A Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training and Sight Singing: 1 - Tapa blanda

Born in Sioux Falls South Dakota, Bruce began his music training at the University of South Dakota. After three years of study he transferred to the Berklee College of Music where he received a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition. While doing undergraduate work at Berklee College of Music Bruce received the Harris Stanton award for outstanding guitarist of the year. He continued with further study in improvisational and compositional methods with Charlie Banacos and Jerry Bergonzi. Bruce received the outstanding teacher of the year award at Berklee in 1984 and went on to teach at the New England Conservatory of Music, and Dartmouth College.

Upon moving to New York City, Bruce found himself preoccupied with the possibilities of applying the twelve tone theoretical constructs of Schoenberg and Berg to American improvised music. His first CD, Blue Eleven contained the seeds of those ideas he was to develop further in his following critically acclaimed works: "A Few Dozen" and "Give ?Em Some." In this vein, his music is remarkably tonal, and the results give proof that inventive improvisation is possible within this format.

Bruce currently plays with his own band, "The Bruce Arnold Trio" and with "Spooky Actions" a jazz quartet that performs his transcriptions of Webern. In addition, Bruce has performed with such diverse musicians as Gary Burton, Joe Pass, Joe Lovano, Randy Brecker, Peter Erskine, Stuart Hamm, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and The Absolute Ensemble under the baton of Kristjan Järvi.

Bruce currently teaches at Princeton University, New York University and the New School. Upon his arrival at NYU he set about to improve the music education program, and instituted NYU?s first sight-reading program for jazz guitarists. He started writing music education books to fill a need he perceived in formal jazz education.

As an author, Bruce has written 42 books on music education. These books cover many of the important aspects of mastering high performance skills for both the advanced music student with professional goals, and the dedicated beginner.