Buzz New

I recently read “The Last Lecture,” which was so poignant… I thought a lot of you. Pausch’s energy and how he affected and influenced people, students, and colleagues reminded me of you.

Want to get to know someone who is the definition of hustle? I spoke to Cory Cullinan aka Doctor Noize about his music, books, videos, symphony shows, and apps. Really impressive! Super fun! Cory is immensely talented and you’ll be drawn to his magnetic personality.

When times are hard, I look for the happy stories. I hope this story makes you happy too.

Woke up early this morning to join the inspiring conversation between Ricky Kej and Cory Cullinan on Music for People & The Planet. It was a privilege to be part of such a meaningful discussion.

A person of enormous influence.

In our modern internet-attention-span culture, we need the arts more than ever to buildour kids’ minds, souls and confidence to prepare them for creative solutions with positive energy.As this Thesis Portfolio will show, the Recording Arts can help build those traits — often inremarkably fast and intensely memorable experiences — in elementary age children, yet arehardly utilized at that age group at all.

Another amazing collaboration with Stanford.I will be in conversation with Stanford alum Cory Cullinan about Music for People & The Planet. We will discuss my life-long mission of creating music for Environmental and Social consciousness, and its impact. I will share specific stories and personal experiences through my role as a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador.

Brilliant! I have always marveled at and learned from the way you lead by being so authentically yourself! Bravo!

This was such an amazing and thought-provoking presentation! Grateful to have been there.

It means a lot to me that I get to connect someone who has played a meaningful role in my life to young musicians, faculty and audiences out here. So they can hear from someone who’s really made a dent in their musical world. He really is a legend.

I don’t know how to express the level of gratitude I have for getting the opportunity to be by two of my biggest heroes today, Cory Cullinan and John Chowning. Thank you Brian Harshman for all of your help today and to all of the students,faculty, and staff at Pikes Peak State College and surrounding communities for the support, enthusiasm, and creative energy and presence for all that is happening at PPSC. Special shout out to Keith Simon for hosting us on KCME this week too! Grateful for you all!

Cory Cullinan is a multi-faceted artist who extends his reach through teaching, composing, and speaking on the issues that move him most. He uses his voice to spread awareness as a teacher, author and speaker.

Thank you for a wonderful hour learning about music, life and values. We are grateful. You helped me recognize that, yes, I need to take action and not watch by the sidelines.

Cullinan signed a 3-year business partnership with an international media firm to form Doctor Noize Inc. (DNI). DNI released a second music album, an interactive animated book, and a mobile app.

Recently, I caught up with Doctor Noize, known in his adult releases as Cory Cullinan. Our conversation was as thoughtful, joyful, layered, and community-oriented as his music.Loved hearing your story. It’s truly one that needed to be shared.

Cory has honored his brother’s legacy by living his life to the fullest and enriching others along the way. The Cullinans are a beautiful example of what hope and preservation looks like.

Thank you so much for being our Featured Speaker at Mardi Gras Night. We raised over $100,000 in one night for Bay Area school music programs! And, my dear, you played a huge role in that success. You now have an army of new fans. You were so inspiring, dynamic, funny, and got folks so jazzed about music. You are the MFM poster child and embody the fact our mission works!

Go where you wanna be.

Thank for the inspiration and sharing your story!

Recently, I caught up with Cory Cullinan. Our conversation was as thoughtful, joyful, layered, and community-oriented as his music.

One day in class he decided to tell us a story. When he was a sophomore at the local high school, his older brother was suddenly diagnosed with terminal cancer. Instead of fighting his fate or acting selfishly and demanding attention in the last few months of his life, Mr. C’s brother bravely accepted reality and continued to live his life just as fully as he had before. When his brother passed away, Mr. C vowed to live his own life to the fullest as a sort of memorial to his brother’s constancy and courage.In the midst of the mourning, Mr. C’s father, who had at one time served as mayor of his hometown, began to blame himself for his son’s disease and subsequent decease. The depression that ensued eventually drove him to suicide. He drove his car out one day and shot himself.Needless to say we students were all stunned to hear the story of Mr. C’s family. How was it that this man, who had suffered such unimaginable trauma as a teenager and who had lost half his immediate family within a year or two, was now one of the most visible and vibrant teachers on campus, one who single-handedly fashioned a revitalized music department including music history classes, a choir group, and an electronic music group that created and recorded its own CD? How was it that this man had a literally boundless store of energy and good humor? How was it that this man not only survived, but prevailed?

We sponsored workshops and training seminars to better engage the increasing minority population at our school. Under Cory’s guidance being involved in student government was perceived as the “cool” thing to do. School Spirit became the norm at Los Altos High School.

We analysed more than 80,000 Kickstarter projects and found surprising success factors for raising capital. We observed one artist-entrepreneur’s campaign to reveal the secrets behind the statistics. To reveal the secret life of crowdfunding, we also report on a three year, in-depth study of one entrepreneur’s journey to create and produce an opera for children. Cory Cullinan, aka “Doctor Noize,” used Kickstarter to raise $50,000 for Phineas McBoof Crashes the Symphony. Crowdfunding works when the project and syndicate identities align; when the backers say (to quote Doctor Noize): “We’re with the band.” Ultimately, successful reward-based crowdfunding of novel creative projects requires authenticity, inspiring a syndicate, and constantly re-creating the campaign in real time.

Among Cullinan’s many strengths is self parody and the puncturing of political correctness.

Cory Cullinan is a busy man, a fast talker, a guy with boundless enthusiasm…

Cory is one of the most amazing beings I’ve had the pleasure to work with and know.

He has a very vast body of work and skillsets

We’re very happy to have some time today with acclaimed chart-busting musician, commissioned composer, author, award-winning teacher, speaker, studio owner and — WHEW! — humorist extraordinaire Cory Cullinan; greetings and salutations Cory and welcome to Vents Magazine!

He traces the roots of the current moment back to Silicon Valley. He grew up there. He knew Steve Jobs through his brother. The father of one of his friends founded Adobe. He went to Stanford with future tech leaders.“They were trying to make the world a better place,” he said. “But what has happened?”The result, he argues, is a culture drowning in digital connectivity but starved of real connection. “We’re less social, more tribal,” he said. “We’ve saddled the nexat generation with devices that unintentionally make us all worse. And we must solve this.

I have been in the education business as a teacher and administrator for over 35 years. Twenty plus years ago I had the incredible, memorable experience of working at Los Altos High School in Los Altos, California with a unique, talented group of students as the Assistant Principal of Student Activities. One of my assigned roles in that position was meeting daily with the elected student government officers to facilitate the planning of their various activities and to provide them with the opportunity to learn and exercise various leadership skills. Cory Cullinanwas the Student Body President at that time. At the age of seventeen he was poised, clear thinking, intelligent, and gregarious with a keen sense of insight and humor. Our meetings were fun (sometimes almost hysterical) yet we accomplished a great deal under Cory’s leadership.We established a pattern of week long Homecoming Activities the current student government uses as a template to this day.

Thanks for a great presentation!

He got an unfair huge slice of the talent pie, but you couldn’t hate him because he’s such a great guy.

I still have your speech on demystifying excellence and have shared it with many friends. I read it more than once a year, and it always helps to inspire me.

He seeks artistic fulfillment away from the spotlight, music itself being of greater importance than fame and celebrity. Personal integrity, friendship, and the difficulty of farewell are confronted along with myriad other emotions and shifting musical representations of them.

Thank you so much for your amazing contribution to our fundraiser. Your presence at the party and your keynote message to our guests was the perfect element to success! Thank you so much for also making time in your busy schedule.

A Renaissance man if you will… He’s quite literally a one-man symphony of creativity and innovation.

We have a lot of ground to cover, because I’ve been in your world for the majority of the morning here today… And I’m very, very inspired and impressed by the amount that you do.

He said he saw two different perspectives about the power of life and death, and that his brother had the right way of looking at things. Even while dying, he kept doing what he loved. “I had a lot of education on different ways to look at life,” while still in high school. The slogan on Cullinan’s promotional material reads, “Music for the Creative Listener.

The students learned priceless things from you and you continue to motivate and inspire me as well, thanks for being you!

When you take risks in life, the only way to go is to have a sense of humor. Not to get all serious on you, but my problems are so trivial they’re laughable. I’ve known people with real problems who dealt with them with grace and courage. My wife and daily hero is legally blind, yet a blazing success in career and motherhood. My only brother and my dad both died when I was a teenager. My best musical friend also died of a brain tumor (like my brother) in his early twenties. That all sucked. What I learned from all this — particularly from my teenage brother’s amazing response to his fatal illness, when he displayed a wisdom and courage that I try to emulate every day of my life — is a total cliché:Love your life. Figuring out how to do what you love, and spending time with people you love, fuels your days with joy, meaning and purpose. Everything else is inefficient fussing.

The objective of this project is to produce and record a musical theatre that teaches children about classical music. Too often classical music is performed for and attended by adults. This project creates orchestral music written directly for children so that it appeals to them and in turn attracts them to orchestral music to master the ideas and concepts of classical music. My dream [is]… there will be thousands and thousands of children who are listening to classical music.

All the Doctor Noize albums are actually works of musical theatre. I’ve always said that the reason I got into this is kids deserve to learn longform works — things that challenge them to explore the connections between things, and get them to explore their creativity, and think about sophisticated things for more than three minutes at a time.

I seriously really admire and love every single one of you, so… I sure, sure as hell hope you keep making your art and your music. And I sure hope you keep sharing it with me.

I had very interesting high school years… My brother got a brain tumor and ended up dying two years later. And my father, who was also very well known in the Bay Area, and very depressed about this and killed himself less than a year after that. So when I was in high school I had opportunity — undesirable opportunity, you might say — to look at life differently from most 15, 16, 17-year-olds. I was really inspired by my brother… He was doing what he loved at a very young age and a very high level. And I decided I wanted to do that.So that’s a long way of saying I had a series of inspirations and events that made me think, I want to reach for something really, really interesting and challenging.

