Professor Richard J. Perkins
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Richard J. Perkins has been on the music faculty at Anoka-Ramsey Community College since 1973, after he completed his MA in trumpet performance at the University of Iowa. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, with a BME degree and then taught in the Amery, WI, Public School System. Mr. Perkins has backed up performers such as Melissa Manchester, Joel Grey, Tony Orlando, and The Lettermen. He has also worked with jazz artists such as Ernie Watts, Ellis Marsalis, Clark Terry, Richie Cole and Ross Tompkins. Mr. Perkins teaches Music Theory, Jazz History, Rock and Roll History and other music courses. Professor Perkins is a member of the International Trumpet Guild, International Association of Jazz Educators, MCCFA, Education Minnesota, Twin Cities Musicians Union, NABBA, and The Twin Cities Jazz Society. He is also a founding member of the North Metropolitan Brass Quintet and the Lake Wobegon® Brass Band.
M1100-M1103-M1104-M1105-M1110-M1115-M1125-M2105-M2215-M2225
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MY FAVORITE QUOTES
"Beauty in music is too often confused with something that lets the ears lie back in an easy chair. Many sounds that we are used to do not bother us, and for that reason we are inclined to call them beautiful. Frequently, when a new or unfamiliar work is accepted as beautiful on its first hearing, its fundamental quality is one that tends to put the mind to sleep." Charles Ives (1874-1954)
"I refuse to submit myself only to sounds that have already been heard." Edgard Varese (1883-1965)
"What matters is uncompromising truthfulness, in life as in art." Leos Janacek (1854-1928)
"My purpose is to eliminate purpose." John Cage (1912-1992)
"A country that considers arts expendable is an expendable country." Richard Dreyfuss
"Work without vision is drudgery; vision without work is self-deception." Ernest Homes
"You're the BEST TEACHER in the Whole Wide World!" Alicia & Amelia
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Why I Teach Music
I don't teach music because it is a science - even though you deal with acoustics.
I don't teach music because it is a math - even though you have to subdivide beats.
I don't teach music because it is a foreign language - even though you need to know foreign terms in Italian, French, German, etc.
I don't teach music because it is history - even though music always reflects a part of our time.
I don't teach music because it is a physical education - even though you march around and spend countless hours practicing in order to coordinate your fingerings.
I don't teach music for any of these reasons.
I don't teach music because it is an art - even though it allows a human being to take dry and boring things and create an emotion.
I don't teach music because I expect you to go out and major in music.
I don't teach music because I expect you to play or sing for the rest of your life, although I'd like you to.
I don't teach it to you so you can relax and have fun either.
I teach it to you so that you will be more human - so that you will recognize beauty - so you will be sensitive - so that you will be closer to an infinite beyond this world - so you'll have something to cling to - so that you will have more compassion, more gentleness, more goodness, and in short - so that you will have some more life.
Of what value will it be if you make a prosperous living unless you've learned how to live?
That's why I teach music.
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| Last Updated - October 25, 2009 |
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