This is on campus at Stanford University for two weeks, all day, from July 22 to August 2nd. We also have online Zoom students every year — at a discounted rate — and the on-campus community of students is amazing about taking turns with the Zoom phone and getting remote students in on the action. Remote students still contribute to the recordings — we’ve had students record bass lines, vocals, mix and more remotely for tracks recorded at the Workshop.
The Workshop is open to the public. Anyone I decide to let in gets in. You don’t have to be a Stanford student. Last year, we had several high school students who were amazing musicians; college professors from various countries; college students; and music professionals. One student who appeared on several other students’ tracks was a 69-yer-old piano teacher from San Jose, CA. She ended up performing and collaborating on two amazing tracks with a high school student, a college student, and a college professor from Korea.
Cheers!
Cory Cullinan / Doctor Noize
Recording & Performing Artist, Producer, Composer, Writer & Teacher
My Teaching Assistants for the Stanford course — Elizabeth Anaya and Riley Max — are also both from Colorado.
# # # # #
By popular demand, my Stanford Recording Arts Workshop is expanding this summer! For some reason, the geniuses at Stanford keep getting tricked into giving me and my Fearless Ensemble of Students keys to the building… now for more weeks! Honestly, you should get in on this before they figure out I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about!
Here’s the incredible album we produced at Stanford in 2023!
http://corycullinan.com/teaching-learning/stanford-university-2/
It features tracks by students and Professors worldwide; a hilarious novelty song by a kid from Hong Kong the whole group got in on; a prodigious high school multi-instrumentalist from San Jose; and experimental improvised tracks around the Korean haegeum by a multinational group of students ranging 54 years in age who met in the course.
The ensemble builds lasting friendships; gives 24-hour access to a world-class studio for a fraction of the price of a pro studio; you’ll probably never have a better cast of musicians ready to record your dreams; and any of you can register for the course here!
“Thanks to Cory Cullinan for showing us all your magic tricks with your genuine charisma, authenticity, and fantastic methodology… and my talented peers from whom I learned a lot and built awesome relationships.” ~ Miguel Concha Seltzer, Stanford Summer Recording Arts Student*
The Genesis & The Why Of This Work**
The Stanford Workshops are deeply meaningful to me and my students because they represent everything I’ve built and learned as a teacher and musician, and they actually produce what my students have dreamed and then learned to do.
The key attribute of my pedagogical philosophy,*** researched and designed through 26 years of teaching and my 169-page Masters Thesis on Recording Arts Education, is simple:
We’re not just learning how to produce recordings; we’re actually making and releasing recordings and even learning to produce shows promoting those recordings. This forces students (and teachers) to hone the most crucial skill of any arts career: How to efficiently collaborate, compromise, and close the deal to move from the theoretical to the actual marketplace, where you’re daring to share your soul publicly for people’s response. Our organizational/psychological hesitation to do so is the main block that stops artists from their goals, so it’s the only thing I insist you do in my courses.
This trippy “we wish it was the 60s” cover is of the first album by punk students I produced.
My Magical Mystery Tour
A trip down memory lane (and hundreds of student songs and recordings) shows how we got here. Early in my teaching career, as a high school Music Teacher and Arts Department Head at Pinewood School in Silicon Valley, I built a studio there and developed and taught a Recording Arts sequence. This was before almost anybody had an academic Recording Arts sequence. I will always have deep gratitude to Pinewood for innovating and investing in both me and my program; it’s where this all started.
Two unusual attributes of my Recording Arts courses were that, from the first course, each class recorded and released an entire album and then played a concert of those songs at a full school assembly, becoming campus stars in the process. The program grew from 0 classes / albums / concerts to 2 classes / albums / concerts per semester. This was over 20 years ago, but the bonds it formed still last — just a few months ago, one of those original punk kids and his wife had dinner at my home in Colorado.
As Doctor Noize I scaled this approach down to pint-size. At Workshops with the very young, we write and record a song in 90 minutes with the Mobile Studio I designed and bring to their school or venue, often performing it with them at a concert that very day, always posting it online to share with friends and family. Here are Workshop Songs from around the country, including Kaia’s Song, improvised and recorded live with an audience of 400 at Stanford University for a little girl who had just lost her mother in a moment of community togetherness and support raising thousands for her education.
Ever the tricksters, this album by my Regis studs does not have a single jazz track on it.
Eventually I became a college Professor, first at University of Colorado Denver, then as Director of Recording Arts at Regis University. Students at both came to Stanford to study further, like CU’s incredible David Amaya, who like my wife is a blind butt-kicker I still get together with and record with. At Regis, we replicated Pinewood’s program: In 2 years, we went from 0 classes / albums / concerts to 2 classes / albums / concerts a semester on the official Music Department Concert Series but featuring entirely student-composed and created music. Check out our Regis concerts and albums here.
Now Stanford’s expanding the program too! Come to one or both weeks. The first week focuses on Producing, Arranging & Recording our album; the second focuses on Mixing, Mastering and Releasing it. Register for one or both weeks. I have two brilliant TAs who are both graduates of the program. Each student is responsible for Producing 1+ track(s) on the album. Recordings made at the Workshop have gone on to international professional acclaim and placement. We make ‘em together. Yours could be next.
Thanks for your time. Share positive energy. Go make the world you live in.
— Cory Cullinan / Doctor Noize
FOOTNOTES/DICTIONARY/TERMINOLOGY
* Miguel was slipped one of Stanford’s expensive vintage microphones under the table to take home in exchange for this quote. The word “methodology” is a dead giveaway for this giveaway.
** Note that I use the word “work” very loosely. It’s both noun and verb, ergo it invites flexibility.
***“ Pedagogical philosophy” is a pretentious way of pretending there’s some big thought process behind helping students learn WTF’s necessary to produce their dreams. Don’t trust anyone who uses the word “pedagogy” much or actually knows how to pronounce it correctly.
Copyright (c) 2024 Pictoria Records & Doctor Noize Inc.. All rights reserved. [Used by COMBO with permission of Dr. Noize]
Our mailing address is:
Pictoria Records & Doctor Noize Inc.
P.O. Box 631995
Littleton, Co 80163
Photo: Dr. Noize
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