CRAIG MACRAE
GUITAR BASS AND IMPROVISATION
Craig Macrae teaches guitar, bass, and improvisation. He is a full-time faculty member at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He has been playing professionally since the 1970s, with experience in rock, jazz, blues, folk, country, classical, Broadway, Latin jazz/salsa, and Middle Eastern styles of music. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Southern Maine, a Master’s in Jazz Studies from Indiana University, and an ABD Doctorate in Ethnomusicology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His mentors and teachers include David N. Baker (Jazz), Bruno Nettl (ethnomusicology), Fattahon Mamadaliev (Central Asian music) and Simon Shaheen (Arab music)—all of whom are internationally recognized leaders in their respective areas.
Craig has been involved in music education for most of his life. He taught privately in Maine for twelve years; founded the music school at the Portland Daddy’s Junky Music, served as adjunct faculty at the U. of Maine at Augusta, and established the still successful music program a the Maine Teen Camp. He served as visiting faculty at U. of Illinois, East Carolina University, and Holy Cross (in Worcester). Currently, in addition to his regular classes for Berklee undergraduates, he has been serving local young people teaching in the Five Week Berklee Summer Performance Program, and acting as an adjudicator at the Berklee Jazz Festival.
As an ethnomusicologist, Craig is an authority on the music and culture of Central Asia. He has given workshops and lectures on Uzbek music at Columbia University, US Foreign Service Institute, University of Vienna, University of Wisconsin and other forums. His articles and reviews have been published in Asian Music, Encyclopedia of World Popular Music, Yearbook for Traditional Music, Bulletin of Middle Eastern Studies Association.
PERSONAL
Craig Macrae and Valerie Ritter are married—to each other. They share a strong interest in music education. They live in Bolton, Massachusetts and have two sons, Max and Isaac.
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