The theatrical premiere of The Ballad of Phineas McBoof happened when the Palo Alto Children’s Theatre commissioned me to write a musical based on my first two Doctor Noize albums and books. I received the commission for my first stage work for kids right as my own daughters were starting to get cast as leads in youth musical theatre. So I was really involved in that community when I got the commission, on both sides of it: as a composer and a parent.

No matter how well you sketch things out, there are gonna be times of stability and times of instability in your life. So you might as well come armed with a sense of humor and the knowledge that life is not generally gonna hand you the keys to the kingdom on a platter. People are not gonna agree with you on everything, so don’t get all fussed up when they don’t. Love ’em anyway, even if you think they’re ridiculous. They probably are — but so are you.

Whether current events are testing your resolve in a culture you loved, or you support those who are testing just how far we can break or reform our norms, this premise is apropos of what you are experiencing in 2025. We hope you find our work meaningful in this amazing and overwhelming year to be alive.

When I was a freshman at Stanford, there was this amazing professor at the electronic music department who had literally changed the sound of music by developing FM synthesis, the engine of the DX7 and other synths you hear on almost every 80s and 90s pop recording. He graciously let me take his experimental electronic music course that was intended for upperclassmen and grad students. I had an idea for a “found sounds” piece — basically Footprint — that had a dramatic narrative I could hear in my head, and I wanted to produce it.  But there were no Digital Audio Workstations at the time, barely any field recordings, and I just couldn’t devote the time to completing it. For several decades I’ve wanted to, but it’s not a “commercial” thing so I never did in my life as a professional musician… until now.

Beethoven wrote what may be the greatest symphony ever written (his Ninth) when he was deaf. I think he did this to make all future musicians look like hacks.

Follow their lead and don’t squelch it. Let your kids open your minds to new things. Don’t be afraid to be ridiculous. Don’t think certain musical genres are too deep or serious for your child, they’re not. Remember that your child has a greater capacity for learning than us old people do, but we can get some of it back with our kids’ help.

When I was a high school music teacher, I had this music history class. It’s possibly the thing I’m most proud of in life because it made me realize I could do this in other arenas. I had this classical music history class elective in high school and it became so popular it was made a required freshman course. The way that happened was I learned that if you played Beethoven’s Fifth for people and talked about this amazing 4-note motif, they’re going to get bored out of their minds.But if you tell a story around it, and you talk about Beethoven and how he went deaf, and why they wrote their stuff, you can get anybody, even a 9-year-old, you want to hear it and they’ll say, “Yes!” All of that is about building drama into music, which is very easy when you’re talking about classical music because all these musicians are freaks. There are crazy stories about all of them.

The most distinctive thing about this particular group of students is the way they truly support, challenge, and help each other on their songs.  I’m not sure they realize how remarkable that is, nor how much they have made the Regis Studio a welcoming community space for all musicians here because of the inclusive big-hearted group they are.  PS. Can anyone tell me if Kaz actually has a residence or just lives in the studio now?

Producing Riley Max’s ROY G BIV has been both inspiring and irritating, because I also recorded my first album when I was 17, but hers is better.

Purpose matters.

We had a student from Argentina come, and then become an Audio Imagineer at Disney World. We’ve had international and out-of-state college music professors as students in the program every year. Professor Ali has come each year, and I’ve visited and seen the amazing program she’s built and grown at her own college.

The short version is that what I get excited about, about music technology, is making it easier and more democratic for everybody to be able to use the technology.

I never posted about the Riley Max & Cullinan Show in my hometown Los Altos, ’cause it went late Sunday night and we launched the Stanford Workshop Monday morning. It was deeply meaningful to me to perform with my daughter at a site dedicated to the grandfather she never knew, where he was Mayor and coach to so many. Three generations of Los Altoans came, from people I’ve known forever to people I just met. Stanford Workshop students came too.We filled the house, raised lots of funds at $45 a seat for the arts in Los Altos, and closed with this beloved singalong song that represents what the Los Altos community did for me when times got tough in my teens and still represents to me and others in so many ways. Listen to this chorus of audience members onstage rocking the house! What a night. A rekindling of the feeling I had there in the 80’s, and a night I’ll never forget. Thank you Los Altos!

It’s been my honor to work with these creative young recording artists for the debut Regis Recording Arts album. An ensemble of students with little to no experience in the studio coming in, from Music to Nursing Majors, this recording reflects the vibrant souls I now know. We hope you enjoy Made In The Stu as much as we loved making it!

Footprint — and actually much of my work — is not primarily designed to fit into a genre.  I am also obstinately fighting against the modern desire for everything to be in 2-3 minute songs and snippets. I love longform things. Things with time to evolve and develop. Even my work for kids as Doctor Noize is that way — every album is a longform musical instead of a collection of singles.

Get people hooked on a character and a story and they will go deep with you. They will be voracious to learn.

Logic… You know, I actually don’t remember when I started. But what I can tell you is I was one of the first people who ever used Opcode Vision, which was a sequencer way back in the 1890s when I first started doing this. I actually bought it from the guy who wrote it, a guy named Dave Oppenheim, who went on to become one of Digidesign’s main programmers. And we’re still friends.

Kids can handle sophisticated music more than adults can. And you can use kids to reopen minds of adults.

I knew of Danny Darko’s amazing life story, and I thought he was, in many ways, the most intriguing — and certainly the most unlikely — voice in children’s music. So, when he contacted me about producing the next Microphone Doctors album, I was happy to say yes. But I had no idea what a fantastic collaboration this would turn out to be, both musically and personally. We set to out to write, record, and mix a song a day, in a flurry of fun and creativity, and held ourselves to and accomplished that goal! We ended up having such a great time, which no doubt is reflected in the easy feeling of happiness that permeates the entire recording. My transition from producer to co-artist developed naturally as we worked together.

I find that, as I get older, I am less and less interested in all the doo-dads in technology. I am more interested in: How can I flexibly make music?

A special version of Konshens & The Earth Band’s Shine— a Top 5 Hit on Sirius XM Kids Place Live from our Funk The Earth album — was performed as part of the Concert in Celebration of the 76th Anniversary of the United Nations today for UN Day. We hope it brings a shine to your day.

My experience as a teacher and as a parent is that kids are not only more educated, but they are also more happy and engaged when they’re actually doing things that they know are actually building real knowledge and skills and value and passion for something larger into their world.

What a first class bunch this class was! I’ve never had an intro recording arts ensemble record a more experimental, poetic or universally-well-recorded work of art than this. Truly interesting music.

The goal of the show is to get kids inside the musical creation process and to inspire them.

I think the best way to tell you what I love most about the Stanford Recording Arts Workshop is just to describe the opening and closing pieces of the 2023 Workshop album, called Evolution and Resolution. They’re really mesmerizing, and they’re a collaboration between a young music professor from South Korea playing the guzheng, a 69-year-old piano teacher from San Jose, CA, a Harvard undergraduate, and a kid who came here straight from high school in Hong Kong… All students at the Workshop that year, who decided to do a song together — two songs together! And I just was thinking the whole time: ‘Where else would these four people ever come together and collaborate on a beautiful work of art?

It became clear through our chats that Danny and I had a lot more in common than we had suspected. We both had unusual childhoods for people in children’s music. Danny was raised in gang culture, saw many friends die, and was regularly in and out of prison in his youth. When I was a kid, my only sibling died of cancer, and that same year, in desperation, my father died by suicide. Danny and I both decided, at some point, that our lives were not going to be defined by the misfortunes that had occurred in our youth. After much reading, reflection, and planning, we very purposefully and proactively took roads that led in a very different direction. We arrived at children’s music as a creative outlet for similar reasons: We’re trying to relive — and perhaps re-invent — our childhoods a bit and give kids a “things are gonna be okay” feeling — something we probably wish we had a little more of.

Though it might not always have benefitted my pocketbook, whether it’s teaching high school music or coaching soccer or doing Doctor Noize, I’ve always done things that I thought were worthwhile, things that were meaningful to me. And I learned that from my brother.

After a week, people close to me were saying that this campaign has already failed. But we invested lots of time and money on the campaign and I would not go to bed for the remaining three weeks thinking that I gave up on this after a few days.

They express the myriads of thoughts and feelings we’ve had during this unconventional cultural year that, regardless of where you stand… feels like a test of some sort. A test of new ideas. Of old ideas in a modern world. Of stamina. Willpower. Intellect. Empathy. Patriotism.

It’s an honor as a composer anytime a group of talented people — kids and adults — puts on a show based on characters you’ve created. I’m grateful every time it happens.

If you just turn on Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and say “Hey, let’s listen to this…” yes, it’s true, kids might get bored after a couple minutes. Before doing that, if you say: “There was this amazing man, Beethoven, and he went deaf, and despite the fact that he went deaf, he wrote this sixty-minute Monument To Everything — I’m gonna cry just talking about it — and he wrote the most amazing symphony that anybody had written to date, and they premiered it, and the only person who couldn’t hear it at the premiere was *him*. Why are they engaged? Because you told them the reason why he wrote music is not just a bunch of blips and notes. He was an amazing character with an amazing story.

The secret to student engagement was connecting works to their creator’s story and purpose. Learning this informed everything I’ve done as a teacher and Doctor Noize, whose albums are character-based musicals challenging kids with sophisticated fare. Students of any age will explore challenging musical puzzles when we remember: We’re all moved by people, story and purpose.

People who love what they do are awesome. It is my honor to work with these people, not the other way around.

My most significant early musical memories were in high school with my friend Mark Van Horn. His parents were not rich, but his dad nonetheless somehow funded a makeshift eight-track recording studio in the janitor’s room at the apartment complex he managed. Mark and I spent virtually all our time there when I wasn’t playing soccer. We wrote and recorded entire albums together in our teens, learning both the artistic and technical craft of songwriting and recording.We went deep.So Mark introduced me to the recording studio and my future wife, then he died in his twenties of a brain tumor — just like my brother. Crazy. Mark and my brother inspired much of my life’s philosophy, really — I sort of do a lot of things in honor of them — and they were two of the funniest and most naturally brilliant guys I’ve ever met. And I was hooked — on both the music and the girl.

