About Dana Reason
Between The Cracks:
A Forum for Music, Arts, Science and Ideas
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Dana Reason (Ph.D., University of California San Diego) is currently teaching in the Department of Music at Oregon State University. She is the Founder and Director of the Between the Cracks: A Forum for Music, Arts, Science and Ideas, a cross-disciplinary initiative designed to foster a new community centered in creative, critical and cross-cultural exchange.
Reason began playing the piano at the age of 3. Although she preferred "making up" music and playing by ear, her mother enrolled her in the Toronto Conservatory Program where she completed her Associates Degree (performance only) when she was 15. That same year, she was awarded a scholarship to study piano and composition at the Interlochen Arts Academy High School in Michigan but did not attend until she was 16. After High School, Reason worked as a Jazz pianist in Toronto before being awarded full scholarship to study piano with Boaz Sharon at the University of Florida. Reason completed her undergraduate studies at McGill University where she studied composition with Alcides Lanza and John Rea and piano with Louis-Phillipe Pelletier.
Her interest and participation in contemporary and improvised music led her to study Composition at Mills College with Pauline Oliveros and Alvin Curran. Later, she entered the Ph.D program: Critical Studies/Experimental Practices Program at the University of California, San Diego to work with one of the leading scholars on Improvised Music and Practice, George E. Lewis.
During her studies Reason remained active as a composer, improvisor and pianist. For several years she was a member of "The Space Between Trio" which featured Pauline Oliveros on the just-tuned accordion, Philip Gelb on the shakuachi and herself on piano and prepared piano. The trio used timbre as the formal structure for the group's musical explorations.
Reason has had the privilege to record and perform with some of today's most creative musicians and improvisers including: Fred Frith, Joelle Leandre, Barre Philips, Pauline Oliveros, Lisle Ellis, Peter Valsamis, Aiyun Huang, Ellen Waterman, Marc Sabat, Dominic Duval, John Heward, Matana Roberts, Joe McPhee, Marco Eneidi, Tracy McMullen, Gianni Gebbia, Peter Kowald, Ben Goldberg, Philip Gelb, Allison Johnson, Hans Fjellestad, Anthony Burr, Lori Freedman, Sean Griffin, George E. Lewis, Jason Robinson, Alex Cline, Scott Walton, Erik Ulman, Jeff Gauthier, Michael Dessen, Cecil Taylor and Jim Ryan. Documented on over 10 CDs, her music has been described as an: "effortless soundscape that moves between notated and improvisatory spaces in a seamless and evocative way."
Upcoming CD: Revealed
Reason's newest CD "Revealed" comes out Spring 2009 on Circumvention Music. This long awaited release features New York bassist Dominic Duval and Canada's own veteran percussionist, John Heward. Recorded at the award winning Studio Piccolo, the CD promises a beautiful mix of Compositions by Reason and improvisations by the Trio.