Dr. Brian K. Shepard, is Assistant Professor of Pedagogical Technology in the Flora L. Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, where he teaches courses in Music Technology, Composition, Music Theory, and Orchestration at both the undergraduate and graduate level. He also chairs the Thornton School of Music Technology Committee and serves on the USC Research Council and the USC Blackboard Advisory Committee. In October 1999, Dr. Shepard conducted the very first demonstration of a private music lesson over Internet2 with full-frequency, uncompressed audio and video. Since that time, his pioneering research into the musical capabilities and opportunities of Internet2 has brought him international recognition, and in April 2006, Brian received the inaugural IDEA Award by Internet2 for his work. In October 2009, after nearly 10 years of research into issues of audio quality and echo control in the high-bandwidth, musical videoteleconference, Dr. Shepard released his software ECHODamp to educational institutions around the world. This breakthrough application allows musicians to control echo in a videoteleconference without sacrificing audio quality as has been the case until now. His research has also been featured on CNN's Technology Week In Review and NPR's Morning Edition, as well as in Discover, Symphony, and EdTech magazines. Shepard is a composer of both acoustic and electronic art music as well as an arranger and orchestrator of "Symphonic Pops" charts. His works have been performed by the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Charleston (SC) Symphony Orchestra, Trio Contraste, the Margarita Baños-Milton dance ensemble, and by numerous faculty and student ensembles from colleges and universities across the country. As a result of collaborations with dancers, he has been exploring the concept of interactive dance music. One of his recent forays into this area, HyperLinx, uses infrared sensors placed around a stage to detect a dancer's movements. This information is then used by a computer running a program written by Dr. Shepard in Max/MSP to create a musical accompaniment to the dance. In addition to writing the computer program, he also built much of the hardware used in the work. Before coming to USC, Brian was Assistant Professor of Composition and Music Technology at the University of Oklahoma School of Music where he chaired the Music Technology Department. He was an active performer in the Oklahoma City area, serving as Principal Percussion with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra, and playing frequently in recording sessions and for various shows, including Lyric Theater--Oklahoma City's summer music theater company. Dr. Shepard serves on the Internet2 Performance Events Advisory Committee and is a former member of the music editorial review board for MERLOT (Multimedia and Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching). He is also an audio recording "coach" for the New World Symphony in Miami Beach Florida. Dr. Shepard earned his Bachelor's degree in Percussion from the University of Kansas, his Master's in Conducting from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), and his Doctorate in Music Composition from the University of Oklahoma. He resides in Woodland Hills, California with his wife Jenny, their daughter Cecilia, and their dogs Phantom (AKA The Phantom Menace) and Abby (AKA Flabbigail). Their son Phillip is proudly serving his country in the United States Army. Brian was recently featured in a video interview at ArtistshouseMusic discussing his career in music and his research in music distance education. Click the video object below to begin playback.
Brian K. Shepard, DMA Assistant Professor of Pedagogical Technology Thornton School of Music University of Southern California 840 West 34th Street, MUS 308 Los Angeles, CA 90089-0851 Phone: 213.821.4152 Fax: 213.740.3217 Office Location: LPB G103 Email: brian.shepard@usc.edu www-rcf.usc.edu/~bkshepar/