Audacious is amazing.

The nice thing about the shows, as compared to a movie or recording, is that each one is a little different. I loop-record songs live on the spot at my shows, adding various instruments and bringing members of the audience up to record things into the loop.

Kids are open to anything that is presented correctly to them. Classical, rock, jazz, John Tesh… Kids are fearless with their energy and focus. Adults are more complicated, trained by experience to always try to figure out what they SHOULD do or like; kids can still respond to their curiosity without bias. So actually, in some ways the best part about playing family music concerts is watching the kids loosen up the adults’ inhibitions, and then the next thing you know I’ve got some formerly macho dad up onstage with me singing Mr. Roboto (this has happened at a Dr. Noize show). Everybody has fun together.

Students and faculty alike refer to me as Professor Cullinan, which is objectively hilarious and the primary reason I work here.

This is a space dreamers and accomplishers come to dream and accomplish together. It’s been my good fortune to be along for the ride as their teacher, really, and to be a small part of their creations, and the dent that they then go make on the world. And I would’t miss it for anything.

Most of the things that succeed in life are just because you are too stupid to realize that you have already lost the game and you show up anyways.

Some people will not love what you do, and that’s fine, because if you do what you love, you will always find an audience. People connect with people who are obviously doing what they love, because most people wish that’s what they were doing and wanna know how they can gather the courage to do it, even if people think it’s crazy. So life is simple: Define your version of awesome and then go be it. Don’t worry if it’s not someone else’s version of awesome. And when it doesn’t go your way, try to redefine awesome by having the grace and courage that my brother had in extreme circumstances.

I searched for those teaching K-8 kids in recording arts, and this result is almost no one. To my surprise, almost nobody is doing what I’m doing in regards to combined, single-event composing and recording workshop sessions. My research made me realize — more than I had — that what I was doing was an outlier. It’s important that we engage kids inthe recording arts so some of them will usetechnology to create their own art early andproactively rather than merely usingtechnology to passively and exclusively be onthe receiving end of art and technology — in mobile devices, games, entertainment. The goal ofrecording arts for the young is to make kids creators and expressers, not just passive observers ofothers’ creations and expressions.

That feeling of being fortunate of getting what you want to do in life, I know from my childhood, is not always going to be the case. There are going to be times of challenge and sorrow in your life, and when you get the opportunity to take a risk and do something you really want to do, you should do it. I feel fortunate to have been able to do that.

This group of students was fairly inexperienced in recording arts, which makes it all the more remarkable just how much each one of them summoned up — in honesty, artistry and work ethic — to bring these polished songs that mean so much to them into the world in a single semester.

Here is what I found really moving and chilling about Sidney’s video interpretation: What she left out. What is NOT in her video gives the film a whole new and deeper meaning.

Find your song.

I love rock music, and I love pop music, but I am not thrilled at how music and art has become so commercialized and popularized and fine arts music is being increasingly marginalized. I am concerned about that style of music for future generations.

Music is a way of connecting and listening to each other. This is important more than ever in our current cultural climate. Last month, I played a show in Silicon Valley in San Jose, immediately followed by several shows in Wyoming — all in the same week. The music and message were the same, and audiences were equally kind and happy to see me.

This is my first incredible group of students who’ve gone through the whole 3 course Recording Arts sequence. Each has their own section of our compilation album below, closing with an old-school throwback song they produced together for fun. Visit all five artists’ individual websites for more on them and their upcoming albums!

It’s time — past time — for artists and educators everywhere to speak up and represent their values out loud, regardless of the career consequences. I’m deeply inspired to be collaborating with artists of such creativity, courage and character on this song. But most of all… it was fun.

The advice I’ve given my kids, and I try to live up to myself, is: Don’t think of what you can or can’t do in a time like this. Think of what you should do.

We live in a world where attention spans are constricting, constricting to the point where — and I don’t even consider this a political comment — one of our two major presidential candidates has, like, a 10-minute attention span. That’s the world we live in now. And you can see why — it has to do with the internet, it has to do with all sorts of popular culture things. And I love pop culture. I would just like us to also be able to apply our minds to things that are more sophisticated and have a longer duration. There are problems like climate change that our kids are going to need to solve, and it’s not going to get solved by something where if you can’t figure it out in two minutes, we’re going to move on to something else.

Awesome song!!! Awesome voice!!

Here’s the official video! Mike Costello and I are very proud to be contributors on this track. So many amazing artists are on here. Full list of artists can be found in the video description. Check it out! Thanks Konshens The MC and Cory Cullinan and everyone else who’s a part of this!

Cullinan is also an alarmingly accomplished musician, not only writing and arranging the clever songs in a multitude of styles (everything from classic silent-movie-accompaniment piano to a Steely Dan homage) but also playing nearly every instrument you hear — keyboards, guitars, horns, you name it.

I knew this song was something special as it was all coming together, especially working with such talented artists as Vivian Fang Liu and Cory Cullinan.  Rhythm of Asia won a Bronze Medal in the Global Music Awards — thank you to them for the honor!

Fronted by international hip hop sensation, Konshens The MC, Funk The Earth is a multi-racial, international collaboration between people who share a common goal for positive social impact and sustainability.

A colorful musical universe. The album stands as a sonic kaleidoscope, each song a unique nuance on the spectrum of emotions…

Juntos was really fun because we got to do it as a collaboration. We got to go to Doctor Noize’s studio and record the vocals, but you know what? The video… we actually didn’t record being in the same place. Andrés and I recorded it on one day at our place, and Doctor Noize and the rest of his crew recorded it on a different day. So we had to really plan ahead and make sure we were doing the right movements so it would come out okay. And I think it did!

This wouldn’t have been possible without you.

Woah. This is so good!

A superb composer, lyricist, producer, engineer, singer, musician,entrepreneur and I can only imagine what else you’re capable of.

We’re teaming up with our friend Cory for a super fun bilingual groove about doing things together. Juntos!

Green is quiet and shimmering; transporting you to the ice-covered grass of the countryside on a Winter morning. The instruments create crystalline textures that glimmer in the background, inviting you to contemplate the relentless passage of time and nature and be thoroughly in awe of it.

The song is really fun, and I love the intention behind it. Plus, you’ve got such great talent on it!  Thanks again for your commitment to kids, the planet, and quality music for all!

Gorgeous!

A distinctive and expressive musical experience.

Gorgeous…

My goal as an entertainer is to evoke joy and create happy moments that we can all share. Bringing these moments that I didn’t have as a child to today’s kids has been an unexpectedly cathartic experience. Working with Cory Cullinan was also something I never imagined happening in my wildest dreams!

Positive Energy — the name of the track — is what I also got out of the track in working with Cory. It was really cool because he was really malleable and easy to work with in the sense that he was completely open to doing whatever needs to be done as long as the integrity of the message and what we had was there. We did a lot of editing, we did a lot of replacing some of the files, and through the mix process I took a lot of creative liberty. Cory was super cool about that. We worked together, and he would give me mix notes along the way. In the end, the whole goal of these collaborations is to make a better product than if you did it just on your own, and I know that was the case here. We all put our heads together, and the ending result I’m very pleased with and proud to be a part of. Nice work, Cory — nice working with you!

Shine is an awesome song!

I have had the extreme pleasure of working with Cory’s immense talent as a composer, a conceiver of original ideas that fit within challenging parameters and even as a voice over artist. Together we created successful assets that were enjoyed by literally hundreds of thousands of people and had a really great time working together. You have to change the rating measurement from 10 to 11 to include everything that Cory can deliver with the utmost of professionalism, sustained good energy and true originality.

You’re an amazing producer.

Just WOW. Knocked my socks off.

Absolutely terrific, Riley and Cory!

Timeless! I love it so much

For such a young voice, Riley Max demonstrates shocking arrays of maturity… with her ear for development that brings this colorful concept album to life.

Few albums captivate and engage as profoundly as ROY G BIV. So, sit back, immerse yourself in the vibrant world… and let the colors of emotions wash over you on an unforgettable musical odyssey.

This has been an incredibly wonderful experience for Neela, and Shailesh and I are so thankful to you for taking the time and sharing your enthusiasm and talent with her. I don’t have enough words to express my gratitude. Thanks for bringing out the best in her.

Absolutely beautiful.

Awesome! Love it!

This is awesome!!! I hear some of her dad’s signature sound in this!!

So beautiful!!! Love it!!!!Bravo, Riley and Cory!

An accomplished composer.

Thanks so much to Cory Cullinan. The process and product were both far beyond what I ever could have imagined.

Thanks for the musical mastery and being awesome.

I love this song.

Hauntingly beautiful.

I’m Amped and Excited to announce the release of our Kids Album Funk The Earth— A HipHop celebration of this planet that we all call home, to get kids excited about the world they’ll soon be running! In collaboration with The Earth Band — #Grammy Winning Composer Ricky Kej, Production guru Lonnie Park & Renowned Children’s Musician Cory Cullinan, a dope approach on how we see this world was created.  This album also ft. #Grammy & #Dove Award Winning Jazz Pianist @daniel Weatherspoon & Baba Maal (who voiced the Wakandan soundtrack for the #BlackPanther movie) …. Let’s all get ready to Funk The Earth.

I just completed an album with Doctor Noize aka Cory Cullinan. Mood Food was an album I never thought would happen. I saw an artist like Cory on a different level because I don’t have the background some these other artists have. It was an amazing experience.

When you work with another artist, you get to see the other side of the vision that you don’t see. It helps expand your paradigm and your parameters. He really helped me see what was on the other side…

Blue has exploded on playlists and has over 53,000 views on YouTube and Riley’s debut release has received over 40 glowing reviews.

