Dr. Ramsey Castaneda
Faculty
Saxophone, Trombone, Trumpet Performance
Ramsey Castaneda (DMA) is a performer, educator, researcher and composer based in Los Angeles, California. Ramsey has performed in a variety of venues from Carnegie Hall, with Paquito D’Rivera, to LA recording studios for television shows, music videos, commercials, movies, and most recently Michael Bublé’s 2018 album, Love.
He has presented research at the 2018 and 2019 Jazz Education Network Conferences, at the 2015 and 2016 California All-State Music Education Conferences, and most recently at the inaugural 2019 Documenting Jazz Conference in Dublin, Ireland. His research interests include jazz representation in popular culture and philosophy of music. Recent papers covering the indexical, symbolic, and iconic representations of jazz significations in mass mediated narratives.
Ramsey completed his DMA at the University of Southern California in May 2018, with fields in jazz studies, music teaching and learning, collegiate teaching, and web applications and development (view his music theory resource website at music-theory-practice.com). Ramsey received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Texas with a minor in music theory, and a Master of Music degree from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSU-Long Beach. At USC Ramsey was a Gluck Fellow, Teaching Mentor, director of the Los Angeles Youth Jazz Ensemble, and a teaching assistant in the Music Industry Program, the Popular Music programs, and for Jazz History and The Music of Black Americans. Ramsey has additionally taught jazz combos at the Bob Cole Conservatory at California State University, Long Beach, and private lessons at USC.
EDUCATION
Doctorate of Musical Arts/Jazz Studies | University of Southern California