Perhaps you're a talented young violinist unacquainted with advances in music software... or a percussionist who would benefit from some new musical experiences. Maybe you wish to perform a Mozart Clarinet Quartet while exploring your own inner composer through free improvisation... or explore the color, harmony, and unconventional rhythms of Eastern European music while learning arias and songs from opera, Broadway and jazz. If so, the InnerSpark Music Program is for you!

The Music Program at InnerSpark illuminates paths that develop musical invention in parallel with musical discipline.

The InnerSpark Music Program is increasingly relevant in a time when rapid changes are sweeping the musical landscape. The unique music curriculum at InnerSpark features a mix of Western and non-Western chamber music, composition and improvisation, technology, collaboration with other art forms such as dance, theater, and animation, music history, theory, and traditional individual instruction. A wide range of musical artists comes to our campus to perform and discuss their work with students. Student performances at InnerSpark in 2009 included a Beethoven string quartet (op. 18, no. 1), John Cage's Theater Piece, a 24- hour "dawn-to-dawn" faculty and student performance of Eric Satie's Vexations for solo piano, music by Thelonious Monk, The Temptations and The Supremes, Elizabethan Consort Music, Terry Riley's seminal work "In C," and many more!

The basic core consists of:

Applied Instruction, which includes a one-hour private lesson each week with an artist-teacher in one's individual instrumental or vocal specialty, as well as twice-weekly classes where all of the students in a given instrument group or specialty (i.e., guitar, strings, voice, composition, winds, brass, piano, and percussion) work together.

Musicianship, in which each student is placed at his/her appropriate level in a class which meets three times weekly to study the technical and aural elements of music making. Students investigate melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic dictation as well as traditional music theory. A number of approaches are utilized including western and non-western musics, improvisation and movement.

Theory, in which each student is placed at his/her appropriate level in a small class (eight to ten students) which meets three times weekly to study the technical elements of music making. A number of approaches are utilized including western and non-western musics, improvisation and movement;

Ensembles, led by individual faculty members in their genres of interest ranging from classical string quartets to jazz orchestras to avant-garde piano ensembles, to a women's chorus performing Balkan music, to a brass ensemble and improvisation ensembles, a musical theatre and opera performance ensemble, and more. Ensembles typically meet and rehearse three times weekly.

Twentieth And Twenty-First Century Musical Styles, which covers a variety of Western and non-Western musics from both the popular and so-called classical traditions. Musics as diverse as Stravinsky tone poems, Indonesian gamelan, Native American chanting, African drumming, African American gospel, South Indian raga, Latin American cancion, the compositions of Harry Partch and Japanese taiko are touched upon in an effort to introduce the variety of world musics;

Hands-On Workshops in African drumming and dance, and Indonesian and Balinese gamelan where students learn to perform the music of other cultures.

Artist Forums that meet twice weekly and have included internationally renowned artists such as punk rock guitar legend Wayne Kramer, percussionists Brad Dutz, Bryan Holley and Ed Mann, jazz pianist Billy McCoy, trumpeter James Tinsley, Nigerian Band Leader Najite Agindotan, musical theater and film composer William Goldstein, Paul Dresher, George Crumb and many more.

Composition Major Studio where students admitted as Composers work at individual Macintosh computer workstations in a networked electronic music lab running current applications for sequencing, notation, synthesis and digital audio. No prior experience with music technology or notation is required. Students will realize creative compositional projects under the direction and individual attention of the instructors. Students not only develop expertise with current music technology, but also learn how to apply this technology within their own compositional voice. Projects are recorded and performed at a final concert. The Composition program also includes extensive guided, analytical listening to contemporary music in a wide variety of styles and genres. The Composition lab promotes a friendly, collaborative and supportive atmosphere where students are encouraged to challenge themselves musically, deepen their listening skills, and above all, be creative.

Student-generated Activities are encouraged and supported, and faculty members are always available to provide guidance for cross-disciplinary collaborations, (e.g., composers working with their peers in the dance program, singers working with creative writers or theater students, etc.).

The California State Summer School for the Arts Music Program enjoys product and financial support from the music industry, including Apple Computers, Inc. and Yamaha Corporation of America.

The Music Program is co-chaired by Rychard Cooper and Ralph Jones, and includes a faculty of internationally known performers and teachers:

Voice: Paul Berkolds, Kate Conklin, Brent Crayon, and Harmony Jiroudek

Piano: Gaylord Mowrey

Piano/Jazz Studies: Kamau Kenyatta

Woodwinds/Jazz Studies: Ralph Jones

Guitar: Stan Smith

Strings: Andrew Tholl (violin/viola), Ashley Waters (cello)

Bass/Electric Bass: Reggie Carson

Oboe: Stuart Horn

Trumpet: Daniel Rosenboom

Percussion: Amy Knoles

West African Drumming and Dance: Alfred Ladzepko; Erin Barnes and Mike Robbins

Balinese and Indonesian Gamelan: Maria Bodmann & Cliff de Arment

Bulgarian Chorus: Kate Conklin

Composition and Technology: Rychard Cooper, Zachary Lovitch

Music Theory/History: Cliff de Arment, Ralph Jones, Kamau Kenyatta, Stan Smith

Co-chair and Instructor of Composition and Technology Rychard Cooper has an Associate of Arts degree in Audio Engineering, and Bachelors and Masters degrees in Composition. He has twice been awarded the Don Andrus Prize in Electronic Music. He has worked as a recording engineer, producer, sound designer, and he has contributed to the design and construction of many recording studios in the Los Angeles area. He is currently working for CSU Long Beach, teaching classes in Music Technology, Electronic Music, Sound Design, and Digital Media.

