Alex Rodriguez
Visiting Lecturer in Music
Links
I'm a writer, educator, and trombonist working at the confluences of music, spirituality, and social transformation. I teach courses in Afro-diasporic music with a focus on jazz experimentalism and global scale. I hold a PhD in Ethnomusicology at UCLA, where my research focused on jazz clubs and the communities that sustain them in Los Angeles, California; Santiago, Chile; and Novosibirsk, Siberia. My writing has been published in the academic journals Jazz Perspectives and Jazz and Culture, as well as magazines and newspapers such as The Newark Star-Ledger, NPR Music, and DownBeat. Keeping up as a trombonist has always been an important part of this work, which has also brought wonderful opportunities to perform throughout the Americas since my first gigs in Chile and Bolivia with Los Andes Big Band in 2005.
More recently, I've also trained in Deep Listening through the Center for Deep Listening and in consent-based governance through Sociocracy for All, where I serve in the Cooperatives Circle. Over the past five years, my work has focused on building purpose-driven organizations in the solidarity economy and engaged Buddhist movements, including ten (The Emergence Network), Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Catalyst Cooperative Healing, and Mirlo. This year, I'm returning to academia as a Visiting Lecturer in Music at Wellesley College and working on my debut album, Somewhere Else!!!!
To learn more about my work, or to subscribe to my artist newsletter, please visit alexwrodriguez.com
Education
- B.A., Amherst College
- M.A., Rutgers University-New Brunswick
- Ph.D., University of California-Los Angeles
Current and upcoming courses
A History of Jazz
MUS309
The influence of jazz on music in the twentieth century and beyond has been so profound that it has gone from being a feared public scourge to “America's Classical Music.” Ever since its origins among African Americans in the 1910s, jazz has challenged distinctions between “art” and “popular,” at times even playing a key role in social protest. Today, it is an internationally respected art form that is revered by musicians as varied as hip-hop artists and classical composers. This course will cover the history of jazz through critically engaging with recorded performances, source readings and popular reception, and evidence of its broader influence in popular culture. Through leading a class discussion and completing a term paper, students in MUS 309 will learn to connect the technical language of jazz analysis to socio-cultural context.
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A History of Jazz
MUS209
The influence of jazz on music in the twentieth century and beyond has been so profound that it has gone from being a feared public scourge to “America's Classical Music.” Ever since its origins among African Americans in the 1910s, jazz has challenged distinctions between “art” and “popular,” at times even playing a key role in social protest. Today, it is an internationally respected art form that is revered by musicians as varied as hip-hop artists and classical composers. This course will cover the history of jazz through critically engaging with recorded performances, source readings and popular reception, and evidence of its broader influence in popular culture. We will also learn about jazz's role in international music scenes, including approaches from Europe, Asia, and throughout the African Diaspora. -
An overview of the fundamental concepts, techniques, and literature of electronic and computer music. Topics include analog and digital electronic instruments, MIDI programming, sound-synthesis techniques, live processing, and the history of electronic music. Students will compose two original pieces (one fixed and one live), and will learn the basics of Logic Pro, Max, and Ableton Live.