From: St. Louis, MO

I started teaching music in…1997

I started teaching at the Conservatory in… 2015

My inspiration: Ancient nameless music-makers; artists with names, from Meredith Monk to Duke Ellington; Olivier Messiaen to Julia Wolfe; Deerhoof to the Art Ensemble of Chicago; Charlie Christian to Sister Rosetta Tharpe; Hildegard Von Bingen to Fred Frith; Avrom Reyzen to Leslie Marmon Silko; J.S. Bach to John Zorn and Arnold Schoenberg; radical political organizers and thinkers like Angela Davis and Anne Braden; my teachers Chris Rosenberg and Paul Caputo; the night sky, a canoe, my daughters and so so much more…how to stop?

Few people know that I… make my own sauerkraut

Education: Columbia University – BA in psychology
Brooklyn College (CUNY) – MM in music composition

I play and teach: Guitar, Ukulele, Music Theory

My other artistic/musical endeavors: I co-lead the 19 year-old irreverent chamber jazz group Gutbucket, which has released 6 CDs/LPs on Cuneiform Records, Cantaloupe Music, Enja, NRW, Knitting Factory Works and our own imprint Gut Records. The group has toured in more than 20 countries and 30+ of the US states.

I lead the avant-Jewish Tzadik Records recording quartet Bop Kabbalah, with a debut CD out in 2014. I also play guitar in Dana Lyn’s Mother Octopus, versions of James Ilgenfritz’s Anagram Ensemble, Jon Madof’s improvising quintet and am a frequent guitarist and composer with Anti-Social Music (ASM). I am an accompanist and song leader in several NYC-area synagogues, including Kolot Chayeinu and CBST, where I work with wonderful cantors and sometimes play with jazz luminaries like Marty Ehrlich and Shoko Nagai, who moonlight in that world.

Personal Teaching Statement: I work with students to develop a lifelong love of music making. In addition to exploring a diverse established repertoire, hands-on music theory and proper technique, I teach improvisation and songwriting, encouraging students to find their own voice in music.

Biography: Ty Citerman is a Brooklyn, NY-based guitarist and composer who writes, performs and teaches music across the spectrum of jazz, rock and contemporary classical. He holds a Master in Music (M.M.) degree in music composition from Brooklyn College (CUNY) and received Suzuki guitar training from Bill Kossler and David Madsen. He is also the proud recipient of a 2018 Brooklyn Arts Council grant to support the creation and performance of new work.

Ty’s nine year-old project Bop Kabbalah explores the juxtaposition of original composition, improvisation and Jewish musical traditions. Its trio incarnation, Bop Kabbalah+Voices (with Sara Serpa and Judith Berkson) released a recording of original settings of Yiddish labor texts on Infrequent Seams, which Eyal Hareuveni (in Salt Peanuts) called “inspiring and moving, and beautifully arranged and delivered.” Bop Kabbalah’s quartet premiered on John Zorn’s Tzadik Records “Radical Jewish Culture” series in 2014, and JazzTimes called the album “…one of the year’s most arresting recordings…”

Ty is a founding member of the irreverent jazz quartet Gutbucket, which has released six recordings of original music and toured across the US and Europe. Guitar Player called Ty’s music for Gutbucket “kinetic punk jazz opuses” that “reveal an explosive concoction containing lethal doses of Ornette Coleman, King Crimson, John Zorn, Black Sabbath, Stravinsky, and Fugazi.”

Ty composed original theme music for the podcast “Tradeoffs” and scored the 2019 St. Anne’s Warehouse Labapalooza! puppetry festival show “To Love What Death Has Touched” by Kevin White. Over the past two decades, he has performed on some of the world’s finest stages, including Carnegie Hall, the London Jazz Festival, Paris Jazz Festival, Belgrade Jazz Festival, Jazz a Vienne, the Bang on a Can Marathon, Earshot Jazz Festival, Jazz Saalfelden and more.

He continues to compose music for various instruments and is an active freelancer in the New York contemporary music scene. When he’s not making music, he’s busy raising two daughters, riding a bicycle, looking for a nice place to swim outdoors or aspiring to cook something delicious.