Letters Of Reference and Contacts
For the past 26 years, we've called Boise, Idaho home. It's a great place to connect, raise a family and there is a vibrant arts community and great live music scene. We have been able to expand our music, technology, business and community involvement not just here, but across the country by way of the great contacts we've nurtured.
Below are 3 reference contacts. There is also a letter from each reference. Feel free to contact any of these people, remembering that they are in the mountain timezone.
"The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes, and leads you onto the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth".
“I came to MEO [beta testing program] with no prior knowledge of how to record, just with a few songs written, and by the time I finished with their lessons, I could record with professional quality on my own... and I had an album ready to release! The module based topic system MEO uses had me moving forward with little or no backtracking. I thought it would be a massive amount of re-education, but actually, MEO moves you forward and only steps back when you need the information. It was amazing! There's no better way to learn…” - Phillip B. / Student & MEO Beta Tester
“I love it, especially the emphasis on the directive of ‘preparing our students to function in today’s real world of music performance, production, marketing and technology.’ All of those elements COMBINED and funneled to a single objective! There are too many educational systems that aren't taking those elements and condensing them into one concept. The "old school" still treats them as separate entities instead of the formation of a nucleus. It's a brave new world, as you know, where "musician" no longer means instrumentalist, it means, engineer, producer and marketing genius as well. My favorite part is the MEO system of being able to cherry-pick topics and build your own path! I feel education is WAY too scattered. This concentrates a student’s forces – MEO “Modules.” Brilliant!”- Lennie Peterson / Professor, Author, Artist, Lecturer, Musician
“MEO will take what you know about music, recording, producing, and songwriting and take you places that you did not think was possible before. Their “module / topic" system wasted no time getting me into new information without having to start over. It saved me time and money. Taking lessons and working with MEO has helped me in ways that I cannot even fully appreciate yet. Tom and Nancy's vast knowledge of music, music software, midi modules, composing/arranging, songwriting and recording is complimented by their passion and impeccable character.” - Cameron D. / Student & MEO Beta Tester
I want to say the following in a public forum (and I almost NEVER post anything, anywhere on Facebook - this is maybe the 2nd or 3rd time I've done so). A huge part of your students' success is undoubtedly due to your influence at a critical time in our musical development. In addition to your fine musical instruction and guidance, your taught us all invaluable lessons about performance/showmanship, professionalism, the music business, technology (always ahead of your time) and work ethic. These are areas of "inside" knowledge that were barely covered by anyone else teaching at Berklee, and can usually only be acquired through real-world experience. You opened all of our eyes while preparing us for careers in the music business, and did so with a maniacal focus, an insane energy level, and a wicked sense of humor. I can truly say that I can connect a huge chunk of my professional activities, from graduation to the present, to your influence, in one way or another. I know that all of the names on that great class list you posted (and many others) join me in thanking you for gracing us with your insight, spirit and inspiration at a time when we needed it the most. -Dan Rosengard / Emmy Award winning Composer / Arranger-Special Music, SNL
Berklee has always been known for their dozens of top big band ensembles. From the premier Phil Wilson's "Thursday Night Dues Band", "Herb Pomeroy's Recording Big Band" and of course the Buddy Rich Student big band and the Woody Herman Student big band...et al. Great training ground for instrumentalists but didn't address the style of horn playing that nwas most likely to be a horn players first out of college gig. 3-5 piece horns sections that were much more exposed, had to sing back up and yes...sometimes do dance steps.
In 1983, as a part of the Professional Writing and Arranging Department (Professional Writing Division Chair / Ted Pease) I became involved in the very beginning of development with what is now know as the Songwriting Department and the offering of songwriting as a degree program. Myself, along with Pat Pattison and a core team of other faculty that taught Pop Song Composition (Jon Aldrich, Mike Idhe, Rob Rose and Jon Stevens) started working on a basic syllabus overview. As we got closer to actually creating the full syllabus, several other talented faculty joined the project in the areas of MP&E, Arranging, Vocal Department, Ensemble Department and several administrators.