This week we feature part two of our conversation with Dr. Benjamin Cornelius-Bates, Professor of Musicianship at Duquesne University. Last week Dr. Cornelius-Bates shared some basic tips on how to improvise on traditional and contemporary Advent hymn tunes this Advent and Christmas season. If you haven’t listened to it, we strongly encourage you to! This week we pick up where we left off and see how we can develop his improvisation tips into more complex ways of sparking creativity in the liturgy.
SHOW NOTES
This episode originally aired on December 13, 2021. Click here to view the original episode.
Dr. Benjamin Cornelius-Bates, organist, improviser, and composer, grew up in Alaska. He earned his BM in organ performance at the University of Montana in Missoula studying with Dr. Nancy Cooper. After moving to Vancouver, British Columbia with his wife, Benjamin studied organ with Rachel Alflatt and composition with her husband Denis Bédard. Benjamin earned his MM in Sacred Music from Duquesne University in 2009 and an Artist’s Diploma in 2011 studying under Dr. Ann Labounsky, emphasizing improvisation. Benjamin has a Doctorate in Music Composition at West Virginia University, where he studied with Dr. Joseph Dangerfield, Dr. Matthew Heap, and Dr. David Taddie. He has competed internationally as an improviser in France, Germany, and the United States and has had numerous commissions including a premier at the 2018 Kansas City American Guild of Organists National Convention.
All content of this podcast is property of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians or its content suppliers and is protected by United States and international copyright laws. For information about the podcast and its use, please contact us.