William Brittelle
Composition
Columbia Waterfront
COMPOSITION LESSONS
Brooklyn is THE most exciting place in the world to be making music right now. Groups like Dirty Projectors, Animal Collective, St. Vincent, and Grizzly Bear are pushing the boundaries of "indie rock" and young classical composers are involving more and more of their influences in their classical work. With my 10+ experience in the NY classical, jazz, and rock worlds, I feel l am uniquely equipped to help artists develop the techniques to add sophistication and depth to their compositions - while staying true to the music they love. I can give students the ability to notate guitar solos and drum parts, add extended jazz harmonies, arrange for classical instruments like harp and timpani, gain fluency in Logic, Sibelius, and Finale, and dissect the music that influences them. I also work with students to develop a solid foundation in form, harmony, voice-leading, and rhythm. All material is taught through the composition lesson format. Students are expected to bring in newly-composed work for each lesson. As a teacher, I believe I'm most useful when helping guiding students to their own stylistic goals, not imposing mine. My job is to help bring your crazy, amazing, boundary-busting ideas to life.
My studio is located in West Carroll Gardens (also known as the Columbia Waterfront District) a short walk from the F train. The space features polished concrete floors, exposed brick, and a baby grand piano with a comprehensive Logic/Sibelius/Finale set-up.
BIOGRAPHY
One of the foremost figures in the blossoming "indie classical" movement, William Brittelle is helping to pioneer a musical style based on the intersection of classical, indie rock, and jazz. Through his work with ensembles like ACME, NOW Ensemble, and Newspeak, as well as his own 8-person touring ensemble (featuring members of Jerseyband, The Long Count, NOW Ensemble, Respect Sextet), Brittelle has established himself as a unique and electrifying voice in the world of new music.
Heavily influenced by rock and popular music, Brittelle's compositional work often includes electric guitar, bass, drums, synthesizer, and various pre-programmed elements, as well as pop-style vocals. His primary mentors include Mike Longo, longtime pianist/arranger for Dizzy Gillespie, and Pulitzer prize-winning composer David Del Tredici. In 2003, his piece Seven Songs of Zen, Love, and Longing was released on Peacock Records by Anti-Social Music.
With his rock band The Blondes, he performed on stages like Irving Plaza on bills with members of The Ramones, Pere Ubu, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Secret Machines. The Blondes' debut album, produced by legendary punk guitar god Richard Lloyd (Television), was noted a number of top-ten lists and received mainstream and indie radio play. In 2004, Brittelle suffered a career ending vocal injury while performing at NYC's Knitting Factory, forcing The Blondes to disband and leading Brittelle to start lip-synching his vocal parts. In 2006, Brittelle received an emerging composer grant from the Jerome Foundation for the creation of Mohair Time Warp, a full-length art-music concept album featuring live musicians, and lip-synched vocals.
Brittelle has since been featured on All Things Considered, The New York Times, Time Out NY, WYNC's Soundcheck (CD pick of the month) and New Sounds, in Seattle's Icebreaker Festival curated by Alex Ross and Kyle Gann, the Festival Internacional in Chihuahua, Mexico, Pittsburgh's Music on the Edge series, and New Music New College in Sarasota, Florida. Upcoming compositional projects include a full album of new electroacoustic chamber work for ACME (American Contemporary Ensemble), a mainstay of the Wordless Music series. 2010 will mark the release of his second full-length New Amsterdam release entitled Television Landscape. Brittelle has received awards/grants from the American Music Center, ASCAP, and the American Composers Forum.
As co-director of New Amsterdam Records, Brittelle has curated over 30 concerts of new music in the NYC area over the last 3 years. Past experience also includes a two year stint as head of press/promotions for Sin-e, an early 00's Lower East Side rock club known for featuring early shows by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Walkmen, Animal Collective, and TV on the Radio, and time spent as a PR agent for Milina Barry PR, a prestigious downtown classical music firm.
Get Started with BML to setup a lesson with William.
Dirty Projectors, Radiohead, Debussy, Ravel, Berg, Mingus, Monk, Coltrane, John Luther Adams, Prince, Beach Boys, Andrew Hill, Animal Collective, St. Vincent.
...the music was substantial: a riotous shotgun wedding of rich orchestrations and complex arrangements with the rock-oriented pleasures of flamboyant posturing and excessive volume, Mr. Coale’s fuzz-pedal bass lines and the bombastic precision of Ted Poor’s drumming. Where the two sides came closest together — as when Mr. Dancigers, Mohawk-coiffed and wearing a “Classical Music Is Dead” T-shirt, piloted a dive-bombing guitar solo into a plush thicket of horns — the results were irresistible." - The New York Times
--William Brittelle blew out his voice during a gig with his postpunk band The Blondes some years ago, effectively ending his career as a lead singer. But rather than throwing in the towel, Brittelle developed Mohair Time Warp, in which he lip-synchs his studio recorded, multitracked vocals over a stellar live band that includes members of Anti-Social Music and other new-music luminaries. Brittelle's crafty, catchy music taps ino the best of what Frank Zappa's oeuvre has to offer, while his surrealist lyrics suggest a copy of Roget's Thesarus, the complete Allen Ginsberg, and a Taco Bell menu fed into Cuisinart. Factor in Brittelle's charisma, and the results are completely electrifying." -Time Out New York
If you like Sufjan Stevens but wished his palette was brighter and more extensive, Brittelle might be your guy. It's like XTC in residence at the BAM. A little night music meets Night Ranger in the forgotten dressing room of the university black box theatre of the soul." - Alex V. Cook from Badasses of Contemporary Composition
[William Brittelle] is taking bits of rock and classical and mixing it all together...with alarming speed." - New Sounds, WNYC
