Bret Bohman
About
With a performance career of over 25 years in guitar, piano, and music composition, Bret Bohman has experience in a multitude of venues, genres, and instruments. Beginning in high school in rock and punk bands before transitioning to Jazz improvisation and Classical guitar performance, he performed in numerous venues including National Sawdust in Brooklyn and the Water Street Music Hall in Rochester, NY. Dr. Bohman continued on to study music composition with a focus on electronic music as well as co-founding the Khemia Ensemble which enjoyed performances all over the United States and South America. Mr. Bohman’s compositions have been heard throughout the United States at various venues and festivals including the Aspen Music Festival and School, NACUSA National Conference, New York City Electroacoustic Festival, Toronto International Electronic Symposium, Fresh Inc Festival, SCI National Conference, SEAMUS National Conference, Electronic Music Midwest, Atlantic Music Festival, Society for New Music, 3rd Annual TUTTI Festival and more.
Dr. Bohman has previously taught at the University of Missouri in the music composition department, including classes in individual guitar performance, ear training, electronic music composition, and individual composition lessons. He has also taught at the University of Michigan in the Comparative Literature department, bringing his music expertise into a course called Great Performances. In addition to these teaching posts he has also maintained a private guitar and composition studio.
Associate’s Degree in Guitar performance/Music Theory - Monroe Community College
Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Music Composition and Theory - Heidelberg University
Masters of Music Degree in Music Composition - University of Michigan
Doctorate of Musical Arts in Music Composition - University of Michigan
Teaching Style
Teaching is largely dependent on learning styles and the ability for the teacher to adapt to the student. I believe that learning should also be fun as well as challenging. As a student, my favorite learning experiences were when I was excited about the subject and when my teacher was enthusiastic. I try to cultivate the same environment in my studios.
Curriculum
For guitar I teach out of the Mel Bay Modern Guitar Method books for beginners as either supplementary or the main source of guidance. For intermediate and advanced players, depending on the style being learned, I have used the Levitt book, the Joe Pass book, Carcassi studies, Sor studies, the Real Book, and more, in addition to my own composed exercises.
For music composition and production I typically use material from various sources to supplement the teaching.
Credentials & Affiliations
Recent awards for music composition include the 1st place prize in the 2020 Music Teachers National Association for my work "Tides" for Bb clarinet an electronics
Former Artistic Director of Khemia Ensemble, a contemporary classical ensemble that commissioned young, underrepresented composers.