Academics Matan Rubinstein - Music

Matan Rubinstein says he thinks of his role as a teacher "primarily as an enabler and facilitator of my students' ideas, providing them with information and my own insight, and encouraging them to attain their own.  Above all, I find satisfaction when interacting on the basis of curiosity, passion for ideas and creative connection-making between disparate notions into coherent, reasoned structures." 

Matan comes to Marlboro after four years as a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. He brings a wide range of talents and experiences: he's an accomplished composer of electronic music, a talented and well respected improvising pianist, and a scholar with a wide background in music theory and history. And he is a passionate teacher with wide interdisciplinary interests.

Teaching Philosophy

Matan believes that "ideally, musical learning should be grounded in practice.  Whether singing species counterpoint, harmonizing melodies at the piano, or conducting one's own compositions, the strongest possible understanding of music comes from doing."  He also believes that there should be no fundamental separation between the skills, craft and theory of musical study.  Rather, they form an aggregate, each aspect enforcing the other.  Thus, he wishes to integrate composition, improvisation and performance, taking care to introduce the practice of music like singing and conducting into classes, and provide some history and theory into practice- or skill-oriented classes.  Matan approaches music teaching as an exercise in dialogue in which both teacher and student explore more and better ways in which to make and hear music.  He thrives on such dialogue with his students and promotes active engagement in classroom activities and discussion.  Matan's expectations of students, while high, are centered on the measure of their improvement.

Scholarly Activities

Matan is a prolific composer of music that is divergent in practice, medium and method. He is a frequent collaborator with makers in other disciplines, and he frequently makes music for dance and film. He is also active as a performer and has several recordings to his credit.

Selected Compositions: Concert Music

• 2010- Palimpsest for Trombone and "Tape," commissioned by Trombonist Michael Dugan for performance in 2011.
• 2009 - Le Invisibili for an 11 piece ensemble and laptop computer; 35 segments of music which combine in multiple ways to produce up to 27,300 pieces.
• 2007 - This Room for Mezzo-Soprano, Disklavier and Vibraphone, premiered at SONICT concert series at University of Wisconsin, Whitewater.

Selected Compositions: Dance

• 2011 – Haenyeo, commissioned by choreographer Peggy Choi, premiered July 2011, part of a cycle of up-coming pieces inspired by the diving women of Jeju Island in South Korea.
• 2010 - Knotcracker, commissioned by Li Chiao-Ping Dance Company, premiered December 2010.
• 2006 - Arrivals, part of a multi-media work commissioned by Li Chiao-Ping Dance Company and Douglas Rosenberg.

Selected Compositions: Film Scores

• 2007 - Verge, a Dance film produced by WPT.  Director: Douglas Rosenberg.
• 2001 - The Book of Small, silent film.  Director: Garret Chingery.

B.M., Manhattan School of Music, 1999; M.M., University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2003; D.M.A., University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2009: Marlboro College 2011 -