Lee Joiner is Director of Music on the Fly. In addition to a
career as a teacher and performer of classical violin, he is an improviser
in jazz, worship and solo classical idioms. His teaching reflects a commitment
to bring improvisation to the study of music to facilitate the development
of the ear, comfort with one's instrument or voice, and freedom of expression.
He has done workshops on improvisation in the Chicago area and other parts
of the United States for high school and college students who desire to fill
out their musicianship. At Wheaton, he has developed an improvisational chamber
music course and championed faculty improvisation concerts. In the Chicago
area he is regularly involved in solo, chamber and orchestral performance.
In addition to violin, he plays viola, electric violin and Baroque violin.
At Wheaton Conservatory he is Chair of the String Studies area. He is also
on the faculty of Credo, a Christian chamber music camp.
Tony Payne is a prolific improviser and composer. In addition to published
compositions for choirs, instrumental ensembles and music theater, he has
written many new songs and hymns for the church. He has been a member of the
worship commission of the Baptist World Alliance and was a participant in
the Baptists in Worship conference in Berlin. He has lectured on the subject
of world church music and acted as worship leader for conferences. He was
director of Wheaton '99, an international consultation on worship, evangelism
and the arts. Dr. Payne has served as a compiler and editor for two hymnbooks,
Aleluya: Songs of Renewal, a cross-cultural hymnbook, and Aleluya:
The Music of Lausanne II. He has been an active church musician for over
twenty years, serving churches in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. For the last
ten years, Dr. Payne has served as Minister of Music at the First Baptist
Church of Wheaton, IL, where he has implemented a media system incorporating
a digital songbook with words and music. Dr. Payne's improvisations have found
their way into numerous compositions and have served him regularly in the
worship of God's people.
Chris Redgate brings a unique combination of pedagogical and performance
gifts to Music on the Fly. At London Bible College, he teaches Creative Musicianship,
a three-year program that covers a range of improvisation skills, some of
which are used in worship environments. Others are used in classical music
or in a range of pop/jazz/rock settings. He is intimately in touch with the
renewal of worship that is ongoing in the U.K. Chris Redgate is a wonderful
oboist. He studied at the Chethams School of Music and the Royal Academy.
The recipient of international music awards, he is renowned the world over
as an interpreter of avante garde music. Recently, he has been composing works
in a variety of styles for the classical concert hall which include improvisational
sections.
Steve Ramsdell will spearhead the Jazz track at the Institute. He is
a Guest Lecturer of Jazz & Classical Guitar at the Wheaton Conservatory. In
addition to his strength as a teacher, Mr. Ramsdell performs often in the
Chicago area and beyond. Holding a bachelor's degree in Classical Guitar and
a masters degree in Jazz Pedagogy, Steve's eclectic musical studies have led
him from New York to Brazil to Cuba. Chicago's New City called Steve "the
thinking man's guitarist" mixing classical and jazz sensibilities and holding
his own thing together.
Howard Whitaker is a versatile musician and composer whose works encompass
many genres, including jazz, chamber music, choral and orchestral music. He
received the Ph.D. in composition from the University of Chicago and currently
teaches composition and twentieth century theory at Wheaton College. He has
been involved in church music for many years and recently completed a two-year
Composer-in-Residence program on a grant from the Calvin Institute for Christian
Worship. In various church jobs, he has composed for the choir and congregation
and sponsored innovative Taize services using improvisation. He has received
grants, awards, and commissions from many performing groups and foundations,
including the Rockefeller Foundation and the Indianapolis Symphony. His "Prayers
of Habakkuk" was recorded by the Warsaw Philharmonic and Chorus, and other
works have been published by a wide range of publishers. A clarinetist and
saxophonist, Dr. Whitaker remains active as a performer and improviser in
styles ranging from jazz to the avant garde.
