I'm doing composition lessons now. Contact me for more information.

After requests from a number of people, I'm offering composition lessons now.  Most will take place via Zoom.  Here's more information. Contact me for more info at waburt@mail.com:

 Warren Burt is a composer, performer, instrument builder, sound poet, film-maker, multi-media artist, writer, and maker of unusual visual and sound structures, for both humans and machines. Born in the USA in 1949, and mostly resident in Victoria since 1975, he has been involved with the music and art, and dance scenes in Melbourne since then. His involvement with music technology stretches back to 1968, when he first started working with the Moog synthesizer at the University at Albany, NY. Over the years he has worked with a large number of current existing synthesis systems, including Buchla system 100 and 200, EMS Synthi AKS, Fairlight CMI, NED Synclavier, Yamaha DX7 (and other FM-based synths), Ensoniq EPS, Ensoniq SQ80, ElectroHarmonix Mini-Synth, Akai S900, Emu Proteus, Roland S550, and many others. He also designed and built his own electronics for many years, including his systems Aardvarks IV (hand-wired TTL logic, 1973-75), Aardvarks VII (raw output CMOS circuitry, 1978), Aardvarks IX (AIM65 microcomputer with homemade interface circuitry). He also was involved in the Serge Modular Music Systems project, building 3 large Serge systems for various people in the mid 70s. He’s been very much involved in broadcasting new music on radio, and over the years, worked at radio stations 3CR, 3MBS, 3RRR, and 3MBS in Melbourne, as well as ABC Radio.

He has taught composition and improvisation since the mid-70s, helping many of Australia’s advanced composers realize their visions. Institutionally, he taught at La Trobe University, the Sydney Conservatorium, the Victorian College of the Arts, Canberra School of Music, Griffith University, the University of Wollongong, Bendigo TAFE, and Box Hill Institute. Privately, he has taught independently of institutions for many years. In his private teaching, his main objective is to help composers realize their visions. Along the way, he tries to give people a way of approaching technology that will help them understand the underlying principles of their technology and process. Aside from giving people the basics of a process-oriented approach to sound-making, he tries to be as stylistically free in his teaching as possible, helping the students find their own directions and ideas.

At the moment, he favours the use of the free VCV-Rack synthesizer as a teaching platform for several reasons. 1) It’s free (although you can buy a paid version); 2) it is based on virtual analog plug-patching logic, so you learn how synthesizers work; 3) it’s a public domain project, with dozens of developers contributing hundreds of unique modules; 4) just about every currently used kind of synthesis is possible with it; and 5) it works on Mac, PC and Linux platforms. Being a screen-based program, it also is expandable to the limits of your system. It is fully capable of being used as a real-time performance system, or it can be used to record and modify sounds “out of real time.” Also, being screen-based it allows lessons to be taught via Zoom.

As a teacher, I use positive-feedback techniques (“what did you like about that?”, rather than “what did you think was wrong with that?”) to develop and bring out the student’s talents. This develops powers of concentration and observation in the student, allowing them to expand their viewpoints on creativity and listening. Although the focus of these lessons is on music technology, I am also enthusiastic about teaching people who produce instrumental music, or multi-media / performance art oriented work. Talk with me about your project, and we’ll see what I can offer you.

Lessons are generally 1 hour long. I prefer weekly or every two week lessons, to give people time to play with the techniques we’ve covered in the last session. I favour doing lessons in blocks of 12, with the ultimate aim being for the student to produce a piece of some kind, at the end of the block. At the end of the term, a Zoom concert of student works can be produced, allowing us to share our work with each other. Lessons cost $150, which can be transferred into my bank account via direct debit.

 waburt@mail.com

Hope to hear from you soon.  Cheers,  Warren