Berklee's American Roots Music Program explores America's musical and cultural heritage, focusing on styles such as country, blues, bluegrass, and old-time
The artistic validity of a wide range of American roots styles—including blues, gospel, folk, early country music, bluegrass, old-time, cajun, western swing, polka, Tex-Mex, and others—is beyond dispute. This music is the lifeblood of America’s cultural heritage. The expressive urgency and depth of these styles is supported by strong fundamental musical values, and it is in recognition of the richness of these idioms, and of the ways that they fuse with contemporary elements, that Berklee has created the American Roots Music Program.
Among its many projects, the American Roots Music Program produces concerts, hosts visiting artists, designs and implements curriculum, creates and hosts faculty development sessions, and designs and implements symposiums and seminars. Also, using a broader definition of the term "roots," the program examines the core of what it means to be a musician in all idioms, and contemplates the roots of our western musical traditions, ranging from Bach to traditional African music. The program's curriculum focuses on ensemble playing and nontraditional improvisation, and presents visiting artists, concerts, and symposiums.
The Artistic Director of the American Roots Music Program is the esteemed and versatile musician known as Matt Glaser. Glaser is an American jazz and bluegrass violinist who served as the chair of the string department at the Berklee College of Music for more than twenty-five years. He is now the founder and artistic director of Berklee's American Roots Music Program.
Holding an M.M. degree from Tufts University, he has performed at Carnegie Hall with Stephane Grappelli and Yo-Yo Ma, at the Boston Globe Jazz Festival with Gunther Schuller, with Bob Dylan, Ralph Stanley, Lee Konitz, David Grisman, Mark O'Connor, Andy Statman, Jamey Haddad, Jay Ungar, Bruce Molsky, Darol Anger, Art Baron, and the International String Quartet Congress.
He is featured on the Grammy Award–winning soundtrack for Ken Burns's 1990 The Civil War documentary and the soundtrack for the 1978 film King of the Gypsies. He served on the board of advisors for Ken Burns's 2001 Jazz documentary and appears as a narrator in the film. In addition to founding his own musical group, called the Wayfaring Strangers ( featuring Tony Trischka, Laszlo Gardony, Tracy Bonham), he has been a member of the Central Park Sheiks, the New York Bluegrass All-Stars, and Fiddle Fever. He has recorded an album with fellow fiddle player Kenny Kosek and has appeared as a guest on numerous other recordings. He has authored two books: Jazz Violin and Jazz Chord Studies for Violin, and an instructional video, Swingin' Jazz Violin.
Most recently, Matt Glaser was the recipient of the American String Teachers Association's Artist Teacher Award which places him squarely amongst the ranks of teachers such as Roman Totenberg, Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern, Ivan Galamian, and Yehudi Menuhin (just to name a few).
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