Featured Faculty Friday: Jeff Herriot
Apr 5th, 2013 by Ann Ricca
It’s that time again and you know what that means! Featured Faculty Friday! This week’s Featured Faculty is Jeff Herriot from the Music Department. Before we get started here are some interesting facts about him:
- Originally from Miami, Florida.
- Is the MAGD coordinator at UW-Whitewater.
- Hobbies include soccer and cooking.
- Favorite book is Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake (He also recommends Huck Finn)
Herriott teaches music technology, audio engineering, and music composition courses. He also directs Sonict Ensemble with Matt Sintchak (another faculty member!) Read on to learn more about him!
Q: If you could have any superpower what would it be and why?
A: Not have to sleep. I love sleep but wish I didn’t need it.
Q: What’s the best thing that you have ever done that you suggest others try?
A: Go see an opera at the Met. It’s a ton of money but it’s a pretty amazing experience.
Q: What’s your favorite movie?
A: I don’t know, there are so many. Of relatively recent movies, I love Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, even though it has some problems.
Q: What is your best advice for students?
A: Make cool things, again and again.
Here’s Herriot’s bio to find more about him and his accomplishments!
“Jeff Herriot studied composition with Cort Lippe at the University of Buffalo, from which he received the Ph.D. in 2003. Jeff previously completed the M.M. in composition at Florida International University in Miami, where he studied with Orlando Jacito Garcia and Fredrick Kaufman. Jeff’s works have been performed and commissioned by ensembles and players including Michael Lowenstern, Guido Arbonelli, Arraymusic, The Syracuse Society for New Music, The Glass Orchestra, and Champ d’Action, and have been heard at a number of different festivals and venues.
Jeff is a composer whose work focuses on the integration of electronics with acoustic, instrumental sound. His music focuses on sounds that change at the edges of perception, that gently shift and bend. He creates unhurried music, using slow-moving shapes with a free sense of time. Jeff’s works often explore repetition with subtle variations in gestural pace, instrumental character, and tuning, and they invite listeners to focus on momentary details while the larger structure unfolds in ways that they may not quite grasp. Jeff employs electronics to alter instrumental timbres and shift tunings by tiny amounts – changes that listeners may not actively perceive but which can foster a sense of uncertainty and wonderment.”
Thanks for being our Featured Faculty for this Friday Jeff Herriot! Check back next Friday to see who our next Featured Faculty will be!