Michael Golden, DMA
Professor of Music Composition and Theory, and Director, Creative Arts Program Soka University
- Aliso Viejo CA
Michael Golden’s teaching and creative interests include composition and jazz improvisation, music and ecology, and music and peacebuilding
Biography
Professor Golden’s current research interests stem from his focus on musicking as a universal human behavior. They include work in ethnomusicology, music psychology, music and ecology, creativity, and music in peacebuilding activities. In addition to his responsibilities at SUA, Dr. Golden serves as a Research Fellow with the Min-On Music Research Institute.
Areas of Expertise
Accomplishments
Meet the Composer/Commissioning Music USA Award
1997
1st Prize, Guitar Foundation of America Intl. Composition Comp.
1996
Recordings
“From”
(from Last Words) (2007). Easter in Italy/Africa in America.
Colby College Chorale (Cat. 80067-29)
“Bidder to Better”
(2004). American Music for Violin and Piano.
The Nevelson Duo. Albany Records, TROY652
“FramésetuDe”
(1997). Bouquet. Patrick Kearney, guitar.
Les Disques La Flame, LF 9701
“The Sea Change, and Other Stories”
(1996). Contemporary American Eclectic
Music for the Piano, Vol. 4. Jeffrey Jacob, piano. New Ariel Recording
Education
University of Washington
D. M. A.
University of Oregon
M. M.
University of Oregon
B. M.
Sample and Representative Talks
The Music In and Of Ecology
Presented at the 2015 Balance/UnBalance Conference, March 2015, Arizona State University
The Ecology of Musicking: Emergent Behavior and Connectivity
Presented at the 20th Congress of the International Musicological Society, March 2017, Tokyo
Articles
Music Emergent: Autopoiesis and Connected Worlds
Univ. of California Press Escholarship, Body of Knowledge: Embodied Cognition and the Arts Conference ProceedingsMichael Golden
2018
A survey of ethnomusicological studies of traditional cultures from around the world shows that, although the specific functions attributed to music are diverse, a common thread is that they involve connecting us to our environments: social, physical, and/or metaphysical. After proposing this as a definition of musicking, I consider this phenomenon in the context of the work of Maturana and Varela (the Santiago theory of cognition) and their successors. Human musicking can be understood as continuing the development of processes essential to all living things in their interactions with their environments, in other words, as an emergent property of life itself.
Musicking as education for social and ecological peace: a new synthesis
Journal of Peace EducationMichael Golden
2016
The aim of this article is twofold: first, to confirm the multi-level linkage between the ecological and social realms in terms of violence, peace, and education, and second, to explore what light ecological thinking can shed on musicking as a potentially effective tool in peace education. The effects of violence in the ecological and social realms are clearly linked, but so are the causes (patterns of thought and behaviors) that lead to violence in each realm; these common causes (which Galtung refers to as ‘fault-lines’) are what need to be addressed, holistically, in peace education. The second aim requires two steps. First, based on meta-analysis of work by ethnomusicologists in diverse cultures, I propose a way of conceiving of human musicking as essentially an ecological behavior, one that has emerged to support the essential process of connecting us to our environment, connecting our inner and outer worlds. Beginning from this conception, I apply recent work in various ecology-related disciplines to show that this characteristic function of musicking makes it well-suited for addressing the root causes of violence in both social and ecological realms. Finally, looking at the challenges and goals of peace education through the lens of ecological thinking, I propose some practical applications, supporting ideas, and suggested models for implementing musicking activities in this endeavor.
On Music, Interconnection and Consciousness
Music and Solidarity: Questions of Universality, Consciousness, and Connection2011