James Falzone Clarinetist and composer James Falzone is working at
the intersection of many styles of music including jazz, improvised, classical,
and folk traditions. He has performed throughout the United States and abroad
with the ensemble he founded and directs, The Allos Consort, and with such
diverse and visionary artists as Steve Lacy, Richard Stoltzman, Theodore Bikel,
Joe Maneri, Fred Lonberg-Holm, and many others. Along with acclaimed Vermont
accordionist Jeremiah McLane, James also leads the traditional French folk
ensemble Gennetines. James’ year 2000 debut recording, The Already and
the Not Yet, was hailed by NorthEast Performer critic Katie DeBonville as
“quite thought provoking . . . a unique listening opportunity which
merits more than just one listen.” Educated at New England Conservatory
in Boston, James has been a frequent lecturer on music at L’Abri Fellowship
and is currently Visiting Lecturer of Music at North Central College in Naperville,
Illinois where he teaches music theory and composition. He is also the Director
of Music and Resident Composer for Grace Chicago Church, a Presbyterian congregation
meeting in Chicago’s West Loop. James lives in Chicago’s Ukranian
Village with his wife Deanne, and their daughter Giordana.
Cathy Kuna Growing up in Philadelphia, Cathy was heavily influenced
by the cellists of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Electric Light Orchestra.
This early crossing of styles has continued to shape her approach to cello
playing and teaching. After degrees at Wheaton and Northwestern, Ms. Kuna
has been performing and teaching in the Chicago area for many years. She performs
with the Celtic-Americana band Switchback, the contemporary folk group Sons
of the Never Wrong, and has recorded with a number of Chicago rock and folk
musicians. She is a founding member of the Kairos String Quartet. At her home
church, she organizes a diverse group of instrumentalists to provide an alternative
to the organ in leading worship. With roots in classical chamber music, Ms.
Kuna places a high value on the interaction between musicians that takes place
in a small ensemble. She finds in improvisation a unique mode of building
bridges and sparking the creation of music. She endeavors to bring as many
sounds and improvisational styles as possible to the cello, both as an acoustic
and electronic instrument. She is currently an instructor of cello at the
College of DuPage and the Wheaton College Community School of the Arts.
Faye Seeman has distinguished herself as one of the most versatile
harpists in the Midwest, making music in a wide variety of styles and settings.
As principal harpist of the renowned and trend-setting Chicago Sinfonietta,
she has played in world-famous concert halls in Austria, Switzerland, Germany
and the Canary Islands. She teaches harp at Wheaton College Conservatory and
also works with children as a Kindermusick instructor. This pioneer in harp
improvisation will bring her varied gifts to Music on the Fly.
Dwayne Corbin is a drummer, percussionist and conductor who has been
playing drums in church since 7th grade. He earned his BME from Wheaton College
and his Masters in Percussion Performance from Central Washington University,
where he was the graduate assistant conductor of the University Wind Ensemble.
For two years (2001 and 2002) he was conductor of the Wheaton Conservatory
Wind Ensemble, and he took over the Percussion studio and Percussion Ensemble
during the sabbatical of Dr. Kathleen Kastner. He is an active player in a
number of different styles. He has directed bands and jazz ensembles in schools
and has maintained a private percussion studio. Currently, he is a doctoral
student at the Cincinnati Conservatory in conducting. Dwayne presented a workshop
on "The Use of Drums in a Worship Setting" at the Illinois State Conference
of the Assemblies of God.
FEATURED GUEST SPEAKER
Harold
M. Best is Emeritus Dean/Professor of Music of the Wheaton College
Conservatory of Music. He received the B.S.M. from Nyack College, the M.A.
from Claremont Graduate School, and the D.S.M. from Union Theological Seminary.
Dr. Best served as Dean of the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music from
1970 until his retirement in 1997.
He is the author of numerous articles on the relationship of Christianity
to the fine arts, worship, issues in arts education, culture, and curriculum.
His book Music Through the Eyes of Faith was published by Harper
San Francisco in 1993. Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship
and the Arts has just been released by InterVarsity Press. He has composed
in a wide range of media and styles, and his publications include choral and
organ compositions. He is also active at the national level as a lecturer,
consultant and workshop leader in the areas of curriculum, accreditation,
worship and church music.
Wheaton College Home | Wheaton
Conservatory Home