Co-chair Ralph M. Jones is a composer, educator, and multi-woodwind specialist. He has toured throughout the United States and Europe with Pharaoh Sanders, Dr. Yusef Lateef, Wadada Leo Smith, Moving Pictures, Go Organic Orchestra, and the MC5 to name but a few. Ralph holds a BA in Ethnomusicology and a Masters degree in African-American Studies from UCLA, and is a member of the African-American Studies faculty at Oberlin College.

Paul Berkolds, baritone, has enjoyed a long career in opera, musical theater, oratorio and solo recital. He received his Undergraduate degree from the University of Washington and both a Masters and a Doctorate from the University of Southern California. Paul serves on the faculty of California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in the School of Music and the School of Theater.

Maria Bodmann is an artist, musician, performer and business manager. She earned her BFA and MFA in Multidisciplinary Art and Music from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). She studied music at the Hochschule der Kunste in Berlin, Germany, was a Fulbright Scholar in Gamelan at the Indonesian Academy of Performing Arts (ASTI), and shadow theater in the village of Sukawati, Bali. She is the Co-Founder of Bali & Beyond, a performing arts company inspired by the cultures of Bali and Indonesia.

Reggie Carson is a bassist/ composer/ arranger who has performed and toured nationally and internationally with some of the most influential names in Jazz, including Steve Tyrell, Will Downing, Dr. John, Wayman Tisdale, Max Roach, Billy Higgins, Freddie Hubbard, Cedar Walton, Roger Kellaway, James Moody, Roy Hargrove, Jack McDuff, & The B Sharp Jazz Quartet.

Kate Conklin is a classically trained soprano and a leading interpreter of the highly demanding vocal music of Bulgaria. In 2002 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Bulgaria, where she rehearsed and performed as a member of the Ivan Spassov Bulgarian Women's Choir, and developed her work in regional solo repertoire, choral literature, conducting and pedagogy. Most recently Kate completed a two-year tenure with Cirque du Soleil's production of "O" and she is training to become a teacher of The Alexander Technique.

Brent Crayon earned his MFA in piano from California Institute of the Arts, where he was awarded a Dumont Foundation scholarship, and his BM from Loyola University, New Orleans. Brent has been a featured performer with the Ventura Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra, the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony of the Canyons, and the New Century Players.

Cliff DeArment, an award winning mallet percussionist, is a gamelan specialist, a versatile drummer, vocalist, keyboardist, guitarist, teacher and scholar. Holding MFA and BS degrees in Fine Arts and Education from the California Institute of the Arts and Edinboro University, Cliff is a certified K-12 music teacher with majors in percussion and world music and a minor in voice.

Stuart Horn plays Oboe, Oboe d'amour and the English horn. He performs regularly with the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra, the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, The Los Angeles Opera, The Los Angeles Master Chorale Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Long Beach Symphony, the New West Symphony and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Stuart holds an MFA from The California Institute of the Arts.

Harmony Jiroudek is an MFA candidate in Voice at California Institute of the Arts.

Kamau Kenyatta is a pianist and saxophonist who is a tenured lecturer at the University of California at San Diego Jazz Studies Department. He was honored with the prestigious Barbara J. and Paul D. Saltman Distinguished Teaching Award at UCSD in May 2009. Kamau has worked with jazz greats such as Hubert Laws, Earl Klugh, Donald Byrd and Jim Pepper.

Amy Knoles is the Executive Director of the California E.A.R. Unit. She has worked with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Kronos Quartet, The Bang On A Can All Stars, John Cage, Frank Zappa, Morton Subotnick, Steve Reich, Quincy Jones, and many others. Amy uses ancient exotic instruments, state-of-the-art electronic percussion controllers, interactive computer music and video technologies. She currently teaches percussion (electronic and otherwise) for The California Institute of the Arts.

Alfred Ladzepko has chaired the World Music Program at Columbia University, and has performed and lectured throughout the United States and in Ghana, where he co-founded the Lashibi Agahu music and dance group. Alfred holds degrees from California State University Northridge, and from the Peoples College of Law. In l994, he joined the music faculty of Pomona College. He is now the co-director and chair of the African Music and Dance Program at the California Institute of the Arts.

Gaylord Mowrey is a pianist and composer and a founding member of the California E.A.R. Unit. Specializing in contemporary music, he has performed throughout the U.S. and Europe. He has recorded for Nonesuch Records, Crystal Records, ProSonus and New Albion. Gaylord holds an MFA in piano performance from California Institute of the Arts and has taught at the Conservatorio Nacional in Quito, Ecuador.

Trumpeter Daniel Rosenboom is a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy, the Eastman School of Music, recently completed his masters degree at UCLA and is currently pursuing his MFA at the California Institute of the Arts. He has appeared as a featured soloist at the University of York, England, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, the La Mama Theater in New York City, and at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Stan Smith is a guitarist and composer and an Assistant Professor of Music in the Jazz Studies / Music Industry Program at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio where he has been the head of the jazz/contemporary guitar curriculum since 1978. He is also on the staff of the National Guitar Workshop. He is the author of Jazz Harmony on the Guitar, A Linear/Structural Approach, published by Hal Leonard.

Andrew Tholl is an L.A. based musician. As a violinist, composer, and drummer he is involved in music for concert halls, art galleries, films, puppet shows, bars, garages, and bedrooms. This wildly eclectic artist is the violinist of The Formalist Quartet, the drummer for a punk band known as The Teeth, a member of the indescribable band known as Treasure Mammal, and more.

Ashley Walters is pursuing her doctoral Degree in Contemporary Cello Performance as a fellow at the University of California, San Diego. She graduated from the California Institute of the Arts with a Master of Fine Arts in Cello Performance.