ESP Biography



JEFFREY DAVIS, Scientist with lifelong love of teaching and music



Major: Not available.

College/Employer: Cisco Systems

Year of Graduation: Not available.

Picture of Jeffrey Davis

Brief Biographical Sketch:

Though my academic background is in Physics (Ph.D. 1995), I have loved music my whole life. I grew up playing trumpet in middle school and high school and then shifted to guitar in college. I was inspired by Professor Robert Greenberg's amazing lectures and Michael Tilson Thomas's brilliantly crafted Keeping Score DVDs to dig deeper into the music I played as a kid but didn't really "understand."

I also volunteer as a guest lecturer at Cupertino Middle School helping the two music teachers: Laurel Verissimo and Jeff Yaeger.



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

V4298: The Wild Man of the Romantic Era: Hector Berlioz and his Amazing Symphonie Fantastique in Splash Spring 2015 (Apr. 11 - 12, 2015)
Explore the life and music of Hector Berlioz - probably the most wild and crazy of all of the Romantic Era composers. We will study Berlioz's amazing Symphonie Fantastique - from the emotionally charged early movements to the psychedelic music of the 4th and 5th movements. We will see how Berlioz took his obsession for Harriet Smithson and combined it with his love of Beethoven, Opera and Shakespeare to create one of the most influential musical compositions of the 19th century. References: 1) Professor Robert Greenberg's "How to Listen to and Understand Great Music" from the Teaching Company 2) Michael Tilson Thomas's Keeping Score series with the San Francisco Symphony 3) The Memoirs of Hector Berlioz


V3496: Beethoven's 5th: The Symphony That Changed Everything in Splash! Spring 2014 (Apr. 12 - 13, 2014)
Beethoven's "Symphony #5 in C minor" (Beethoven's 5th) is one of the most iconic and influential musical compositions ever written. But do you really know "why" this symphony changed the course of music? We will explore the making of this incredible piece of music starting with the iconic "da - da - da - daaa" and how Beethoven crafted an entire symphony out of those "first four notes." We will also look at why modern music traces it's roots back to this defining symphony and why we are all musically "children of Beethoven."


V2834: The Wild Man of the Romantic Era: Hector Berlioz and his Amazing Symphonie Fantastique in Splash! Spring 2013 (Apr. 13 - 14, 2013)
Explore the life and music of wild man Hector Berlioz - probably the most "Emo" of the Romantic Era composers. We will study Berlioz's amazing Symphonie Fantastique - from the emotionally charged early movements to the psychedelic music of the 4th and 5th movements. We will see how Berlioz took his obsession for Harriet Smithson and combined it with his love of Beethoven, Opera and Shakespeare to create one of the most influential musical compositions of the 19th century. References: 1) Professor Robert Greenberg's "How to Listen to and Understand Great Music" from the Teaching Company 2) Michael Tilson Thomas's Keeping Score series with the San Francisco Symphony 3) The Memoirs of Hector Berlioz