Love the production on it, love all the instrumentation…

So. Much. FUN. I love this music so much!! Keep it coming! Playing on repeat to help me survive…

Love this! And with Baaba Maal…mic drop!!!

This stuff is amazing.

Captured the attention of Nagamag’s curators, who were deeply moved by the emotions awakened during their listening experience. Very dreamy atmosphere and amazing layering of sounds that creates a very melancholic vibe within the song. A beautiful vocal just explodes as the song progresses… Piano is just wonderfully playful at moments… Same goes for the saxophone that follows perfectly the song’s mood.

Okay, Cory Cullinan… I have followed your work for quite some time, but I am blown away by your work on Opus 1. My favorite track is With You and I have listening to it at least 10 times today. I’d checked it out on my iphone, but it wasn’t until I blasted the song through my speakers that I could hear the immense quality of production and detail poured into it. Well done. I am so impressed, my friend. This is beautiful work.

Cullinan’s abilities lie not only in performance but in composition, in the classical sense.

Funk The Earth is easily considered one of the coolest, most powerful, most relevant, and perhaps the most elaborately-produced family albums ever… The main message of the album is to radiate positivity and hope in our jaded, broken world… I really love the title track of this album as it is a call for people to make the world a much better place… All in all, this is a superb album filled with soaring messages of encouragement, empowerment, and love, all wrapped in a groovy package.

Brilliant sounds — the production is top-notch.

Collaborating with Cory was a real blast. I kind of love the puzzle of having a melody and trying to fit words into it until they fit perfectly. And then getting to record it and hearing the final product just brings you closer to the person you’re getting to work with. It was an honor to work with Cory.

We all need a little Positive Energy today. The Konshens remix of Cory Cullinan’s song is fire. You might recognize a few (dozen) kindie artists in this video. Congrats to all involved.

Love the style, the simplicity (which echoes the loneliness), the voice, and instrumentation. Congratulations!

Love it — got me dancing & singing!!

Getting to work with Cory was a blessing, and we… we had so much fun. The end product was freaking amazing, and every single song I’m so proud of, and I’m so happy with what it came out to be.

I recorded a song today as a birthday gift to myself at a professional recording studio called Reach Studios in Lone Tree. The producer, Cory Cullinan, is an all around wonderful human being. He has a fun personality, and kids and adults quickly warm to him. I can personally say I grew a lot from his training as Cory builds both skills and confidence. If you’d like to record a song (or an album!) just reach out to Cory. He’s got an amazing studio. Go for it!

There’s something quite timeless and comforting about this song that instantly won me over… Backing her stunning vocal performance we have lush piano chords and alto saxophone (by Cory Cullinan) that create a memorable jazz soundscape perfect for intimate, relaxing days home alone.

It was my honor to collaborate with the Grammy-winning artist Jon Samson and Doctor Noize on my song I Is Love. I really enjoyed the process of making the song with my producers Jon and Doctor Noize. It was really fun, and they’re not just talented, but also very funny. And Doctor Noize played saxophone on the song and made it really cool.

Her debut album ROY G BIV is an eclectic sonic journey highlighting genres pop, rock, folk and even jazz… creating intoxicating and relatable musical pieces.

Vivian Fang Liu and Cory Cullinan are indeed shared treasures.

This is so much better than recording in a big corporate studio.

One is continually astounded that Cullinan can pack his hour-long disc so full of the most diverse music: from folk to classical, from the urban grit of rap to the natural world of birdsong, serving up the funkiest soul food sandwich served up in the history of recorded sound.

Cory Cullinan’s Footprint is a dynamic and multifaceted artistic experience that bridges decades of creative ambition. Conceived during Cory’s undergraduate years at Stanford under the tutelage of John Chowning, the legendary inventor of FM synthesis, Footprint is both a tribute to his mentor and a bold exploration of audience perception and interpretation.Cory’s goal: to create an experience that invites listeners to engage emotionally and intellectually, shaped by their own perspectives.

So let me tell you the simple joy of your rikud. You listen to it for the first time and say to yourself, ‘How cool, Cory Cullinan has a CD and it’s good but musically challenging and I don’t want to really think right now…’ Finally, a few days later you find yourself singing “Hey Hey Eye High” over and over and over and over again. So you go back and throw on the CD and listen. And the next day you’re singing a new song in your spare time and then all of a sudden you just keep playing his darn CD because you have decided it rules and you need to learn the words so you don’t sing the same part over and over and over again.

The music Cullinan writes does not fall into a traditional category. It combines elements of every kind of music… With even more variance than the Beatles put in Magical Mystery Tour… It is also further proof of Mr. Cullinan’s abnormality.

You have truly created a musical universe of your own and are making such a profound impact with your art!

Thanks for the great songs! My wife & I sat for 4-5 min. after listening to My Oyster& were deeply moved. What more could an artist & musician achieve! I buy a lot of CDs, and this is truly one of the best ones I’ve heard all year! The lyrics are great and your voice is great.

Our Christmas list contains people who need your CD. They may not know it yet, but they NEED your CD. I would like to order 4 copies of it.

This &%@&$$* is great! I put it right in my car cassette player after I saw you, and I listened to the first few songs and said “This is great ^$@*#!#!!” Your vocal range is incredible.. Anyway, I just wanted to call and tell you I appreciate it, and thank you for your music.

I was listening to some tracks off My Oyster a bunch of times last week and it occurred to me that you could write a damn good musical. Have you ever considered writing for musical theater? Your musical styles are compatible for a musical theater format (and I don’t mean that as an insult.) You can successfully write for orchestration and a number of different vocalists. You have shown that you can write songs expressing a range of emotions! Your songs are thick and rich, both musically and lyrically! It’s taken me a long time to get a handle on your music (8 months!) because it’s so dense. I also hear Cory Cullinan in the music… I hear you inside the music, and I can’t imagine writing much music with that personal intensity without feeling drained. Perhaps for you it’s a source of inspiration.

Thank you for this beautiful piece and the comfort it has given me in knowing I’m not alone.

After reading the nice article on Cory in the Palo Alto Weekly I created a quiet block of time so I could actively listen — with full attention — to the music and lyrics on his CD. Wow! — I am so impressed with the musicality, variety, depth, *philosophy,* balance — talent. I marvel at his creativity, and appreciate the sheer hard work — hours, months, years — involved in the process. He had a dream and went after it! He has such beautiful blends in his music and thoughts – depth balanced with a delightful sense of humor.

Only a tremendously generous musician could carry this off without becoming hostage to his own genius.

From the first second, 2025 Alive feels like you’ve been released into an unfamiliar soundscape. It’s an eight-minute experimental track that builds slowly, with ethereal layers of synthesizers, electric guitars, and vocals. There are no lyrics per se, just one word: “Test,” which warps and fragments, just as reality has done in recent years.The production is completely immersive. Every nuance, every texture, seems to respond to a different emotional state: confusion, hope, anxiety, resilience.

Cory Cullinan is not afraid of taking risks.  Meticulously constructed and presented, the CD nonetheless exudes a sense of being created in the moment with unbounded humor. The album is a towering artistic achievement.

As a woman, let me tell you that Something (For Janette) is one of THEEE most romantic, loving and wonderful songs that I have ever heard. And, the fact that you chose to share that special gift with the rest of the world is awesome! It allows us to see the glory of your relationship. Besides, most every person that has heard that song in my presence has commented about how romantic and wonderful it is! I’m looking forward to the next show.

Fascinating! In short, your CD is fascinating! I listened to it from stem to stern, and I loved it! Very eclectic! The vocal stuff is just outstanding — MAN! Your arranging is just phenomenal, as is your writing! I do enjoy it very much.

I hope listeners can find something in 2025 Alive that makes them feel grateful and hopeful and happy and sad and angry and tired and a little excited too. Or maybe just one of those.

Your tape is amazing! You’re very talented.

It’s deep, man. I APPLAUD you big time, for your fine work. Keep it up.

You were always WAY talented (I still listen to Oyster).

Through all of his artistic endeavors, Cullinan delivers a pro-music message that is creative, educational and fun.

A Little Extra won first place in the 2008 WCS International Song Competition in the Miscellaneous (unconventional/other) category.

As an audio piece, it was premiered to Cory’s Recording Arts students at Stanford in the summer of 2024. When surveyed as to what the piece was about and its message, the students fell into three distinct groups with different but strongly specific answers. This is exactly what the composer had hoped — an immersive emotional experience, yet one open to intellectual interpretation based on your own experience.

They sound great!  Wow, what a huge, colorful, production with about a million moving parts to it!  Many thanks for the opportunity for the Chorale folks to take part in it!

Very well done. It has been a very long time since I listened to an entire CD without moving from the chair or reading etc. (Don’t tell.) But you have written some very cool stuff. What are you going to do now?

Ok, so here it is: my favorites (with commentary): 1.Without You (just a really good pop tune, with that killer middle section you always look forward to); 2. Story Of Heaven (clever lyrics, creative use of melody, rock guitar, and the Yes-ish chorus); 3.Little Rock Don’t Break (three weeks ago I would not have chosen this one, but I like it more as I listen to it — good storytelling, use of sound, guitar, aggressive but not harsh to ear). Other honorable mentions include Drifting Away, In The Doorway, Take Some Time… By the way, Track 13 is a big hit with the ladies across the hall.

Thanks for the rapid delivery of the disc. I really enjoyed it. There was hardly anything on it that sucked! Seriously, I was very impressed by the mix of styles and the great production values. Little Rock is my favorite! Additionally, my son (now 12) has latched on to the thing, and I haven’t seen it since my first couple of listenings! To me, that means you’ve got a winner! Bravo!

What we’re doing here with Doctor Noize is incredibly important because the future of music depends on the kids.

I liked that song A Little Extra, it was really cool. I’m going to play some more stuff from it next week.

