Artist Statement
Works emerge from explorations to discover something new. Interactive, multisensory experiences are layered in sound and gesture, embracing mediums and methods of archetypal and experimental modalities in technical and non-technical settings. Conceptual to architectonic frameworks invoke interaction, improvisation, reflection, and transformation within an acoustic ecology. Compositions designed as contemplations of perception, imagination, and ephemerality – intended to evoke presence and personal meaning and shift with each participant’s interpretation.
Teaching Philosophy
My teaching philosophy has developed through years of teaching experience and continues to evolve. I employ interactive strategies and teaching methodologies rooted in essential educational and knowledge-acquisition principles encompassing cognitive functioning, learning theory, diversity, inclusivity, accessibility, instructional planning, and assessment. As a dedicated educator and academic leader, an influential educator must refine the craft of teaching with as much resolve and persistence as the craft taught. Teaching is an art that requires a vast and diverse skill set. Not only does it require a mastery of the subject being taught, but also an ability to inspire, identify, and provide relevant context, deconstruct large frameworks, articulate complex ideas in unassuming ways, illustrate connections between insulated and modular concepts, possess a keen sensitivity to students’ progress, consistently model industry practices, devise and nimbly adapt dissemination strategies to guide learners, create opportunities for students to discover for themselves, and facilitate experiences that foster curiosity.
I nurture intellectual diversity and inclusivity, the ability to think analytically, engage in self-critique, listen critically, identify and articulate criteria and personal value, and synthesize concepts and processes into new ideas and combinations of ideas. How a learner achieves these is likely unique to each individual. Often, learners select, interpret, and transform new information and experiences within a personal context. Simultaneous awareness of the individual and the collective group is an elemental responsibility. I have found that a genuine connection with each student is one of the most informative and supportive resources. This connection allows a teacher to identify a learner’s door into the discourse and incorporate a learner’s interests and processes to facilitate contact with the material, spark inspiration, and reveal alternative perspectives for fellow students. Each person brings an intrinsic value to the learning space; identifying what that is and utilizing that knowledge can benefit the group.
Student engagement has proven vital in facilitating active discovery in the classroom. I endeavor to be an empathetic and encouraging advisor and mentor to my students. I work to create a space where every learner is empowered to contribute to constructing knowledge, co-own, share, and shape the responsibility and purpose of the learning environment. I encourage students to constructively challenge what they know and are taught and identify, experiment with, modify, or abandon existing philosophies to pursue meaning and value for themselves. Their contribution often leads to new trajectories along relevant paths that may have yet to be traversed as effectively or dynamically without their involvement. The class must meet the declared learning outcomes of the course, and a skillful instructor can facilitate the benchmarks within a collaborative and shared space while strengthening abilities for autonomous and divergent cogitation.
Fostering play, humor, and fun in the discovery process is as essential to flow as structure and trust. We can cultivate trust by demonstrating that there is a clear plan for students, that there is at least one path for them to be successful amid course criteria, that those paths are made evident, and that their teacher is someone who provides caring support, insight, and guidance on that path. Clarity of course structure is vital. A student’s time is better spent without deciphering expectations, jumping through hoops, or seeking obscure resources. Of course, there is value in an ability to unearth resources when engaged in study and research; however, providing resources in accessible and manageable packages can provide measured guidance and elucidate criteria for success. This structural simplicity allows students to apply their time to contemplate, practice, develop, and engage with the intended material.
Significant resources include plainly defined and apposite assessments and timely feedback. I continually refine formative and summative assessments to more accurately measure students’ cognitive and affective proficiency with course objectives, utilizing an integrative process, one of evaluation facilitated by reflection and practical integration, and the efficacy of its application in the next iteration of a task, course, or program. Assessments are intended to be useful, provide meaningful information for the learner and the teacher, be fair, ethical, systematic, challenging, realistic, promote learning, and empower data-driven approaches to guide the teaching practice. I consider consistency in feedback practices integral to assessment and reciprocal teaching and learning. Feedback includes dialog between faculty and students, self-assessment, and peer assessment to develop assessment literacy and support students' growth as autonomous learners with reflective and evaluative skills and frameworks for working and improving collaboratively. Consistently structured principles of feedback can increase coherency and help learners utilize feedback to understand better task compliance, quality, criteria, core practice knowledge, relevant tacit knowledge, and alignment with personal and professional values.
My enthusiasm and dedication to teaching and learning continue to grow, and I hope my work benefits learners and connects them with their passion and lifelong learning. It is an honor and a commitment that I undertake with seriousness and gratitude that I am able to support learners in their academic and professional endeavors.
Bio
Sound artist, creativity and learning entrepreneur, and education leader with extensive executive and creative direction experience. Leading academic and professional teams in designing and delivering data-informed, active, learner-centered teaching and learning experiences, strategies, programs, curricula, assessments, analytics, accessibility, and technology to optimize efficacy and engagement. Dedicated professional practitioner and educator with an unrelenting commitment to learners' success, efficient and effective project actualization, collaboration, and fostering high morale. Sensitivity and active diligence to digital accessibility, inclusivity, and belonging.
A passionate advocate for exploratory approaches to visual and sound art and developing innovative technologies to enable new forms of creativity and expression. Specializing in studio practice, traditional and experimental composition, production, performance, engineering, sound design, interactivity, installation, and intermedia art. Former creative arts college Director of Education, North America Director of Learning Design, and corporate and academic Chief Learning Officer. Currently, Chief Learning and Development Officer at ASI and Chief Creative at THE STUDI/O. Graduate and post-graduate education at The University of Edinburgh, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Stanford University, and University of California. 28x Apple Certified Master Trainer, 9x DHS Certified for 508, Trusted Tester Tools, and IT Program Management for Accessible Systems & Technology, and Fellow of Advance HE – the UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching in higher education. Written on numerous creative, technological, and educational subjects. Currently, writing ‘The Book of Phonography: A Field Recordist’s Handbook,’ composing a contemporary mixed-chamber work for dancers, and completing an electronic music set.
For years, worked closely with one of Billboard Magazine’s “Top Ten Producers of All Time” – 57 #1 Hits, multi-GRAMMY, Emmy & multi-Platinum Producer and Artist Narada Michael Walden at Tarpan Studios. As Producer, Engineer, Songwriter, Arranger, and Performer – worked with artists and companies, including Apple, Google, Legends The Game, Robot Invader, Eagre Games, LeapFrog, PETA, Twisted Tools, Siedah Garrett, Greg Phillinganes, Scientist (dub pioneer), PSY, Playboy, GQ, Vogue, Salvatore Ferragamo, James Taylor, Carole King, Smokey Robinson, Billy Joel, Sting, Elton John, and Katy Perry.
“A man for all seasons...from Ahmad Jamal to the hippest in contemporary music, Chris knows how it's done...a whiz with the computer and the drums. Chris has the genius touch.”
– Narada Michael Walden