference (computer performer), Queens College, Queens, NY, 11/17/07; Electronic Music Midwest (computer performer), Kansas City, MO, 10/12/07; Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States 2007 National Conference, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 3/9/07.
- Bathroom 1900 – a collaborative, site-specific work with three dancers (2006): University of Maryland (sonic/visual performer), College Park, MD, 3/1-2/06.
- Becoming…everything else – an installation for three or more performers (2004): “Danger: New Music” Festival, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, 5/15/05; University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 5/1-7/05.
- Hand Leg Suit for mixed instrumental ensemble (2003): Society of Composers, Inc. Region V Conference, Clarke College, Dubuque, IA, 10/10/09; Bang on a Can Marathon (trombonist), Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, College Park, MD, 3/29/09; American Composers Forum New Music Salon (trombonist), Sitar Center for the Arts, Washington DC, 7/13/07; College Music Society National Conference (trombonist), Atlanta, GA, 9/28/08; Appalachian State University (trombonist), Boone, NC, 9/29/08; Society for Composers, Inc. Region VI Conference, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, MO, 2/8/07.
Presentations
- "The Evolution of Form in the Music of Roger Reynolds," American Musicological Society Allegheny Chapter Meeting, Kent State University, Kent, OH, 4/9/11.
- "Formal Discomfort: The Afghan Whigs' 'My Curse,'" American Musicological Society Allegheny Chapter Meeting, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 4/24/10.
- “Impetus Influenced Form: Roger Reynolds's The Palace (Voicespace IV),” American Musicological Society Allegheny Chapter, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 10/25/08.
- "Composer as Performer (Panel Discussion)," College Music Society National Conference, Atlanta, GA, 9/28/08.
- Session Chair, "Progressive Musicianship I," College Music Society National Conference, Atlanta, GA, 9/26/08.
- “The Roger Reynolds Collection at the Library of Congress: Overview and Application,” Society for American Music and Music Library Association Joint Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, 3/1/07.
- “Tracing the Evolution: Connecting the Music of Arnold Schoenberg to 19th-century Compositional Practice through Schenkerian Analysis,” American Musicological Society Capital Chapter, American University, Washington, DC, 9/30/06.
- “The Music and Library of Congress Collection of Roger Reynolds,” Society of Composers Inc. Region VII Conference, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 4/3/06.
- “Becoming…everything else: Situating Performance in Public Space and Daily Life”: Society of Composers, Inc. National Conference, College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM, 4/4/09; Society of Composers, Inc. Region VI Conference, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, MO, 2/10/07; McGill University Music Graduate Students’ Society Symposium, McGill University, Montreal, QC, 3/3-5/06; Play!: Contemporary Composition, Technology and Listening, Clark University, Worcester, MA, 11/5/05 (http://www.clarku.edu/xtp/xtp.html).
- “Merging the Hallway and Classroom: My Predilection for The Afghan Whigs’ ‘My Curse,’” American Musicological Society Capitol Chapter, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 10/1/05.
- “The Roger Reynolds Archive: Features and Uses,” Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 4/25/05.