Matthew Quayle
Visiting Assistant Professor of Music
- Office
- Mahaney Arts Center 304
- mquayle@middlebury.edu
- Office Hours
- Mon. 3:30-4:30 PM; Tues. 10:45 AM-12:45 PM; or by appointment
Matthew Quayle is Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Middlebury College, where he teaches courses in composition, songwriting, and music theory. His eclectic compositional output ranges from concert orchestral works to cabaret songs. He has received commissions and performances from Akira Saxophone Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Allentown Symphony Orchestra, Emanuele Arciuli, Arditti String Quartet, Avalon String Quartet, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, The Brass Project, Claire Chase, eighth blackbird, International Contemporary Ensemble, Gail Levinsky, Locrian Chamber Players, Silverwind Duo, Ashley Sandor Sidon, United States Air Force Strings, Vuorovesi Trio, and Westchester Symphonic Winds. His recordings include the albums Matthew Quayle: Woodwind Chamber Music (Centaur Records 2024), Matthew Quayle: String Quartets Nos. 1-3 (Naxos Records 2018, with the Avalon Quartet), and Songs Without Words: Solo Piano Music of Matthew Quayle (Albany Records 2015, self-performed). He also wrote the music and lyrics for Amazed By You, a 2013 indie album of original cabaret songs with soprano Marian Murphy.
Quayle has performed widely as a pianist and chamber musician. Recent performances include solo recitals of his original music at Middlebury College and NYU Abu Dhabi, as well as performances at the Atlantic Music Festival of Bartók’s Rhapsody No. 2 with violinist Kyung-Sun Lee, Prokofiev’s Cello Sonata with Jameson Platte, and Chen Yi’s mixed quartet Qi. Other notable performances include Mozart and Fauré piano quartets on the Sembrich Concert Series in Bolton Landing, NY; piano quartets of Brahms and Anthony Holland at Skidmore College; and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with conductor Charles Schneider and the Skidmore College Orchestra. Quayle released the album Entr’acte with cellist Jameson Platte on Albany Records in 2019. It includes the cello sonatas of Debussy and Rachmaninoff, along with an original composition and short works by Chabrier, Cipullo, and Webern.
Professor Quayle has been Composition Program Coordinator for the Atlantic Music Festival since 2023. Prior to moving to Vermont that same year, he taught for over a decade at NYU Abu Dhabi, where he was Associate Arts Professor of Music and served as Program Head of Music. He also spent thirteen summers at New England Music Camp in Maine as Faculty Artist and Theory Coordinator. He holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory (B.M. Composition and Piano Performance), University of Cincinnati (M.M. Composition), and New York University’s Graduate School of Arts and Science (PhD Composition and Theory).
Courses Taught
MUSC 0109
Creativity and Musical Values
Course Description
Creativity and Musical Values
Composers and performers make countless decisions each day while creating their work. These choices are rooted, consciously or subconsciously, in aesthetics and priorities they have encountered throughout their lives. Such values can often be expressed in dualities: beautiful or sublime, poetry or prose, “authentic” or experimental, individual or universal, popular or underground, facile or meticulously-wrought, free or predetermined, Classicism or Romanticism, economy or virtuosity, art or entertainment—to name a few. Through reading, writing, listening, viewing, discussing, analyzing, and reflecting, we will examine how musical values have played out in a wide range of eras and styles, both classical and popular, and how they persist in our time. We will also design our own creative musical projects exploring these ideas.
Terms Taught
Requirements
MUSC 0209
Upcoming
Composition I
Course Description
Music I
Composition I focuses on the materials and grammar of music through compositional exercises. As part of these explorations, we will examine the elements of harmony (scales, triads and seventh chords), notation, rhythm, polyrhythm, binary and ternary forms, two-voice counterpoint, variation, transposition, as well as skills in conducting, analysis, ear-training, and sight-singing. Students will write short pieces for a variety of instruments and ensembles, notate their pieces, and rehearse and perform them, thereby learning about music through discovery and observation. The assignments are designed for students with or without compositional experience. (Ability to play an instrument or sing; MUSC 0160, or passing score on the MUSC 0160 placement exam or with instructor approval.) 3 hrs. lect./1 hr. lab.
Terms Taught
Requirements
MUSC 0210
Composition II
Course Description
Music II
This course is a continuation of MUSC 0209. While using the same format, including composing and labs, as in MUSC 0209, the course covers elements of modality (western and non-western), functional harmony, heterophony, fugal processes, strophic forms, melodic analysis, serial processes, and extensions of tonality and atonality. (MUSC 0209 or by permission) 3 hrs. lect./1 hr. lab.
Terms Taught
Requirements
MUSC 0214
Songwriting/Production
Course Description
Songwriting and Production Workshop
In this course we will explore the creation and production of original songs in a workshop setting. We will experiment as singer-songwriters with varied approaches to melody, harmony, form, lyric construction, expressive devices, and recording and digital audio workstations. We will share and analyze songs from diverse traditions and aesthetic sensibilities, investigating contemporary song practices as well as older forms that have shaped the art of songwriting. You will have the experience of writing songs on your own as well as collaborating with others. We will share our challenges and breakthroughs with the creative process, perform for each other, and offer constructive critique. Instructor permission. Students should have substantial experience with an instrument, singing, or a digital music-making platform.
Terms Taught
Requirements
MUSC 0245
Collab Improv All-Arts Ens
Course Description
Collaborative Improvisation: All-Arts Ensemble
In this course/ensemble we will open dialogues of performance, improvisation, and social interaction across disciplines in the arts. How do the various disciplines relate to each other in a performance environment? It may be easy to see points of commonality between music and dance or writing and theater, but what about the act of painting and the process of musical improvisation? Through the work of Ornette Coleman, Del Close, John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, and others, students will explore improvisation in music, theater, dance, and visual art. The class will culminate in a performance. All students are welcome. 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
MUSC 0260
Upcoming
Music Theory II: Diatonic
Course Description
Music Theory II: Diatonic Theory
This course is an in-depth technical study of the materials of music, a study which expands one’s ability to analyze and create music and to understand different musical styles. We will cover harmonic materials, introduce musical form, and work with traditional compositional skills. These techniques are applied to the analysis of classical music, jazz and popular music. (MUSC 0160 or passing score on the MUSC 0160 placement exam or with instructor approval.) 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
MUSC 0261
Music Theory III: Chromatic
Course Description
Music Theory III: Chromatic Theory
This course is a continuation of MUSC 0260. Students will study more advanced harmonic devices including modulation and chromaticism, jazz harmony, and post-tonal techniques. In-depth analysis of classical music, jazz, and popular music supports a more advanced study of musical form. (MUSC 0260) 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
MUSC 0500
Upcoming
Independent Study
Course Description
Independent Study
Admission by approval. Please consult published departmental guidelines and paragraph below.
Terms Taught
MUSC 0704
Upcoming
Senior Work
Course Description
Senior Work
Senior work is not required of all music majors and joint majors. However, students interested in and eligible for departmental honors (see guideline above, in "Departmental Honors" section) may propose one or two-semester Senior Work projects. Projects may be in history, composition, theory, ethnomusicology, performance, or electronic music, and should culminate in a written presentation, a public performance, or a combination of the two. MUSC0704 does not count as a course toward fulfillment of the music major.
Project and budget proposals for Independent Study and Senior Work should be submitted by the previous April 1 for fall and winter term projects, and the previous October 15 for spring term projects. Budget proposals will not be considered after those dates. Project proposals will be considered after the deadline but are more likely not to be approved due to previous commitments of faculty advisors or other scheduling reasons.
Terms Taught