education
As scholars of the classics…
… you can imagine that we’re devoted to education! The individual members of Oracle Hysterical have designed songwriting classes for the incarcerated, served as teaching artists through Carnegie Hall, and flown around the world to lead workshops for music diplomacy org Found Sound Nation. We’ve taught at major institutions including Juilliard, Peabody, The New School, Princeton, Stanford, the University of Chicago, UC Berkeley and more. Given our wide-ranging experience with all-ages education, we offer any number of customizable classes and workshops depending on the interests of your students, and the unique ecology of your institution.
MASTERCLASSES, COACHINGS, ONE-ON-ONE LESSONS
Each member of Oracle is a versatile performer and composer, working across a variety of contexts and genres. We offer both public chamber music masterclasses, coachings for student ensembles, and individual or group lessons. Our instrumentation: voice, bassoon, viola da gamba, upright and electric bass, guitar, piano and synthesizers, and percussion. Two of our members work in electronic music and can offer assistance to students getting started with a DAW, learning to loop, or simply looking to expand their digital horizons.
COMPOSITION WORKSHOPS
We are available to workshop student pieces in a masterclass setting, offering feedback on topics such as orchestration for mixed ensemble, use of extended techniques, harmony/voice leading, and effective notation. Oracle is also available to perform student works in concert and/or record them.
WHAT is a CAREER IN MUSIC?
Collectively, the members of Oracle hold a variety of degrees in composition, music performance, musicology and ethnomusicology. We’ve taught classes from The Beatles to Wagner to Logic Pro. We play in orchestras, conduct choirs, score films, and lead sight-reading groups. Yet none of us has pursued a “conventional” music career, which makes us well-suited to help students discern their unique skill set, and determine what a career in music might look like for them.
FROM TEXT TO LYRIC TO MUSIC
What does it mean to “set” the Classics? Oracle has turned Classic authors into music from The Book of Jonah to Euripides to the Brothers Grimm. Join the members of the group as they explain their process of text audition and selection, text setting, and the transformation of text into lyric. (n.b. Sometimes bad poetry makes for good lyrics!)
