Matt Glaser has been a fixture in the string music scene in the northeastern US since he was in his 20s.

As a young man he recorded and performed with other acoustic string crazies like Tony Trischka, Marty Cutler and Andy Statman as a part of the Wretched Refuse String Band. He received a masters degree in music from Tufts University and was involved in the transcription and authoring of a number of fiddle books for Oak Publications.

Matt always had an interest in a wide range of fiddle styles, from the old time music that first caught his ear as a young boy, to the wide ranging world of jazz violin. He continued to perform and record across these genres, even as he became known as an authority on American fiddle music and a first rate educator.

In the 1980s, two events occurred which changed the direction of his musical life. He was asked by Bob Share, then provost of Berklee College Of Music, to help them launch a string department at the rapidly-evolving college in Boston. He was the lone instructor when the department was announced, and has served as its chairman this past twenty eight years, overseeing a faculty of 8-10 instructors.

Glaser also became acquainted with filmmaker Ken Burns, then not so much a celebrity as he is today, and played on the budding director’s first documentary film, The Brooklyn Bridge in 1980. When work began on The Civil War, Burns’ epic mini-series for PBS, Matt was asked to be a musical consultant, and was a featured artist on the award-winning soundtrack.

His fiddle, and that of Jay Ungar, was heard in the film on Ungar’s gorgeous tune, Ashokan Farewell, which may be the most widely heard piece of fiddle music in the past 100 years. He and Jay also performed together as Fiddle Fever for several years.

Now, with twenty eight years under his belt at Berklee, Glaser found that the job he had so cherished all these years was taking him farther and farther away from what excited him about the position when the string program was first established – that being actually teaching the violin. Realizing that administrative work had nearly removed him from the classroom, Matt approached Berklee president Roger Brown about a role change at the college, with the result being the American Roots Music Program, with Glaser at the helm.

Matt explained a bit about how this all came to be…

“Since he first arrived at Berklee, Roger Brown has been vocal about his desire to create a home for all kinds of American music that feeds into rock and pop – classic country, old time, bluegrass, blues, polka, western swing, gospel…. what have you. When I met with him to share my interest in possibly relinquishing the string chair, we began discussing the idea of creating the American Roots Music Program. (more…)

Berklee Today, the quarterly alumni magazine of The Berklee College Of Music, has a feature on the school’s embrace of country, bluegrass and Americana music as part of their instructional program.

Written by Christopher John Treacy, and entitled Out Of The Shadows, the article serves as an introduction to the modern acoustic string music scene for the non-initiated, and an explanation of how Berklee developed a instructional program for banjo and mandolin, recently added as principal instruments for study at the college.

“There is no ’simple music,’” says Professor Dave Hollender, an accomplished bassist and five-string banjo player who also leads Berklee’s bluegrass ensemble. “You can’t learn to properly play bluegrass instruments in three months, six months, or a year. I liken it to the skills required to play classical compositions. I’m troubled by the lack of understanding of what bluegrass really is. O Brother isn’t really bluegrass, and what Alison Krauss does isn’t really bluegrass. But if these pop hybrids get people interested in investigating further, that’s fantastic.” True bluegrass is a gritty, rustic musical sport requiring an instrumental mastery that many nonmusicians find surprising. That said, it’s not nearly as big a stretch as one might assume to include bluegrass and related hybrids in a curriculum that built its reputation by incubating jazz dynamos.

The piece also discusses Boston’s emergence as an epicenter for young, progressive string musicians, and how the school has given a further nod in the direction of Americana music by appointing Mark Simos, a recognized old time musician and songwriter, to the Berklee Songwriting Department.

Read the full article online.

UPDATE 2:55 p.m. Dave Hollender asked that we include this comment, feeling that his quote in the original Berklee Today article was subject to misinterpretation.

“I’m afraid that the quote attributed to me isn’t what I actually said. I’d like to clarify. I pointed out that although SOME of Alison Krauss’ music is not what purists would consider bluegrass, I don’t really care. Clearly a lot of her music is bluegrass and either way, I happen to like most all of it. If new listeners are not completely knowledgeable about the music when they first discover it, that’s only to be expected. Eventually they will learn about the roots of the music and various sub-styles.

Thanks again for covering what we a are doing at Berklee.”

Berklee College of Music has been showing a lot of interest in acoustic, stringed music in the last few years. The formation of the acoustic string principal at the school has led to recruiting forays at IBMA and other bluegrass events. This effort has resulted in many talented bluegrass musicians finding a home at the school.

Now the college is taking their recruiting efforts to Ireland.

Berklee College of Music is investing in Ireland to bring young talent across the Atlantic to its Boston campus. Ireland, though rich in musical heritage, is underrepresented at Berklee, a multicultural melting pot that includes students from more than 70 countries. The college’s means of investment is two-fold: First is Berklee in Dublin, April 13-17, a series of improvisation workshops that allow students to study with Berklee’s world renowned faculty. Second, April 18-19, is a visit by admissions representatives and professors to audition and interview students for scholarships for summer and full-time study at Berklee in Boston.

More information concerning these workshops and auditions can be found in the press release on the Berklee College of Music website.

HT: The Bluegrass Ireland Blog

The Berklee College of Music in Boston holds intensive crash courses each summer, both for incoming or potential students to get a taste of the Berklee experience, and to allow non-matriculated students to benefit from the school’s storied faculty.

For several years they have held a String Fling each year for students of violin, viola and cello, primarily focused on developing improvisational skills in multiple stylistic disciplines.

The program will be held again this year (July 18-21,2009), but renamed as the Acoustic String Festival in recognition of Berklee’s recent inclusion of an Acoustic String principal for mandolin and banjo.

From the Berklee web site…

The program will build on the core curriculum of past String Fling programs, teaching improvisation to violin, viola, and cello players, but expanding that teaching to admit other instruments traditionally found in a bluegrass band such as acoustic mandolin and guitar. Players will have the opportunity to study with and be coached by world-renowned mandolinist John McGann, and be trained in musical elements necessary to perform at a high level in a wide range of roots music styles.

The faculty will include:

• Eugene Friesen – cellist with the Paul Winter Consort and one of the world’s greatest improvising cellists.
• Matt Glaser – chair of Berklee’s String Department, author of four books on contemporary string styles, and well-known teacher and performer.
• Chris Howes – versatile violinist/composer who has performed and/or recorded with Randy Brecker, Jack DeJohnette, Les Paul, Lenny White, and others.
• John McGann – mandolinist and member of the Wayfaring Strangers, Rust Farm, and Boston Edge. He has performed with Darol Anger, Yoshihiro Arita, John Blake, the Boston Pops, Celtic Fiddle Festival, Seamus Connolly, Paddy Cronin, S?ɬ©amus Egan, Bill Evans, Bruce Gertz, David Grisman, Martin Hayes, the Time Jumpers, Utah Symphony, and Stefan Wrembel.
• Rob Thomas – fantastic modern jazz violinist and bassist who has performed with the String Trio of New York and the Mahavishnu Project, among others.

The program is open to students high school age and above, and limited space in Berklee’s residence hall is available during this session. Tuition runs $760 for the four day event, with housing costs another $420 if needed.

More information and application details can be found on the Berklee web site.