Global Musicianship

Sound Humanity

The Global Musicianship Project

Global Musicianship is a set of perspectives, concepts, and competencies with which twenty-first-century musicians might thrive in a musical world that is increasingly multicultural, intercultural, transcultural. In that sense it is not theory and analysis only, but a view of human musical history and of human music making in which to situate analytical and (re-)creative skills.

We are therefore actually in need of a global musicology, a synergy of theoretical/analytical and historical perspectives and tools for how music has evolved as globalization has unfolded over millennia. In this, we navigate musics as ongoing syntheses of syntheses, accelerating into the future.

We need first to become experts in the analysis of musical synthesis: music as a synergism of eclectic influences, as an integration of interrelated and overlapping elements of time, pitch, timbre, and process. We need a music theory that fosters in musicians both the abilities and the sensibilities for a life of musical freedom and flexibility in the context of a musical world that now has conceptually limitless creative possibilities.

We need also to become experts in understanding human musical history as a history of synthesis. This is both an imperative and a dilemma. No one can learn all of the special histories of every musical culture. A single, manageable narrative is needed for the development of global musicianship for a global age.

Mark Hijleh

Global Musicianship team leader and author Mark Hijleh taught music and humanities and worked in academic leadership for over three decades. He holds an MA in World Music with distinction from the University of Sheffield, a DMA in Composition from Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, and an MM in Composition and Conducting from Ithaca College. Hijleh has spoken and written about world music theory and history though the College Music Society, Analytical Approaches to World Music, the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, and the Society for Ethnomusicology. He also studied shakuhachi with Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin and Black Music with Dominique Rene De Lerma. Hijleh is author of Towards a Global Music Theory and Towards a Global Music History, both from Routledge, the latter of which has also been translated and published in Chinese with Joint Publishing/Sanlian Press in association with China Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

Hannah LeGrand

Hannah LeGrand is an actively performing violinist, vocalist, bassist and educator, based in New York City. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Violin Performance from the Greatbatch School of Music. Hannah has performed at venues and festivals like Carnegie Hall, the Kodak Center for Performing Arts, and the Music and Gaming Festival, among others, and was an artist-in-residence at ArtsDistrict Brooklyn for the Limitless AI installation. She has toured as a violinist, vocalist, and bassist with multiple bands as well as the NYChillharmonic, and has recorded with with the 8-Bit Big Band. Hannah is author of the pedagogical text, Understanding the Fingerboard: An Anthology of Exercises for the Beginner Violinist. She is the lead vocalist, co-writer, and co-composer, and muli-instrumentalist for the band, "food court people," as well the violinist for "Trio LeGrand," a non-traditional string trio consisting of violin, cello, and guitar.

Marc LeGrand

Nicaraguan-American Marc Anthony LeGrand is a New York City-based guitarist, composer, and producer whose work and collaborations blur the lines of composed and improvised music. His natural talent and quick comfort with the guitar led to studies in theory and harmony under classical guitarist Mark Aitkin as well as summer studies at Stanford University’s Jazz Institute program—fostering his improvisational and compositional skills. By 16, LeGrand made his recording debut as a sideman and contributing composer with the Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco. As a teenager, he received soloist awards and attention at prestigious venues and festivals, exploring elements of Jazz, Latin, and Afro-Cuban music with his aunt, Patricia Thúmas, a Latin jazz composer-pianist prodigy; his mentor, Dr. John Calloway, a multi-GRAMMY nominated flautist-composer; and his uncle, Chepito Areas, a Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Marc holds a Bachelor’s of Music in Guitar Performance from the Greatbatch School of Music, where he studied on scholarship with classical guitar master Dr. Anton Machleder.