I LOVE A Little Extra and My Oyster. Congrats! In fact, I have been meaning to tell you (and I am reminded just about daily) that Apple must love your songs.I fully admit that Doctor Noize entered my iPod by accident… But I definitely wanted My Oyster on there, thus both albums are on my iPod along with about 500 other miscellaneous songs. Anyway, I keep it on shuffle and Apple/iPod plays one of your songs from either album at least every third song. That’s a pretty great ratio. I’m not sure whose wheels you greased to get that to happen, but it does make me think of you fondly and often! 😉

I’ve been putting this off until I had a solid hour or two to really give you the feedback your endeavor merits. I definitely hear the Jellyfish influence. Your ambition is inspiring. I love the fact that you tackle such complicated songs and diverse genres and styles. I like Crazy Old Man. This is one of the better tracks. My Oyster: Banjo is cool. Bright in Your Ways: This is very pretty. I wouldn’t change a thing. Take Some Time: I like the plucking and bass. Janette’s harmonies are awesome and well-placed. Her singing about the “sugar-plumb fairies sticky when you dry” is awesome. Did I mention how excellent all your musicians are? A Little Extra is your hit single and that’s a given. It’s very catchy and all the little cool parts move the whole song and contribute it to it being one piece. The bass kicks (butt). A definite gem. Never Shatter You: No one could ever say that your music is not rich enough. Drifting Away: Piano is very nice. Your diverse instrumentations are really challenging and cool. The Story of Heaven: Good thing I used to listen to lots of 70’s art rock. The Fountain of Salamacis has nothing on this. This would be a great multi-media program because so much is going on – listen to that organ! The mixing on the voices is pretty cool. In the Doorway: Cool harpsichord – it’s always cool when someone other than Tori Amos uses one! Wow, I just read the lyrics. That’s intense. That’s courageous of you to write about your dad. It’s really compelling. Our Town: This is a pretty song too. Haunting like that reviewer said. I like the flute. For Janette: How could I critique the song you used to propose to your wife (even if it is one of the best songs on the album)? All your strengths are permanent: ear for hooks, rich instrumentation, complex song structuring, variety, cool voice, cool wife’s voice. I can’t wait to hear you live!

Cory Cullinan Composes a snapshot of the collective spirit. The sonics draw upon influences of high-tech dystopia thatgreatly mimic the spike in technology.2025 Alive stuns with emotive vocal outcries, fleeting electronics, and a chaotic frenzy of percussion that mimics the intense political shift. While the track is brimming with eclectic harmonies and powerful belts, the only actual lyric is the word, “test.

I love the work you are doing.

Love it! The tape is great — a challenge for the ears to be sure. However, I forgot to sign up for your mailing list. I would like to now.

Cory Cullinan is a fine musician — a composer and lyricist with an amazingly wide range.

You can hear how much he enjoys creating music, and that joy comes through in every moment.

Beautiful, Cory. You are diving deeper these days.

The CD is, as I’m sure you know by this time, unique in intention, and thoroughly interesting and admirable. I’ll be intrigued to see (+ hear) what you do next.

Cullinan discovered music as a teenager to find solace in the loss of his brother and dad. He found it to communicate his feelings and connect with others during a moment of crisis. Cullinan said the Los Altos community tookhim in during this time and showed him what it means to be in a family and how to listen to others.

Vocals and musicianship do their best against the unrelenting sonic corruption in plain sight, asthe struggle spirals into a collaged, free jazz inspired crescendo.

Awesome! I’m impressed with the music, I think the messages are sincere. Rich and light at the SAME time. Good orchestration. And of course, super production from meister Blackford.

A scurrilous rock anthem…  a savage send-up of monotheism’s favorite destination resort that no one wants to go to until death hands them that final one-way ticket… animated by constant eruptions of molten creativity.

The ambient sounds are lush, shimmering, and alive (the recording and mixing on this makes for a fully immersive listening experience), reminding you of the sheer amount of life and biodiversity that exists on this wonderful planet.

I hope he gets famous. It’s a really neat CD. Really creative guy, and a good voice. I just won’t let my wife listen to it anymore. That little hidden track at the end makes me look bad; I asked her to marry me in the car on the way home from the vet. A natural romantic! Hey, put me on your mailing list if you have one; I want your new CDs when they come out. Also, if your band comes out east, tell me when/where.

WOW… just wow… what a monumental production!! It’s hard to find one aspect… which doesn’t shine equally bright.

The captivator has shared a new timely and contemplative release entitled 2025 Alive… on what it means to be alive in 2025.The music is filled with dynamic textures including glitchy guitars, layered synths, raw vocals, loops of keytars, and even saxophone riffs, making for a one-of-a-kind listening experience.

I tried to write a song that sounded like those old happy, sunny ’70s songs that were way too happy and way too bouncy.

Footprint is not a “one size fits all” type of tune… Different folks will experience it in theirown subjective ways.

I am used to singing in a very specific way for musical theater. But as soon as I heard this song, I knew that I would have to let loose a bit and really sing whatever I felt in the moment.Mostly, I just wanted my vocals to feel very raw, so I didn’t think too much about delivery. I just trusted that whatever came out of my mouth in that moment would be OK.

It’s fantastic.  I admire what you’ve done here… it’s clearly top notch. An incredible production!

Honoring a Mentor: Dr. John Chowning. At the heart of Footprint is a tribute to Dr. John Chowning, whose pioneering work in FM synthesis revolutionized modern music. Cullinan’s dedication to completing the piece in Chowning’s honor speaks to the enduring influence of mentorship and the power of artistic lineage.

Thanks so much for your masterpiece. You must be SOO thrilled! The spectrum you cover is fantastic. I love how personal your lyrics are and the variety of styles! Your personality is evident. I’ve had Take Some Time with you and Janette stuck in my head for the last week and a half! The story it tells, the harmony in the strings, the subtle twists in the lyrics — question — When you say “He did not hear her smile” seems to have a double meaning… hmmm! The first few times, I assumed that she didn’t smile. But then I started to wonder if he was really overly concerned all day! There’s one other word play I REALLY like! The “may” take some time towards the end of the song and the line about releasing or bruising. Really great stuff!

I love the CD.

The deconstruction ofthe word “test” serves as a powerful metaphor for the cultural challenges and transformationssocieties face in our rapidly evolving era. It feels like something you’ve never quite heard before,sending waves of emotion through the listener. The fusion of genres adds depth, emphasizing theblending of cultures and ideas in today’s world. 2025 Alive is a must.

Recording a project like this is so important, because not only do you support music on a whole, but you’re supporting your child’s own development, and the way they perceive the world, and the way they perceive themselves.

I am truly grateful to my friend for introducing me to your music!

Lonnie Park here to talk about what it was like working with Cory, specifically on Positive Energy. That was one of the first things I worked on with Cory, and every time you work with somebody new, you never know what you’re gonna get. And with Cory… I still never know what I’m gonna get, even though we’ve worked together quite a bit now!

My favorite songs are the first three plus Story of Heaven. Based on the old man and the tree song I initially had you pegged as somebody who listens to They Might be Giants and Paul Simon, but the rest of the album pretty much threw that out the window. Question: have you considered trying to write a musical? A show like _Les Miz_ is essentially a collection of story-telling songs held together with some staging glue. That’s what your style ultimately reminded me of. Good job!

I actually own one of your tape cassettes. I really like it! You are very talented.

Congratulations! I saw your disc and tape at the Stanford Bookstore! I looked around for somebody to brag to, but finding no likely suspects, I bought a tape for my Walkman (the only way I consume music these days, I’m afraid — and now have even more reason to brag, but still no victims) because I know somebody who makes GOOD music. Hope this takes you to the top of the charts.

Beneath the joy lies a story shaped by significant loss.In an era when therapy wasn’t readily offered—and teenage boys weren’t encouraged to talk about grief—Cory turned to music. Music became his language. His friend. His way of processing what he couldn’t say out loud. He began writing songs—about loss, confusion, beauty, and resilience. People listened. Before he finished high school, his music was already reaching others. Through music, Cory learned the power of community—how shared experiences can become chosen family.

You will be pleased to know that your album made the approved list for being played in the car driving across the Midwest with my partner’s mom… especially the a capella cut. She’s a singer in her choir.

Musically, 2025 Alive is an improvisational composition that begins with ambient drones and evolves into a richly textured soundscape. Cullinan layers instruments such as guitar, keytar, saxophone, and percussion in real-time, creating loops that intertwine unpredictably. This method mirrors the chaotic yet interconnected nature of current events, offering listeners an immersive experience that reflects feelings of confusion, hope, anxiety, and resilience. The piece features a single lyric: “Test.” This word is deconstructed and fragmented throughout the track, symbolizing the myriad challenges and trials faced in 2025. Cullinan explains that this choice represents the various “tests” society undergoes—be it of ideas, stamina, willpower, intellect, empathy, or patriotism.

This is the best #&%@@ I’ve heard in years! I want to order six copies for my friends.

After listening through your album in my car several times, I can only begin to imagine what a monumental undertaking your project must have been. First of all, I’m extremely impressed with the diversity of your music and writing! I mean everything from Choral pieces to pop. Probably my favorite was Little Rock Don’t Break as I liked the intensity of it. Other highlights for me were the string arrangements (real strings! how often does that happen these days?). The overall production was absolutely stunning. When I think about the time, focus and effort the project must have taken, I can only begin to imagine the pride you must be taking in the whole recording. Your writing is a wonderful mixture of the traditional and Avant Garde. I’ve gotten so used to the standard verse/chorus/bridge configuration here in Nashville, that it’s easy to forget that other styles even exist. Your album was a very gratifying reminder.

Fascinating new art and noise piece…

My Oyster has already been on air! I am very impressed with what I have heard

We LOVED the tape.

I keep meaning to write to you! I really enjoyed your CD. The production is fantastic and the diversity of the songs very impressive! I loved that amazing weird one with Emily in it.. and your voice is great. I’d be interested in seeing your band some time.

What a sweet song! I mean, it’s laughably easy just to make up something that sounds like a song, but it’s really hard to make it good — to sound just right, like it’s yours, like it means something. With Something (for Janette) you nailed it. I applaud you.

