Berklee College of Music

Long hours in the studio can sharpen your ears, but they can also wear them down. For recording artists and music producers, critical listening is part of the job, making it easy to overlook the gradual effects of hearing damage until it’s too late. The good news is that simple habits can go a long way toward preventing hearing damage. Berklee Online instructors share practical ways to protect your ears—and explain why doing so can make a difference both in and out of the studio.

You’ve arrived at the inevitable: the part of your songwriting journey where the beautiful momentum you’ve built crashes headfirst into a brick wall of self-doubt and blank pages. It happens to everyone, from legendary lyricists to newbies just finding their voice. We’re talking about the dreaded writer’s block. Think of writer’s block as a temporary traffic jam on your superhighway of creativity; a momentary congestion where ideas might feel stuck, but the path forward remains open.

For a mastering engineer who has worked with an incredible range of artists across nearly every genre, it makes sense that Jonathan Wyner’s musical awakening came when a substitute teacher plugged a trombone into a synthesizer. That combination of innovative experimentation and deep appreciation for musical tradition has continued to define Wyner’s career: He has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic and mastered recordings by Nirvana.

In 2006, Chadney Christle went to the movie theater with a friend near her hometown of Dallas, Texas to see Dreamgirls, starring Beyoncé, Anika Noni Rose, and Jennifer Hudson in her film debut following American Idol. “We were the only ones that literally stood up in the theater in the middle of the movie when she did ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,’ screaming and hollering at the top of our lungs,” says Christle. Jennifer Hudson’s Oscar-winning performance in the 2006 film Dreamgirls.

For the sixth consecutive year, Enrique Gonzalez Müller—director of the Music Production master’s program at Berklee Online—has partnered with iZotope, Sweetwater Sound, and Slate Digital to award eight students for their excellence in music production. In 2026, we celebrate Oscar Barcelli, Mackenzie Christensen, Colin Foley, Yanmin Hu, Paul Kinsman, Joshua Misko, Kevin Moran, and Donald Shipman for their outstanding achievements.

Change has always been part of Berklee’s story. Since its founding in 1945, Berklee has been shaped by a revolutionary idea: that the best preparation for a music career comes through the study and practice of contemporary music. Today, that idea has grown into a global institution that prepares artists and creative leaders to thrive across disciplines and industries.

The event achieved 127 percent of its fundraising goal in an evening celebrating student artistry. “Rhapsody in Blue” performed by Elvis Pietrzak (BFA ‘27, contemporary dance) and Colette Walsh (BFA ‘27, contemporary dance) Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s eighth annual Soirée on April 6 achieved an unprecedented milestone, reaching a stunning 127 percent of its fundraising goal for student scholarships—the most successful result in the event’s history.

Marking a decade since Boston Conservatory and Berklee College of Music joined forces, this issue spotlights some of the groundbreaking student outcomes made possible by this historic merger and the innovators, artists, and ideas pushing conservatory education into the future. The 2026 issue of STAGES marks 10 years since Boston Conservatory and Berklee College of Music joined forces in 2016.

The Berklee professor, bassist, and composer will use the fellowship to debut Dreams of Knowing, an interdisciplinary work that bridges science, data, and music. Associate professor Linda May Han Oh was awarded a 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship in music composition.

When you’re a touring tuba player, a good attitude at the airport can make all the difference in getting your instrument to its destination safely (and inexpensively). For Bill Muter, who is frequently flying out of the Palm Beach and Miami airports, he says the best thing to do when you’re checking your tuba onto a flight: go there with a big smile on your face. “In the back of your head, you have to always know that they may charge you $0 to $400 or more for overage charges,” says Muter.