What’s up with Ethan

Here’s a quick update on what is going on in my life. First, most importantly: Milo is walking but not yet talking; he’s waving, but not yet high-fiving; he’s eating with a spoon, but only getting the food into his mouth two thirds of the time. He’s totally delightful.

Milo in the playground

Since I graduated from the NYU Music Technology program in January, I’ve been mainly working as a researcher for the NYU Music Experience Design Lab, under the leadership of Alex Ruthmann. The major project we’ve been doing has been an online audio production course focusing on the music of Peter Gabriel. It launches May 16th, and it’s going to be a wildly futuristic experience for everyone involved. Click the image below to learn more and sign up. Did I mention it was free?

Play With Your Music - Peter Gabriel edition

Maybe the most exciting thing about Play With Your Music is the fact that the entire course can be completed using nothing but a web browser. No additional software is required, even for the mixing and editing. You can go ahead and try mixing some of Peter Gabriel’s original multitrack stems right now, if you’d like:

Later this summer, I have two more projects happening at NYU. First is the IMPACT workshop, a multimedia arts and performance program that brings together people from many disciplines: theater, music, visual art, dance, video, and more. I’m going to be teaching electronic music production, and helping the participants create live interactive sound experiences, both in a theatrical setting and in site-specific installations. This is my first college-level teaching job, and I feel like I’m plunging straight in with both feet.

The workshop will be followed by the IMPACT conference, a new academic conference bringing together school and community artists, media and music educators, university researchers, educators, and industry. The conference will address innovative music, arts, and media classroom practices, with a focus on making and tinkering, collaboration and creativity, digital media and other new technologies. I’ll be doing an invited presentation/workshop on electronic music improvisation and production with Ableton Live.

In the fall, I’ll be teaching Introduction to Music Technology at Montclair State University. I’m being considered for some other academic teaching work as well; fingers crossed. I’ll be continuing to work with the NYU MusEDLab on future online audio classes. Finally, I’d like to find a role with a music creation or education software company, designing new tools to make meaningful participation in music more accessible.