We didn’t move fast enough because His Oyster is no longer available in any of Chisinau’s many trendy music stores. Can you send us the (signed) CD at $15 so that we won’t have to continue to endure the snickers of President Lucinschi and our other dinner guests when they demand a Cory Cullinan song and we come up with some lame excuse?

Will consider this mission accomplished. What clever and great lyrics, and so ridiculously full of energy. It’s also very musical. Seriously I am floored, it’s awesome.

I haven’t had fun like today in a long time. I can’t wait to keep working on this project — seriously… SO AMAZING what you are doing, the quality, fun and beauty of it is really inspiring.  Thank you for that.

Cory Cullinan does it all. We are in awe of his immense talents.  Footprint is just another representation of his profound skill.

I’m going to order 10 cds and give them to all my friends. Also, I wore your tee shirt all over Hong Kong recently, and you are now world famous. (I have noodle stains all over the shirt, but all the Hong Kong noodle joints love you).

I’ve been listening to a particular CD titled My Oyster and I believe it has helped me dissolve any excessive amounts of tar in my veins. The lyrics are like poetry and the music is a moving interpretation of the poem’s analysis. Both together are like inspiration itself pouring over my eardrums, soaking me in life and philosophy. It means a lot more to me in particular, however, because My Oyster was written, performed, and produced by Cory Cullinan, a high school friend of my brother’s who I believe really understands the pain of loss and the value of living.

We gave My Oysterto our son for Christmas & he loves it. Says he plays it over & over & over. Hope you’re selling lots. When’s the next one coming out?

Cory Cullinan’s experimental masterpiece Footprint is an emotional rollercoaster that invites you to interpret it through your lens. The blueprint was laid out somewhere during Cory’s college days at Stanford University, inspired by the legendary John Chowning. With the help of his former student, Elizabeth Anaya, they brought Footprint to life just in time for a performance in front of Chowning himself, coming full circle in absolute, poetic purity.

A real fun ride.  He’s a fine musician, composer, singer and poet.

It’s the *uniqueness*of your style that draws me to many of the tunes on your CD. It’s what I look for in other music (in addition to the mental/physical /spiritual stimulation) no matter what the style.

You did it, Cory!

Footprint feels like stepping into a lucid dream orchestrated by a composer who moonlights as a philosopher.

Discover the meditative journey of Cory Cullinan’s Footprint… an experimental release that redefines soundscapes.

I loved your music; you have so many strengths as a composer! If I were to project a career for you, it would be in the area of scoring music for video and film, and possibly Broadway musicals! Please keep in touch.

Very good stuff, man! It’s certainly high-caliber.

Beautiful song. It brought up all sorts of emotions and memories in my own life and loss.

It sounds like Queen.

I never heard an independent (CD) produced at this level… (It’s) a huge jigsaw puzzle… very intricate… A person like this comes along rarely.

Thank you so much for the wonderful CD containing your song, Little Rock Don’t Break. (I enjoyed your other work, also!) Cory, your musical interpretation of the first day for the “Little Rock Nine” is outstanding. It is obvious that you have a heartfelt concern for Little Rock and Arkansas as we deal with and overcome the crisis at Central High School. Please accept my warmest and best wishes for your success – and may God bless you.

Footprint was originally conceived by Cory Cullinan as an undergrad at Stanford University in the late 1980s taking famed composer and electronic music legend John Chowning’s 220A course. He started working on it only to find it was too time-consuming for his undergraduate course load — at the time, digital audio workstations didn’t exist, and creating all the field recordings and somehow putting them together in a multitrack mix would’ve taken months or years of work. So he never finished it. But he always wanted to.

It’s very refreshing to hear an artist who has something to say lyrically and can accompany that with strong compositional talents.

We are enjoying your CD.

Musically, 2025 Alive flows between theexperimental and the emotional. Fragmented voices, synthetic atmospheres, and a near-cinematic treatment of sound create a landscape that feels both dreamlike and unsettling. Therepeated and deconstructed use of the word “test” encapsulates the project’s core intention: torepresent the chaos, the inner and outer challenges, and the clash of ideas that define life in aworld turned upside down.

An immersive emotional experience.

First of all when I was in Minnesota with my boyfriend Dave, a friend of ours played your music for us, saying it’s the best music around today. And he was right! When we heard your recording we were annihilated off the face of the earth! I’ve never heard anything so incisive in all my life. It’s a deft blend of delicate poise and raw power, kind of like a frolicking dragon. Have you ever read William Burroughs? Your music is reminiscent of the moods engendered in his work. Since our first listen, my boyfriend and I have become total addicts to your music and we’ve been going around telling all our friends how great you are. If your music was heroin, we’d be like those two kids in that film the Basketball Diaries! The fact that you don’t have a major deal is a crime.

My god. You’ll be ending up in N.Y. in a few years, I’m pretty sure. Broadway will suck you up & wrap you in ribbons [ooh — sounds tickly, doesn’t it], but not yet. I love this thing (some of it reminds me of Queen – howZAT make you feel?!? — I love Queen, BTW! P.S. Kurt Weill & Berthold Brecht also come to mind. Are you channeling??? I know you’re not old enough to understand the things you write! I didn’t mean it exactly that way — I meant it more along the lines of ‘I don’t comprehend how you have the perspective you do at your age.’ Not everyone would be able to learn from the sad experiences you’ve had & be able to look at things with so much love and hope — even if they were 20 or 30 years older. I’m just being appreciative & sort of full of wonder. You certainly got the “how can you experience joy without pain?” lesson early, and you actually learned it. I’m sorry, but it’s (quite unfortunately, for the culture, I’d say) amazing. And to then write about it cogently. My my. When are you leaving for New York? I’m telling you — part of your future is waiting for you on Broadway. And maybe not all in musicals, either. Ah well — all in time all in time !…

As I listened to your CD the first time, I was awe struck when I heard both of the dedication pieces! I was touched by the songs you wrote for your brother and father, and from a distant place, I wanted to say that I respect your strength to be able to write and perform these songs. Courageous, ambitious, not trivializing or being trite.

I am VERY IMPRESSED! You are so talented. Do people ever tell you that you sound like Michael Feinstein? I mean that as a compliment because I love how he sings all of the old Gershwin songs. I loved your proposal song(!) and even more the sentiment behind it. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall witnessing your romantic proposal

Your music is wonderful, and the words — beyond words.

Cory Cullinan has once again captured the imagination and creativity many of us feel but are unable to express.

Playing on this interactive and contemplative nature, the piece was premiered live in San Jose, CA in the summer of 2024, with Dr. Chowning in attendance. Cory dedicated it to him and said he’d always wanted to finish it in Chowning’s class. At the end of the piece, his former professor shouted humorously from the crowd: “Cory, you did it!” Among other things, the interactive version of the piece allows audiences to experience the observation that they shape their own environment.

So great!

I’m so appreciative of all you do for your family, friends and the community!

Cory & Riley Max are also seriously wonderful and sweet human beings who are thrilled to make their City Lights debuts!

So special!

Footprint now exists in three formats: as an audio piece, as a live audience interactionpiece, and as a multimedia piece that’s also a collaboration between you and your daughter.How does it feel to know that you have three similar yet different versions kicking around inthe world now? Is there a true sense of pride as an artist?

It was a very special and beautiful evening. Thank you and Riley for sharing your gift of music.

You guys Rock!!!

Well done.

Cory! You and Riley were terrific! Thank you for including us in your presentation.The emotional honesty and commitment to family, friends and community of your show was inspiring. Bravo!

I greatly admire your energy. Your public performance looks not only effortless but also authentic. You display warmth and charisma, putting the audience completely at ease. You have no idea just how much I admire that. I’m sure it’s the result of no little effort and practice, but it also seems to come from deep, because you care. Thanks for bringing the positive.

When we’re not in a pandemic, Cory can often be found touring the country playing shows and workshops… where he’s known for playing a host of instruments and loop recording them live on the spot with the help of audience interaction.

It was so wonderful to be at the show last night! You and Riley Max really are a great duo! We all enjoyed the show and it was such a treat to be there and experience it with you. Again… Congratulations on a fabulous show!

Lovely!

Awesome!

For the next piece, we have our first guest, who is here tonight with us against all odds.

It was wonderful to see you at your Cubberley Show. You are really quite the marvelous showman! And it was very sweet of you to recognize me in front of everyone. I’m very proud of your success and achievements and the years we spent together with Yamaha and piano lessons. My grandson enjoyed the show very much. When asked afterwards if he liked the show, he said “Yes, a lot!

Los Altos native Cory Cullinan,a musician and recording artist summer professor at Stanford University, and his daughter Riley, a current student at Harvard and Berklee School of Music, are performing for one night only at the Los Altos Stage Company…

Songwriter, musician, and college professor Cory Cullinan mentored middle school students atNorth Routt Community Charter School in winter 2023. Over the course of six weeks, twoin-person workshops, and one Zoom session, Cory led the students in writing an original songinspired by their history curriculum. All lyrics were written by the students.After the residency, 100% of students surveyed reported feeling more comfortable talkingto and asking questions of adults who are not teachers,100% of students surveyedreported feeling more confident to share their ideas, and 75% of students surveyedreported feeling good about their abilities to be creative.

Cullinan has artistic roots in the Palo Alto area, where he was a music student at Stanford and a resident and music teacher in Los Altos after graduation.Cullinan created the Doctor Noize persona as an outlet for his passion for music as well as his love for the educational aspects of the medium. He credits his own children as well as the children he taught as a music teacher for inspiring him to write music with kids as the intended audience.

After one semester of our new degree in Recording Arts Technology, I have been so proud of what has been accomplished and even more honored to work with incredible professionals who have helped make this dream come to fruition. It does not go without saying that the impact of Cory Cullinan on my life and career is monumental, and he deserves all the shouting out possible. Thank you, Cory Cullinan!

