Matthew Dallman
Biography and Resume
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Matthew Dallman
Biography and Resume |
download artistic/professional resume (PDF, 128K) Matthew Dallman has a unique multimedia voice, and a vocal advocate for the renewal of the Humanities in public imagination. He is first and foremost a composer, classically trained in the European and American traditions, while also an art/aesthetics scholar, blogger, and poet. He is the editor-in-chief of POLYSEMY arts journal, which he founded in 2005, and a student in the Basic Program for Liberal Education for Adults at the University of Chicago. He is the recipient of a 2006 Individual Artist grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. He has released several albums of original compositions, and composes for independent films. He has worked with chamber ensembles, vocal ensembles, jazz and rock combos, and solo instruments both acoustic and electronic. His music has been performed in venues in Milwaukee, St. Louis, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Boston, New York City, Boulder, and Chicago. A composition for marimba is the soundtrack to the film, A Whirling Tango, directed by Hannah Dallman (his wife), which was an Official Selection of the 2005 Chicago International Film Festival as well as other festivals. (IMDB Listing) He is the founder of Electric Goose Productions, a multimedia company. Electric Goose produces the website, www.MatthewDallman.com, online since April 2003, as a portfolio of his musical, visual, and scholarly/philosophical works. He is a long-time blogger on his The Daily Goose blog, which combines word + image + tone + space + time. It is "an artist's transdisciplinary blog of the kosmos electric". It showcases many of his musical compositions as well as original essays, photographs and short films. Throw in humor and nuggets of art philosophy, and thus this website, intended as a cyber-artwork, exemplifies his mantra of "one voice, many tones". Matthew is the founder and editor-in-chief of POLYSEMY (see Polysemy.org) which is a journal for working artists, and published by Electric Goose Productions. His role as editor-in-chief is an extension of Matthew's ongoing work in art/aesthetic scholarship, geared towards working artists. He is the author of numerous essays, as well as forthcoming books on art and music philosophy. An early draft of his essay, The Artist's Mind, was incorporated into a graduate course in "Integral Studies", offered by Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Integral Institute in the fall of 2004 (his was one of eleven papers selected). This was in part a result of Matthew's position as the first Director of the Integral Art Center of Integral University/Integral Institute. He was the first composer to appear on its arts and culture website, www.integralnaked.org. His tenure and eventual resignation from IU in part is due to his desire to create an inclusive, humanistic aesthetic philosophy for working artists, and untethered by systematic approach, company line or cult of personality. Matthew is firmly rooted in the lineage of the North American aesthetics tradition, through Camille Paglia, Marshall McLuhan, John Dewey, and other scholars. Notably, Dallman rejects the view that making resonant art requires "theory" of any kind; rather, he argues that immersion in the primary sources of cultural achievement from a Western as well as global point of view is the more sustainable approach. Matthew has given lectures and facilitated workshops about artistry in today's age. Notably, Matthew co-presented a 3-day workshop, along with Willow Pearson and John Forman, called the Integral Artistry Intensive, in May 2004. It was the first experiential workshop in the integral mold ever that was geared entirely towards working artists. In 2003, Matthew also gave lectures on the integral approach at artist meetings of the IS of Art collective, in Boulder, CO. He actively works with artists in the Chicago arts scene.
In 1997, he graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, with a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. While there, he studied poetry with renowned poets Yusef Komunyakaa and Carter Revard, his only poetry teachers. After Wash U., Matthew led and composed for a jazz/rock/jamband trio in Minneapolis, called Electric Goose. The group performed for two years. Matthew then decided to expand his music study to include into the Western classical music traditions. After two years of study with a composer, Matthew moved out to Brooklyn to attend Aaron Copland School of Music, at Queens College.
Amidst his studies, Matthew created his own "integral music practice". He created a daily plan of action, or sadhana, to integrate the important music school curriculum with other aspects of a diverse and sustainable musical life. Exercises and experiments he used include silent meditation, tone yoga (his own creation), expansive improvisation of fundamental chord progressions, Iyengar yoga, study of business practices for composers, regular performances of compositions, teaching, and immersion into Western 'Early Music', specifically plainchant and Medieval polyphony, as well as engaged study of music from all of the world's traditions. He continues to be the most forward-thinking advocate for integral musician practice in the world today. His current composition teacher is the esteemed W.A. Mathieu.
Matthew Dallman is the son of Robert and Katherine Dallman, and brother of Christopher Dallman. He married to Hannah Dallman (nee Pendzich), daughter of Larry and Sheryl Pendzich, and sister of Maggie Pendzich. Matthew and Hannah are Chicago-based artists, and are the proud parents of Twyla Christine Dallman, born in July '05.
Matthew credits his late grandmother Gertrude for early encouragement and ongoing inspiration in music. It was Gertrude who encouraged Matthew to first take up music, and to take piano lessons. His earliest musical memories are of sitting on the carpet at his grandparents' Shawano, WI, home, while Grandma improvised at her Kimball piano for hours at a time: absorbed in tones and alive as music.
Music Teachers
Matthew's ongoing composition teacher is W.A. Mathieu. Previously, Matthew studied Western classical contrapuntal traditions with Amy Wurtz (University of Minnesota), and voice-leading with Kyle Adams (Mannes University in New York City).
Matthew studied choral orchestration and conducting with James John (Queens College). He studied singing with Christine Deshur (Washington University).
Matthew studied jazz arranging with Dean Sorenson (head of the jazz department at the U of MN), as well as with James Allen (West Bank School of Music in Mpls), and Mark Davis (Wisconsin Conservatory of Music).
Matthew studied classical & jazz guitar with Joe Hagedorn (Minneapolis Guitar Quartet and UW-River Falls), Adam Larabee (New England Conservatory), and James Allen.
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