Julliard alum raises music appreciation

On the Pierce College campus, music is crackling through the blownout speakers at the Freudian Sip, shaking the license plate frames of subwoofer-armed cars, and inspiring break dancers to show their stuff on the Mall.

But in the James Bergman’s classroom, it’s being appreciated.

Bergman teaches Music Appreciation at Pierce, and aspires to convey more than just dates and genres to his students.

“I adjust their antennas a little bit so they get better reception,” Bergman said. “It’s a fast-paced world. I just want to say, ‘Slow down a minute. Check this out.”

Bergman has excitement about music that he shares with his students and colleagues whenever the opportunity presents itself. His students are required to attend the free Thursday concerts that he hosts at Pierce as part of the course requirments for his class.

“What makes this class unique is that it’s in conjunction with the concerts,” Berman said. “This class gets a heavy-duty dose of live music.”

“I teach the same class at SMC,” Bergman said, where his students go to three concerts per semester.

“Here at Pierce, this semester we’ll be hearing 11 concerts,” Bergman said. He requires his students to go to at least one off-campus concert “to hear a big orchestra: the full-blown, professional-as-you-can-afford show.”

As a professor, Bergman wants to get his students more comfortable with musical terminology so they can communicate their thoughts concerning music more clearly.

“When I begin the semester, I usually spend a few weeks talking about the musical language,” Bergman said. “Everybody likes music, but not everybody knows what’s going on.”

Outside of his life in academia, the Juilliard School of Music alum can be found playing bass for the Santa Barbara Symphony, the Los Angeles Opera, and the Riverside Philharmonic.

“I play at night, get up and blab about music and tell them why I had such a good time last night,” Bergman said.

Bergman lives a music-centric life.

“Let’s just say I drink a lot of coffee,” Bergman said.

Professor Cathryn Tortell is a colleague of Bergman’s at Pierce’s Music Department and teaches choir, voice, and music theory classes.

“Professor Bergman is a dedicated and enthusiastic educator and a highly talented musician,” Tortell said. “He is a real gift to the Music Department here at Pierce.”

Bergman, having been a musician for nearly his entire life, has learned a few lessons from music that are perhaps applicable in other arenas.

“Your inspiration is going to come from anywhere and you don’t always know where that’s going to be,” Bergman said. “My main principle is just keep your ears open.”

“There’s a very cerebral element to cycling that I like very much. It’s kind of like a rolling chess game,” Gillis said, explaining how a team of cyclists protect their leader from exhaustion and harm to secure the win. “It’s like protecting your king.”

Though Gillis and her 54-year-old partner made for an unusual team during last summer’s Race Across America cycling challenge, a 3,000mile national race, they still beat out younger, all-male teams by 15 hours, setting a new course record for the two-person mixed division.

To prepare for the race, Gillis cycled up to 10 hours a day, peddling for nearly eight hours on weekend rides.

“I slept 12 hours in seven days. It was brutal,” Gillis said of the race last summer.

Next summer, Gillis plans to complete the race alone, blogging the challenges of finding vegan food at any spot across the country as she races.

Aside from cycling on the national front, Gillis bikes to reduce her carbon footprint.

“We don’t buy new cars,” Gillis said of her and her husband’s practice of letting cars run until they die.

Whenever she can avoid a ride in the dark, Gillis rides her bike from her home in Silver Lake to Pierce College- about a 25-mile ride.

“I can avoid all the traffic,” Gillis said. “It’s great.”

Once in the classroom, Gillis stays environmentally conscious by refusing to print her syllabus and printing tests on small half-sheets of paper.

“It bugs me how so many professors have printed out their syllabi for years,” Gillis said. Pairing environmental practice with philosophy at Pierce, Gillis developed a new class on environmental ethics last year.

Along with theory on morality and rights, Gillis introduces animal ethics as well as the national and global implications of agribusiness.

And she walks the walk.

“I’m mostly vegan for animal suffering reasons,” Gillis said. “My parents were always really upfront with me about where things come from. I didn’t want to be responsible for the suffering that these animals go through.”

Though Gillis covers euthanasia in her bioethics course, she expressed the striking reality of the topic when confronted by her sick animals.

“It’s easy to talk about it in a classroom…” Gillis said as she trailed off.

It can be difficult to maintain, but each day at Pierce College and at home, Gillis continues to marry theory and practice as she walks the path toward a green lifestyle.