Recording Drops Of Jupiter was super fun, because it forced me to get out of my comfort zone a little. I am a naturally pretty shy person who does not want to sing or play piano in front of other people in case I mess up, and I was forced to in that situation because there are a million people in the studio. But they were all super supportive, and it actually made it a lot more fun, because I got to get their opinion on what to add to the song to make it better. I think I grew a little bit as a person — it’ll help me get out of my comfort zone in the future ‘cause I’ve already done it once and I know I can do it again.

Cory, that video was absolutely beautiful! Keep up your amazing work and inspiring the musical artists of the future!

You did an amazing job teaching the class, thank you for everything!

Cory was a great teacher.

I have had the privilege of being taught by Mr. Cullinan for two full semesters during my freshman and sophomore years at my high school. I still find it next to impossible to imagine just how much stamina and willpower and strength Mr. C commands; I have so much respect for him. In my mind, a hero is not necessarily someone who has saved my life, or rescued me from danger, or radically changed my life. Mr. C is a hero simply because he has given me, however unintentionally, the gift of inspiration. I can only aspire to simulate his remarkable qualities in my own life; but I shall try.

It’s such a joy to work with colleagues at CU Denver College of Arts & Media like Cory Cullinan, who is collaborating with Konshens The MC to Funk The Earth — lifting up positivity and support of United Nations sustainable development goals through arts, media and culture. Cultural well-being!

Cory was honestly one of my favorite teachers this year! He made me feel seen since the first day! I hope to have another class with him in the future.

I’m thrilled to share the track I recorded during the Stanford Workshop. This would not have been possible without your invaluable guidance. The insights and lessons I gained in such a short time are something I’ll always cherish, and I can’t thank you enough for your mentorship. You’ve given me a clearer perspective of the bigger picture and practical tips to help me move forward. Your advice has been truly empowering.

Cory is an outstanding teacher. Besides having a strong grasp and background in his subject, his engaging spirit and passion provide a strong connection with his students. He lights that fire within each student. He has developed lifelong relationships with all because of his compassionate nature. Add to that his phenomenal sense of fun and frivolity, every class is an adventure, a happening event that any student will just love. An absolutely amazing educator!

Driven by a vision of making musical education approachable and entertaining, he had produced three albums, two books, and a mobile app. His inspiration for a 21st century successor to Prokofiev’s iconic Peter and the Wolf required resources of a different sort. His vision attracted world-class talent. Grammy Award-winning soprano Isabel Leonard, baritone Nathan Gunn (one of People Magazine’s “sexiest men” in 2008), and renowned symphony conductor Kyle Pickett all agreed to donate their time… for his mission-driven, socially valuable creative project.

What was most helpful was exploring the studio space and exploring ways to record in unique ways in unique spaces…

Out of all my professors, I believe Cory adapted to the off-site class times the best. His Zoom presentations were on topic and interesting, he kept questions coming and answered them well, not to mention he’s quite funny and generally likeable. I think Cory understood very well the goals of his class.

I want to deeply thank you, Cory, and CCRMA for one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever been blessed with. I have never encountered a more passionate, supportive, and talented group of people. More than ever I feel comfortable leaning into my career as a musician and who I want to be as a person, and that is in great part thanks to the program and environment you created for all of us. Being surrounded by such a vast array of styles and human beings made me feel at peace and at home, and I cannot ever thank you enough for that.

This was such an awesome experience for these kids! LOVE the final product!!!

I just want to take a minute to recognize the extraordinary talents of my good friend and the songwriter forWelcome To Grammaropolis, Cory Cullinan. The good Doctor and I spent just over three years together on the faculty of Pinewood School; he was the Music teacher and Choir Director, among other titles and responsibilities. I always admired the creativity of his lesson plans and his dedication to his students, and I’m thrilled that he agreed to lend his talent to the world of Grammaropolis.

An accomplished recording artist and educator.

My favorite part of the Workshop has been the exposure to all these different ways to make music. To record music with everyone’s different styles of music, everyone’s different backgrounds, until they just break your brain about everything you knew…

How do I get so lucky to have John Chowning and Cory Cullinan in my universe? Mr. Chowning came to PPSC last year and volunteered a concert and talk to my students and the community and here he is, Grammy lifetime achievement award. Cory is nothing short of amazing, and I’m so incredibly honored to have the history and legacy of both of these humans influencing what’s happening where I work and help me do the job I love. To both of you — thank you for inspiring me and lots of generations to come.

It was nice to have a class that was pretty low stress to just talk about how to make music.

Well, me personally, I definitely say meeting all the people from all kinds of different backgrounds and all kinds of different experiences, and having them come together to create a project like this. Not just the networking, but making genuine friends and just seeing all the talent. You don’t get a kind of listening experience like that anywhere else. It’s very inspiring in my own craft as well. It pushes me to go forward.

Appreciate your effort in teaching us and helping us understand our course material. I wish I had more teachers who were more down to earth and easy going while also being a good teacher.

This week, I was fortunate to be part of Stanford University‘s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) Summer Program focused on Recording Arts. Next to eight talented musicians, we were able to learn more about recording techniques, editing tools, and mixing workflows while using state-of-the-art studios at CCRMA.

My highlight honestly has to be the studio. Like, the studio itself. The soundproofing, and the sub, it’s so good, and the speakers… Being in that studio was incredible. To hear everybody’s music, and how crisp and clear… It’s… It’s amazing.

Every time he does it, I tell myself I should tell you. Finally, this time I will. For the umpteenth time, when I went into his bedroom to ask how school and homework are going, Polo jumps up from his work and animatedly begins telling stories about your class. He resets his CD player to a specific track from The Messiah and goes into what makes that part so appealing to him, then, after another moment, says enthusiastically, “He’s such a great teacher!” and “Did you know it’s a round? He had us sing Row Row Row Your Boat to show us what a fugue is!” This, plus more about you at the keyboard, in front of the class, etc., goes on for about 10 minutes before I remind him that I didn’t come in to disturb his homework or distract him, just to check in… “Oh yeah…” he’ll say as he heads back into his room (his retelling includes coming out to pick out some melodies on the piano). I couldn’t keep it in because his increasing love of music is creditable solely to you and it makes me very, very happy. And if I were you, I’d sure want to know that what I do and how I do it is making a very big difference. Thank you.

Chowning’s lectures and performances, hosted by Cullinan in Colorado this February, will further celebrate his legacy. This collaboration underscores the mutual respect between mentor and protégé, showcasing the dynamic relationship between past innovation and present creativity.

Cory is a beacon of light in the dark abyss that is higher education.We should build a statue of him in the courtyard honestly. Maybe put a dog like a husky or something next to him too and have them both looking off in the direction of the Rockies majestically, and have a built-in fountain that shoots water out their eyes like laser beams.

I just spent 5 years at college studying music history and theory that you managed to teach me in just a couple semesters back in high school… I don’t think that I so much as encountered one name, piece or music characteristic in college that I was not already familiar with.

I took two semesters of his music history classes and felt excited to learn about the history of music. I even memorized all the music in the movie, Amadeus, which I borrowed from Mr. Cullinan.

Thank you for inspiring me as an amazing teacher in my life.

I want to thank you for a great semester.  It’s been fantastic being in your class.  I have learned so much from you, not just from listening to your lectures and experiencing your lectures, ‘cause quite honestly they’re an experience, but from literally watching your career and hearing about the angles and all of the trajectory that you’ve taken with it. It’s incredible. And your energy! So thank you so much for imparting all of that to us.  Thank you so much for a great semester.  If you teach anything more at UCD let me know, ‘cause I am definitely interested in taking more of your classes… Peace.

Cory is an interesting teacher and makes learning fun.

Professor Cullinan, you have been my favorite professor this semester, and, honestly, my whole academic career thus far. I loved your class, not only because I learned so much, but because you made it fun, and you care about your students, which shows in everything you do. You are a wonderful professor, and I hope I am lucky enough to have another half as knowledgeable, compassionate, talented, hardworking, and encouraging as you. Right now, I am in Commencement with Claim Jumpers, hearing some bagpipes!

It’s been a pleasure working with you the past three semesters and I wished we had more time. Thank you for everything you have given me and for teaching me how to run the studio! It really means a lot to me to have you here at Regis, and I hope I get to see you next semester! Thank you again for everything you have taught me.

Thank you Cory for teaching this class and making it so fun. I really looked forward to it every week. Please teach more classes!! I would love to have you as my professor again!

The Pinewood Singers & Music Director Cory Cullinan are the Winners of the Best Overall Choir Award, with the only perfect score from the Judges.

Your passion has always been an inspiration in my life and I always get teary-eyed when I talk about my high school experience with Pinewood Singers and how amazing you were as a role model. You started something new at Pinewood, touched so many lives, and broke some records with them, and that is something I constantly try to do now that you have shown me that it is possible.

Cory, I wanna be you when I grow up! Thank you for inspiring me to be the best I can be!

Lately I have been inspired by many people who live their life in search of meaning, they say they live longer, smile more often, and add joy to the world. You are definitely doing that!!!!…

Cory is fun to work with and a fine human being.

Cory has a background in music that educates and inspires. And to make their efforts even sweeter, Cory’s company, Doctor Noize, is making its curriculum and educational free online, with the hope that parents can put it to good use while kids are home.

Mr. Cullinan is an inspiring, effective educator who left a lasting impact on my life. More than 20 years later, I have vivid memories of his high energy teaching style, positivity, and deep commitment to his students. He is rare, one of a kind, and brings out the best in everyone around him — I am lucky to be in touch with him today. Little did I know at the time, but his lessons (both academic and otherwise) would influence me lifelong. This statement comes from the perspective of someone who had zero interest in learning music — I grew up with hearing problems and struggle a lot with sounds. Yet, knowledge of music/AV has been necessary for my career as an entrepreneur, so the foundation his teaching gave me was invaluable. And I can hear better than I could as a kid!The teaching profession needs more leaders like Dr. Noize, especially in light of the many traumas that young people are navigating due to the pandemic and climate change. He embodies the existence of bright light on the other side.

