M.M. in Commercial Music Faculty

The California State University, Los Angeles Department of Music is committed to providing the most effective environment in which students are prepared artistically, intellectually and pragmatically to achieve success in traditional, contemporary and emerging fields. The fulfillment of this mission is a result of person-to-person relationships between individual students and faculty, beginning with effective advisement and continuing throughout the academic process.

Please click on the tabs above to learn more about the individual full time Commercial Music faculty.

View a full list of the CSULA music department faculty and staff here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since the late 1980s, when she co-founded the much-heralded pop trio Animal Logic with ex-Police drummer Stewart Copeland and virtuoso bassist Stanley Clarke, Deborah Holland has become known throughout the world as a singer, songwriter, producer, and film composer. In addition to the two highly-acclaimed albums Deborah recorded with Animal Logic, she has also released four solo albums. FREUDIAN SLIP garnered critical acclaim and regular radio play, and placed on a number of national recording industry charts. Her second release, THE PANIC IS ON: SONGS FROM RTHE GREAT DEPRESSION, grew out of a project Deborah completed for her masters thesis at CSLA, and was a favorite with folk DJs around the country. Dirty Linen magazine described it as an album "contain[ing] songs of importance beautifully arranged and played." Deborah’s third solo release, THE BOOK OF SURVIVAL (Gadfly Records, 1999), was called "an album that demands repeated listening." (Dirty Linen: Folk & World Music) Roundly well-received for its memorable melodies, witty lyrics, and Holland’s "lovely, thoughtful voice" (Sing Out!), it was played on over one hundred radio stations. Her fourth solo release since her Animal Logic days, BAD GIRL ONCE… (RageOn Records, 2006), has been described by reviewers as "gritty, honest, funny, and heartfelt" and "exquisite." The album is a blend of styles as diverse as folk, rock, blues, jazz, and electronica—all strikingly unified by Deborah’s voice. Roger Deitz of Sing Out! magazine says that BAD GIRL ONCE… "is splendid; chillingly warm and on target as anything I have heard since the first time I listened to Antonio Carlos Jobim and wondered how it is that some musicians can turn life into breathtaking art." In addition, Deborah has produced, written songs for, or has performed on more than a dozen albums by other artists.

She has also scored eight motion pictures including Circuitry Man, Genuine Risk, December, and Out There and has written, produced, and/or performed original songs in more than two dozen other motion pictures and network television shows including Peter Benchley's The Beast, V.I.P., Highlander II, One False Move, Fright Night II, and Afterburn.

As a featured performer, Deborah has appeared in literally hundreds of venues throughout Europe and North and South America including Radio City Music Hall in New York City, the Elysée-Montmartre in Paris, the Paradiso in Amsterdam, the London Dance House in Cologne, the Palladium in London, Canecão in Rio de Janeiro, and the Universal Amphitheater here in Los Angeles. Deborah has also performed live on several nationally-syndicated radio broadcasts and on two of television's most popular late-night talk shows: The Tonight Show (two separate performances hosted by Jay Leno and Johnny Carson), and Late Night With David Letterman.
Music videos from two of her albums have been played in regular rotation on MTV and VH-1. Deborah's songs and records have been listed on, among others, Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart, the Gavin AAA chart, the WAVE Top 10 Singles chart, and the Friday Morning Quarterback chart. In addition, her song Spy In The House Of Love won the Best of Philadelphia Music Award for Best Pop Rock Single of 1990.
Ms. Holland attended the Berklee College of Music and Rutgers University, from which she received her B.A. with Highest Honors in Jazz Studies. In 1996, Deborah received her M.M. from CSLA where she was honored as the Outstanding Graduate Student in Commercial Music.

She now balances her career as a professor and writing, recording and touring with her band The Refugees (www.therefugeesmusic.com)

Office: Music Building, Room 215

email: dhollan@calstatela.edu

Phone: 323.343.5446

For more information on Deborah Holland visit www.deborahholland.net

Ross Levinson grew up in Brooklyn, NY acting, acting out, playing violin and football. He began studying piano at age 5 and switched to violin at age 8.  He studied at the prestigious Third Street Music School Settlement in NYC before moving on to study with Toby Appel, Peter Marsh and many others.

While living in New York City, Mr. Levinson’s music was featured in American Place Theater, Town Hall and La Mama among others and his dance scores have been performed all over the world.  He recorded and performed with a wide variety of artists including Tom Waits, Harry Belafonte, Joan Jett and his own band Plan B.  Since moving west to L.A., Mr. Levinson has scored the hit television series Midnight Caller and Reasonable Doubts and was nominated for an Emmy for the television series Falcone.  He scored the award winning film Three of Hearts and the groundbreaking feature Dot Com For Murder.  He has scored numerous commercials and documentaries including the Academy Award nominated Isaac In America and the Peabody Award winning documentary, Black Sky.  His violin playing has been heard on major feature films including Terminator and Fright Night.  More recently, he can be heard playing and whistling on Deborah Holland’s new CD, Bad Girl Once and producing and arranging Steve Casper’s new CDs, Cowboy Angst and I Used To Be The King of the World.  

Office: Music Building, Room 215

email: rlevins@calstatela.edu

Phone: 323.343.5446

For more information on Ross Levinson visit here.

 

Steve Wight attended Cal Arts on the James Irvine Foundation Scholarship.  At the request of his mentor, Pulitzer Prize winning composer Mel Powell, Steve was awarded an accelerated granting of the Master of Fine Arts degree in recognition of Musical Excellence.  While at CalArts he taught Modal and Tonal Counterpoint and 20th Century Compositional Techniques as a Graduate Assistant.  In addition to his primary focus, composition, he also pursued a secondary emphasis in conducting.  He studied conducting with Keith Clark and Daniel Schulman, as well as in Master Classes with Herbert Blumstedt and Helmuth Rilling.

He has been active for over 20 years as producer, arranger, conductor, recording engineer, and multi-instrumentalist.  He has composed concert music in a variety of media, as well as composing and arranging for television (Saturday Night Live, The Man Show, and many more), radio (his theme music for the Peabody Award winning series The DNA Files can currently be heard on NPR), theater (he arranged and orchestrated Johnny Guitar, The Musical, winner of the 2004 New York Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New Musical), and records.

Steve works primarily out of his SSL-based personal studio, which features an extensive  collection of instruments (Yamaha C7 concert grand, Hammond M1, turn-of-the-century upright tack piano, a wide array of 6-and-12-string acoustic and electric guitars, an Allen Woody Epiphone electric bass, Ludwig and Yamaha drums, and many other assorted toys), plus a large assortment of outboard equipment, mics, and plugins.  Wiring for the studio is by Paul J. Cox Studio Systems, and the control room was tuned by Bob Hodas.

Steve’s musical influences are many and varied, but among the most important are The Beatles, George Martin, Todd Rundgren, Burt Bacharach, Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartok, Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel.

He serves as Music Director at the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica, and is committed to issues of social justice and equality.  In 2006, he conducted his Songs Of Social Conscience for choir, strings, and piano, at the Fowler Museum of Cultural History on the campus of UCLA.

Office: Music Building, Room 215

email: swight@calstatela.edu

Phone: 323.343.5446