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__** Turntable U? In D.J.'s Hands Professor Sees an Instrument. New York Times. **__ BOSTON â€” In the 1950's music conservatories debated whether to teach jazz. In the 60's and 70's they argued over the inevitable introduction of rock and pop into the classroom. Today at the Berklee College of Music here, students, faculty members and administrators are grappling with this question: Does hip-hop turntablism, a highly virtuosic style of hip-hop D.J.-ing, deserve to be taught alongside harmony, melody and improvisation? Can DJ Shadow and Mixmaster Mike keep company with Schubert and Mingus? For several years Stephen Webber, a professor of music production and engineering, has been trying to introduce a course on hip-hop turntable techniques into the Berklee curriculum. He designed a program of study that would teach students the technical and musical basics of turntablism, which involves manipulating a record back and forth against the needle to create percussive scratches, jagged beats and abstract sounds. But the college turned down the idea of a turntable class in 2000 because the provost disapproved, and in 2001 the idea was rejected by the executive vice president because of budget constraints, despite support from the college's deans. Meanwhile Mr. Webber wrote "Turntable Technique: The Art of the D.J.," the first musical method book for aspiring hip-hop D.J.'s. For his book Mr. Webber used interviews, photographs and traditional music notation to translate the turntablists' approach into a series of lessons and exercises that an aspiring D.J. could practice. These include basic back-spinning and beat-matching and more advanced techniques like the four-finger crab scratch. "I tried to write it like you would for any instrument," Mr. Webber said, "including everything from hand position to how hard you should push down on the platter." The book became one of Berklee Press's best-selling titles, and now the college's administrators are willing to reconsider the course. Mr. Webber said he was certain that the turntable belonged as one of Berklee's offerings. "It has very unlikely beginnings as a music playback device, but it has become a musical instrument," he said. "Once I saw DJ Q-Bert and Mixmaster Mike, guys who elevate this to a virtuosic level, I realized this could be around for a long time." Mr. Webber is not alone in this assertion. Hankus Netsky, an instructor at the New England Conservatory of Music, said he could see the possibilities of the turntable being used at his institution. "The way I hear it, it's a contemporary percussion instrument," Mr. Netsky said. "If it's an instrument that's out there, and if a talented student with an artistic mission came along, I would welcome that student." Courses on hip-hop music and culture have become commonplace across college campuses in the past 10 years. For example, Stanford University has a course titled "The Language of Hip-Hop Culture," and Harvard University offers "Hip-Hop America: Power, Politics and the Word" in its Afro-American studies department. Both courses take a cultural or analytical approach, not an instructional or practical one. In addition there are several places where aspiring D.J.'s can learn how to scratch and spin in a more informal setting. In 1998 two students at the University of California at Berkeley introduced a pass-fail course titled "Introductory Turntablism" in the university's student-led democratic education program. There are also several for-profit music programs that cater to aspiring D.J.'s, including Scratch DJ Academy in New York, which uses a combination of master classes and informal instruction. If Berklee decides to approve a turntable class, however, it will be the first hip-hop performance class at a conservatory, applying Western notation and theory to an oral tradition. Mr. Webber said he knew of no other conservatories that were considering such a class. Its acceptance at Berklee is far from certain. Though hip-hop has artistic validity in popular culture, the turntable has yet to achieve legitimacy in music theory classes and performance studies. And many within Berklee's faculty are uncertain whether the course is appropriate for a serious music college. Gary Burton, executive vice president of the college, said, "There's still some controversy over whether it's an instrument, in the conventional sense of the word, meaning with established systems of technique and notation that relates it to Western harmony and melody." Mr. Webber obviously disagrees. "The fact that people are taking beats and snippets of other records bothers a lot of people," he said. But, he added, it is not very different from modern classical composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage, "except it actually grooves, and you can dance to it." It's fitting that this debate is occurring at Berklee. Since its inception in 1945, this private music college has been considered one of the most progressive in the country. The school touts itself as the first music school to incorporate jazz and to accept electric guitar majors, and it is one of the few institutions where students can study Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon as well as traditional subjects like ear training and composition. For Mr. Burton, the debate over the turntable reminds him of an earlier era. "We went through a similar experience 30 years ago," he said. "Rock became a lot more sophisticated in the 60's, and suddenly we were talking about having an ensemble that played Beatles music. But the older, established faculty reacted very strongly. They felt that the Berklee tradition would be harmed and that rockers do not care about reading music, they just want to scream and play two chords." Then acting as the dean of curriculum, Mr. Burton arranged for a monthly faculty seminar, complete with visits from established rock musicians, to explore the topic. Mr. Burton and Mr. Webber now have decided to take a similar tack: they are arranging a series of master classes and discussions to familiarize faculty members with the specifics of the debate. But even if the Berklee faculty accepts the turntable as an instrument, Mr. Burton said there was still the question of whether the hip-hop art form lends itself to the classroom. In addition the school would have to find instructors, purchase equipment, decide on a core repertory and most important see if students were interested in the class, he said. Mr. Webber seems certain that there are enough interested students to fill a course, though students are apparently divided on the subject. Matias Vellutini, 21, a bassist at Berklee, said: "I think that turntables in general are just a party trick. It's a total gimmick. I'm not even sure if it's music." But others seem excited at the prospect of scratching for credit. "Yeah, I'd take the class," said Jason Downs, 19, a vocal major. "I'd be the first to sign up. It's the future of music."

