tom_portrait.jpg

About

Teaching/

Performance Experience

Private Bass, Guitar and Ear Training/Harmony Instruction (1980-present)

Blue Man Group
Chapman stick, bass guitar and talking drum
(1991-2015)

Come Join the Band
Music teacher (2012-2018)

Kids Creative Summer Camp
Music teacher 2014, 2015 and 2017

Solo Bass CD
Quixotic (2008)

Specializations

Improvisation
Music theory
Music technology (MIDI and digital recording)
Live performance
Music history

Education

Sarah Lawrence College
Studies in early music, chamber Improvisation and composition (1983- 1987)

Berklee School of Music
Studies in bass performance, ear training and arranging (1983-1984)

Albums

Cowboy and Spin Girl, eponymous
1987 Subway Records

Dumptruck "For the Country"
1987 Big Time Records

 

Otis Ball and the Chains
"I'm Gonna Love You 'Till I Don't Love You Anymore"

1989 Bar None Records

Brilliant Coroners "Brilliant Coroners" 
1998 Yeah Man Records

Dark Ages " Dark Ages"

https://darkagesnyc.bandcamp.com/album/dark-ages

Damfino " Disembodied Smile"

http://damfino.bandcamp.com/album/disembodied-smile

 

Shale "Current"

http://music.jsegel.com/album/current

Tom Shad "Collection "

https://tomshad.bandcamp.com/album/collection

References available upon request

Tom Shad is a New York City-based bassist and music teacher. He has been tirelessly active as a performer, recording artist and teacher for over 40 years. Tom has lent his talents to a diverse array of projects, from critically acclaimed rock bands (such as Dumptruck) to world-renowned performance spectacles (Blue Man Group), Calypso legend Mighty Sparrow and much more.


Tom's deep respect for music extends far beyond his orientation towards bass guitar. He remains voracious in his consumption of music books, records, documentaries, and live performances. He has never ceased the process of active learning. As such, his nearly encyclopedic knowledge of music, both past and present, is a great asset to his teaching. In fact, he dislikes the idea of genres—"It's all music," as he once succinctly put it, and it is this worldview that affords him a great amount of flexibility as a teacher. Whatever your musical interests are, Tom is likely to know how to help push you in the direction you want to go.