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Ben Geyer

@bengeyer.bsky.social

1.1K followers 530 following 290 posts

Music theorist, jazz musician, aspiring pop producer. Reformer of music curricula. Free textbook at bengeyer.com. Cooking & Mixology. Sports (Pats, #bbn, Canes); video games. Pioneer Valley.

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Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Jul 17

Really happy to see this video article published. Thanks to @theorymeg.bsky.social for her incredible feedback and encouragement throughout!

This is public-facing scholarship but I still wanted to raise some serious questions about the way jazz theory is done. I hope you enjoy it!

Megan Non Brevis @theorymeg.bsky.social · Jul 17

Don't miss the newest SMT-V by @bengeyer.bsky.social — it's a fabulous exploration of what it means to improvise and how that impacts harmony and the ontology of jazz tunes. I was so grateful to be a part of shepherding this video from conception to completion.
vimeo.com/1039031010

SMT-V 11.4 "Improvising the Changes in a Miles Davis Rhythm Section," by Ben Geyer

Individual musicians can make different chord choices in each pass through a tune’s form. This variability sometimes results in harmonic disagreement between…

vimeo.com

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Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Jul 18

Unit 3 in my textbook might be worth a gander

Reposted by Ben Geyer

Chris Brody @chrisbrody.bsky.social · Jul 17

Ben's video article is SMT-V at its finest! Watch if you enjoy jazz, music theory, lucid and persuasive interpretation of what musicians do in real time ... it's just great!

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Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Jul 17

Thank you, Chris!

Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Jul 17

Megan Non Brevis @theorymeg.bsky.social · Jul 17

SMT-V 11.4 "Improvising the Changes in a Miles Davis Rhythm Section," by Ben Geyer

Individual musicians can make different chord choices in each pass through a tune’s form. This variability sometimes results in harmonic disagreement between…

vimeo.com

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Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Jul 9

I'm thinking of referencing the data he's collected about tunes called at jam sessions but it would be great if I could ask him a couple of questions about it.

Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Jul 9

I'm trying to get in touch with David Miller, a saxophonist based in London who developed standardrepertoire.com. Is there anyone who could by any chance facilitate an introduction or share contact information?

Jazz Standard Repertoire

standardrepertoire.com

Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Mar 15

If this is how the SEC refs are going to treat UK, UK should go to another conference. Money talks.

#bbn

Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Feb 26

I haven't listened to the Miles Davis second quintet in a while (big mistake). Sometimes you start to think, could it really be as good as what I remember of it? Listening to ESP and the answer is, yes, it's that good, it's as good as any music ever made.

Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Feb 12

That’s an acceptable answer

Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Feb 12

It looks great!

Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Feb 5

Recently discovered that the easiest way to add a table in Word is to type it out with tabs to separate columns, select it, and choose "convert text to table"... in case that will add years onto anyone else's life.

Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Feb 4

Repeatiatrician (n) - someone who teaches music to children

Reposted by Ben Geyer

Rob Deemer @robdeemer.bsky.social · Jan 28

Six years ago today, the Institute for Composer Diversity was launched, and in celebration of its birthday, we're (finally) launching our Chamber Database! 16K+ total works with 9K+ by women composers and 8.7K+ by composers of color and searchable by over 200 instruments…Enjoy!

Chamber Search — Institute for Composer Diversity

This Chamber Search page lets you search for music for 1-9+ performers by composers from historically excluded groups.

www.composerdiversity.com

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Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Jan 26

I love the score but I can’t stop acting like those three-note piano arpeggios are ear training exercises.

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Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Jan 25

The nature of labels and categories. I don’t know, like I said, galaxy brain.

Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Jan 24

It mostly happens to me when I’m prepping before the semester. So detrimental to a to do list.

Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Jan 24

Why do I always get galaxy brain over things like "what is a scale degree" and "when is a note an object, element, class, or type?"

Come on, Geyer, it's a 2-day review of fundamentals 🤦‍♂️

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Reposted by Ben Geyer

Will Mason @willmasonmusic.com · Jan 22

Deep thanks to David Adler at JazzTimes for including my album in this round-up of releases from January.

"There’s a restraint at work, a gentleness of timbre, even when the improvisation heats up and a groove starts to kick in."

jazztimes.com/blog/new-5-t...

New 5: Top Jazz Releases, January 2025 - JazzTimes

Carl Allen, Tippin’ (Cellar Live/La Reserve) It’s a bit “if you have to ask,” but here goes, a working definition of Tippin’: It’s when a … Read More "New 5: Top Jazz Releases, January 2025"

jazztimes.com

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Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

I’m having to watch it on my phone in the one room with dark shades

Reposted by Ben Geyer

bitch-king of angmar (her) @wetropolitan.bsky.social · Jan 21

I’ll be returning to the Bay Area soon to sing an opera about a young Japanese American family incarcerated by the U.S. government during WWII. 🧵 secure-tickets.berkeley.edu/26079?fbclid...

Poster reads Both Eyes Open

Get tickets for
Feb 14-16
Zellerbach Playbouse

Tickets on UC Berkeley TDPS Website l
or Instagram Bio
Follow @both_eyes_open for more

Pictured behind the text clockwise from top left: an Asian couple in old timey traveling coats anxiously seated together with suitcases, a bald monk holding a daruma doll with one eye painted in, a daruma doll alone

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Reposted by Ben Geyer

Stephanie Lamprea @slampreasoprano.bsky.social · Jan 20

(1/3) Here are some clips from our workshop sessions this past weekend for Speaking Towards One Another, using wearable tech to generate sound with sign language! Here, Yuki is triggering sound as she completes the sign for "chain".

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Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Jan 17

Yeah I’m in the yuck camp too. Maybe not universally, but the guy who used it was a podcast bro so that didn’t help.

Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Jan 16

I've heard creative as a noun for a person, obviously, but I just heard it used as a noun for creative products. As in, "what was your approach to the creative?"

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Ben Geyer @bengeyer.bsky.social · Jan 16

I have so many handwritten graphics like this. It’s so satisfying somehow.

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Reposted by Ben Geyer

John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · Jan 14

Highly recommend this reflective essay from Temple Prof. Seth Bruggeman. It captures the central challenge of teaching today in a system that over time has become entirely transactional, and then suddenly technology that could satisfy the transaction arrived. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

A crisis of trust in the classroom (opinion)

The work of teaching has never been harder, Seth C. Bruggeman writes.

www.insidehighered.com

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