Annotations: ENDELMAN, MICHAEL. "Turntable U? In D.J.'s Hands Professor Sees An Instrument." //Turntable U? In D.J.'s Hands Professor Sees An Instrument//. Tuesday, February 11, 2003. New York Times. 16 Jun 2009 .


 * __Turntablism 101__ **
 * The Turntable As An Instrument? **
 * (CBS) ** Among the many sounds at Boston's renowned [|**Berklee College of Music**], where the only music on the curriculum is contemporary, one could say its latest is a sort of throwback to the past

Today, the turntable is no longer just for playing music, but making music. At Berklee, the turntable is the instrument.

"The turntable is so physical. I don't think anybody realizes how much of that aspect is in it," says Aubrey Webber.

"I would say the frustration sort of adds to the fun," says student Corey. "Just because you're like, 'I got to figure this out. I got to figure this out.'"

Stephen Webber, a classically trained guitarist, says, "When I tell people, friends of mine, 'I'm playing the turntable,' most of the time they just look at me like, 'What are you talking about?'"

Webber is Berklee's professor of " [|**Turntable Technique**] ."

"It's DJ-ing, first and foremost," explains Webber. "But there is a subset of DJs that play the turntable as a musical instrument, and you would call those 'turntablists.' And the colloquial term that is used for the act of playing the turntable as a musical instrument is 'turntablism.'"

But it's the turntable's least melodic sound that's earned it a more familiar nickname -- "scratch."

"The first scratch is just a basic scratch, which is just back and forth," explains Webber. "But that's just the beginning. If you start going faster, if you get up into like eighth notes, sixteenth notes, you call that a 'scribble.' And then you can get even faster, which is called an 'uzi, ' where you're actually just doing a muscle spasm more or less."

Along with scratch technique are the records, where beats, notes, lyrics -- in fact anything -- are used to make music.

For the casual listener, it can be enough to make your head spin, and some may wonder why the turntable is considered a musical instrument.

"There are many percussion instruments that are also double as other things, like baskets or kitchen utensils, for instance," says Webber. "But if you intend to use them as a musical instrument, they become a musical instrument. Now that's setting the bar pretty low. But I think the turntable has the potential, in the hands of a master, of being a very sophisticated musical instrument."

And there are masters out there, turntablists such as Radar, The Executioners or QBert, who are building the repertoire of turntable music.

"I wasn't in favor of it, and I'm very skeptical even now," says Gary Burton, executive vice president of Berklee. "It just seems to lack a lot of the musical elements that are important to me. You know, rich variety and harmony. Varied dynamics and more interesting rhythm combinations. Now that doesn't mean that I can just dismiss it just because I don't happen to feel much connection to it."

Burton says he was willing to give turntablism a chance, partly, because of the students' interest in the music.

And at Berklee, student interest is off the scale. "Turntable Technique" has the longest waiting-list on campus. Its coursebook is one of Berklee Press' best-selling of all time. And there's even a budding turntablists' club -- with guest DJs, who draw a crowd.

The tradition of turntablism grew out of the streets of the Bronx, N.Y., in the mid-1970s -- when turntable pioneers, Grandmaster Flash and, later, Grand Wizzard Theodore were just teenagers providing the music for neighborhood block parties. It was the early days of hip hop and the goal was simple: Keep the crowds seamlessly dancing.

"What I had to come up with was a way to take -- whether it was rock, jazz, blues, funk, pop, R&B -- take those tracks and make them one big song," says Grandmaster Flash.

The pioneer says, when he first DJed, he didn't think he was creating art.

"I did it in frustration … because the best part of your record was the get-down part," says Grandmaster Flash. "So I was saying to myself, 'How can I, in this little, teeny, tiny part, make this song?'"

And an idea emerged. He manually edited the record to rewrite the song. The rest is now turntablism history.

With grassroots classes sprouting up across the country, there's no denying what started out in the Bronx has had its impact on the musical landscape.

That impact is a reality Berklee's Gary Burton accepts.

"If you get an end result that connects with people and communicates, then you've achieved it," says Burton. "Art always is reinvents itself and the way it's made."

Turntables may be the only instrument that requires other music to make music.

Burton response: "In the art world, that would be, 'So what? We've been doing that for decades now. We cut up things and paste them together [like] Warhol and Matisse and so on. We were doing things decades ago like this.' To us, this is pretty radical."

And the boundaries continue to be pushed. Today, a new generation of artists ponder new sounds, from Boston band Mystiq (where turntablists meet electric strings). For members of Gunkhole, the beats go to the drummer, while "scratch musicians" search for new sounds.

And now the turntable has its first concerto -- performed by Radar.

"I'm trying to make it appealing to -- not only to the -- the younger generation, but to the older generation," he says. The "sound" of the turntable is only just beginning to emerge. Neal, Rome. "Turntablism 101." //Turntablism 101//. March 28, 2004. CBS News. 16 Jun 2009 .

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