Mariel Berger - ProfilesArchive

About Me

walk barefoot on the earth.
stare at the sky.
breathe deeply.
drink medicinal tea
join a CSA
plant and share. and plant and share some more.
great links for everyone!: http://added-value.org/ http://www.energybulletin.net/38091.html http://www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com/bigmap/brooklyn/redhook/c ommunityfarm/index.htm http://www.localfork.com/locavoreguidenyc.aspx http://www.justfood.org/jf/ http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/ http://www.blackcommentator.com/70/70_food_justice.html http://sfcompact.blogspot.com/
Mariel Berger started playing piano when she was 3 years old. In highschool she played clarinet, bassoon, and started to experiment with jazz piano. Mariel attended Indiana University, studying jazz piano with Luke Gillespie and composition with David Baker. She then received a masters at William Paterson in composition and jazz arranging, studying with Jim McNeely. At William Paterson University, Mariel arranged charts that featured jazz legends Joe Lovano and Kenny Garrett. In NYC she was a member of the BMI jazz composers workshop and currently writes music for her nonet and other chamber groups.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 6/14/2006
Band Members: On the first two:
Live from the Women's Work Concert 3-5-08
Laura Kahle, tpt. Beth Schenck, alto/sop Sara Budde, clarinet Amie Amis, fr. horn Anne Liebirwirth, bs Shawn Baltazor, dms Mariel Berger, piano/accordion
On the third: Talia Weine, my 6 yr. old student
4th: Me! singing and playing.
Influences: My 6 year old piano students, clean air, waterfalls in prospect park, roof-top gardens, car honks, bike grease, secret stars peaking through trees, evesdropped-laughter, muddy puddles, Steve Reich, Gil Evans, Jim McNeely, Maria Schneider, Brian Blade, Igor Stravinsky, Guillermo Klein, Kurt Rosenwinkel, John Hollenbeck, Astor Piazolla, Wayne Shorter, Oliver Messiaen, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Jim Black, Chavela Vargas, Luciana Souza, Paco de Lucia Howler Monkeys, Roosters, Chocolate covered spirulina chunks, and Crickets.
Sounds Like: Reviews: Mariel's music draws on a wide variety of musical sources, offering a vast array of rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic riches. She's definitely someone to keep eyes and ears on for the future!" -Jim McNeely (Composer in Residence for the Village Vanguard Orchestra)Mariel Berger is an amazing young musician whose compositions and arrangements are a breath of fresh air. She is an enormous talent brimming with vital energy and boundless creativity." -Gary Smulyan (bari saxophonist with the Village Vanguard Orchestra + Joe Lovano Nonet)Mariel Berger is a sincere and thoughtful artist whose music flows with colors that swing, surprise and delight. -James Weidman (pianist w/Steve Coleman, Joe Lovano, Greg Osby, Max Roach)
Type of Label: None

My Blog

Everyday Heart-speak

1/30/08--As I ran in the park today, scurries of leaves followed me...or I followed them. Either way, it was so nice to have company on a windy afternoon.--Running home with a giant-pine-branch from ...
Posted by Mariel Berger on Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:37:00 PST

Black Dove

Sometimes when it seems the world is moving towards an endand chaos is waiting just outside the doorI sing to my sisters:Come! Let us dance!Let us whirl through the dark nighttill the morning dew wash...
Posted by Mariel Berger on Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:46:00 PST

Lucid Dreams

Some of the world's great religions have seen lucid dreaming in a mystical light. Hinduism and Buddhism assert that advanced adepts in the meditative arts retain consciousness throughout dreaming and...
Posted by Mariel Berger on Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:57:00 PST

Beyond the Binary

Beyond the Binary Look to the riparian edge between freeway ramp and marsh To the rim where mesa gives way to canyon To the tideline where wave recedes along shore To the rise where praririe lifts in...
Posted by Mariel Berger on Sun, 21 Jan 2007 03:54:00 PST

My Life as an Ecosystem

O.K.NO longer will I self-full-ly sit.sulkfully selfThere's art to be made! Songs to be sung. Dances to be danced. sweaters to knit. food to can. leaves to find. HAs to be laughed. Hugs to be had.No m...
Posted by Mariel Berger on Sun, 18 Nov 2007 06:35:00 PST

Love and Space

Love one another, but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat ...
Posted by Mariel Berger on Sun, 08 Jul 2007 10:37:00 PST