I have recognized the impact that you’ve made on my growth as a musician over these past years (first online in 2023 and in person the following two years). I particularly resonate with your system of collaboration in the class, encouraging my peers and me to use the two weeks to make connections and learn from each other.

Thanks for a great semester.

You are a great coach… to thousands of young people.

When i get famous I’ll make sure to text you still and give you all the credit you deserve for making me better.

I still credit Dr. Noize as being one of the foundational experiences in my musical journey… Truly your program changes lives! Who knows what I’d be majoring in at Vanderbilt if not for Phineas McBoof! I’m majoring in percussion performance with a minor in business, focusing on arts administration and sustainability… Whoo boy that’s a mouthful!

Cory’s legit — I used to teach with him. He is an all-around nice guy and great with kids.

Cory Cullinan — I just have to take a moment to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being the wonderful and inspirational person that you are. This was a trip of a lifetime and we are forever grateful to have been a part of this amazing event!

Thank you for being an open door to each of us. Through your passion I’ve been able to nurture my creative spirit. Speaking of spirits, you always know how to lift them up, with every note, every joke, and every word of encouragement you give. I look forward to continuing this musical journey with you next semester.

THANK YOU for all you did to provide the Pinewood Singers with such an amazing performance “road trip”!!! Christopher had a fabulous time! He told me that the singing — the performances, the preparation, the bus trips, the group time….all that was even more fun than Disneyland (which, of course was a great time, too!). He loves being part of this group. Honestly, I think if you wanted him to dress in leiderhosen and yodel, you could probably get him to do that, too….!!! You have an amazing gift for connecting with these teenagers, and we are SO lucky to have you in their school lives. Thank you, thank you, and CONGRATULATIONS on the awards as well!!

You would be an amazing teacher at a higher level of education.

This course just covers everything… You know, a very technical course talking about all sorts of crazy recording techniques. You make the music that you want. And Cory helps you make it happen. And, on top of that, Cory helps you figure out how to actually become successful in the music industry, and that is just something so unique to this course that I have’t seen anywhere else. And Cory just does it in such a fun and engaging way that I couldn’t recommend it more.

You’re amazing!!

Cory is great and really fun to learn from.

Congratulations to music faculty Cory Cullinan (AKA Doctor Noize), who co-produced the song that opened the United Nations Development Program’s “Nature For Life Hub” yesterday. Watch here: #ThisIsRegis#NatureForLife#sustainability#music”

It was an awesome pleasure having you as my professor this semester, and I sincerely thank you for all your support. I look forward to keeping in touch

The most effective part of the class was the way you kept the class intriguing. I looked forward to this class every morning. Not just for the course information provided, but the teacher too.

The SWARM CD is the most valuable thing in my life. With this CD, I took a step forward in my life instead of being controlled by my fate. This CD is my baby, which arrived after the series of the most difficult events in my life. I am sure that I will meet other difficult problems in later life. Then, I will listen to this meaningful CD and believe that I can go through those problems again as I did last year.

I have attended the Recording Arts Workshop at Stanford for the last three summers, and I’ve been fortunate enough to bring students from the college to participate in the program as well. The students who’ve attended the Workshop have been incredibly inspired to continue to create their own music and to find careers in the industry as well. This Workshop has also inspired and equipped me to create a new degree at Pikes Peak State College. It’s music audio technology and it launches this fall.

I think what makes this Workshop really unique is we make an album at the end of every Workshop. It kind of sounds insane, once you think about it: A whole album gets done in such a short amount of time. But it’s amazing how everybody rallies and makes it happen.

Loved the course and the teacher.

Thanks to Cory Cullinan for showing us all your magic tricks with your genuine charisma, authenticity, and fantastic methodology… and my talented peers from whom I learned a lot and built awesome relationships. I’m excited to see what those next-gen musicians will achieve in the near future.

Thank you for a great semester. It’s been fantastic being in your class. I’ve learned so much from you — not just from experiencing your lectures, ‘cause quite honestly they’re an experience, but from literally watching your career.

A renewal… A continuation of Cory’s lifelong belief that music can educate, connect, and foster empathy. It’s a reminder that joy, paired with purpose, can be a transformative force.

Cory — that video was absolutely beautiful! Keep up your amazing work and inspiring the musical artists of the future!

We have completed our search for a director of Music Technology and Recording Arts and are pleased to announce that Professor Cory Cullinan has accepted the position. Cory comes to Regis with over two decades of teaching and professional work in the field of recording arts. He received his M.S. in Recording Arts from the University of Colorado, Denver, and holds a B.A. in both Music and Political Science from Stanford University. He founded a thriving Music Program and created a Recording Arts Program at Pinewood School, and eventually headed their Arts, Communication and Technology department. He is currently on the faculty at the University of Colorado, Denver, where he teaches music technology in their Recording Arts in Music & Entertainment Industry Studies Department.

Few artists can make music education feel like pure magic, but Cory Cullinan has built an entire career doing just that.

I also wanted to say thank you for everything this semester, not only have you taught me so much, but you even brought exactly what I was looking for to Regis this year in the recording arts program. Both academically and socially with a community that I could really ingrain myself within. I am not only incredibly grateful but excited to continue throughout the rest of your courses.

Heading home. Had an incredible week with old friends, new friends, family and friends who I call family. I learned soooo much this week and couldn’t have asked for a better class. Maybe I’ll share what I made soon… thank you Cory Cullinan (and Jay!) for an amazing program!

I also have to add that Cory stopped being funny about halfway through the first day…

This was such an amazing opportunity and i am beyond grateful for everyone who helped get us on this trip! It was so eye opening and something that every musically gifted person should attend! Cory was such a charismatic person! It was so inspiring and refreshing to be around him. The environment he brings and hope he puts in everyone’s heart is just impressive at this point. Thank you for this opportunity and making us feel so welcomed, i’ll never forget it! I’ve seen sides of people who i’ve known that i’ve never seen before and it is something that doesn’t feel real. This trip all together was surreal and i hope it’s something we can do regularly and other get to experience as well!

The classes where we took a break from the regular coursework and focused more on personal technical issues were very welcome, and happened frequent enough to be useful without getting in the way of regular progress.

Cory Cullinan gave a fabulous workshop! Thanks for capturing part of it @kids.radio!!

He ignites imaginations with vibrant songs, engaging workshops, and interactive performances, sparking joy for anyone who likes to have fun.

I developed asynchronous recording arts content forelementary age kids and the infrastructure to make it accessible, in particular to kids in apandemic, including an entirely new album and curricula for each production. I’ve alsodeveloped educational live content in the form of shows and workshops, both of which utilizeand demonstrate inspiring audience-interactive recording arts, for young kids. To do so, I had todevelop an ideal Mobile Music Production Rig, described in detail in this Thesis Portfolio.Finally, I did extensive testing of both my asynchronous and live learning content, arriving atrecommendations and conclusions I hope will serve two simultaneous goals: to make my workteaching recording arts to kids better, and inspire others to start teaching the recording arts toyounger children as well in their own creative ways. Those kids will, in turn, become the nextRecording Arts students at institutions like CU Denver, and culture-shapers — from localrecording artists in an accessible age of recording technology to Grammy winners.

I’m truly happy to have your support and equally grateful to have spent those two weeks working with you. Thank you so much for the encouragement and support. I’m excited to work more with you in the future!

Your workshop is doing something, Cory… I’m learning!

There’s a very, very diverse range of music we’re making here. Not just in the traditional sense you might think of, like rock versus rap… More of a sense of there’s a very broad range of different artistic tastes. And it’s very inspiring to kind of work with that…

Cory is a very personable and friendly instructor, so even slogging through key commands in Pro Tools was fun and engaging. Tests and assignments were designed well and used course book and lecture material well. The variety of lectures, videos, and reading kept things interesting.

Probably my favourite online course I’ve taken in a schooling environment simply because the environment that Cory created was so conducive to being open, friendly, thinking with precision and really doing things on your own to learn for yourself.

I thoroughly enjoyed the class. Well done.

Cory was one of my favorite instructors. I looked forward to his class every Friday, and sometimes knowing that this class was at the end of the week helped to keep me motivated in my other courses throughout the week. Cullinan was really effective in helping keep our spirits up and to keep smiling. He would take breaks from the text book to give us more creative and real-world assignments which helped me get a genuine feel for how things occur in this field even through remote learning. I also really enjoyed when he would let students share their work in class; it allowed us to encourage each other and connect on a deeper level than some of my other courses.

Cory is a great instructor, very fun and very professional.

It’s just been really cool to see all the different collaborations that can happen. You know, I’ve gotten to have a full choir on my piece, I’ve gotten to do percussion, voice parts in other people’s pieces… And I think it’s been just really wonderful networking and I think it’s been really bonding for us as a group.

I’ve had a really fun semester learning from you! I want to teach music and the times I have, I feel like I can relate to your style of upbeat energy. I love it and completely understand it on a really personal level and enjoyed seeing you, a professional, acting how I would and it gives me hope that I can become a successful teacher one day as well. So thank you for being yourself!

The two weeks I spend at Stanford near the end of every summer are easily my favorite partof each year. I get up, go to work, run sessions and work on music all day, and then I go home andget to do it all again the next day. The recording arts workshop there is the single most fulfillingthing that I have ever been lucky enough to be a part of, and if they’ll have me, I’ll be teaching ituntil my ears go deaf from all the noise. In my time there, I’ve been involved in a wide variety ofprojects, from playing the cowbell in a full-group improvisational piece led by a Paly High student tovocalizing over an avant-garde experimental horror soundtrack brought in by a grad student fromTaiwan. It’s opened my world up to so many genres and musical practices that I never would haveattempted otherwise, and every person who’s taken the course has left their mark on my musicalstyle.

Thank you for a wonderful semester.Thank you so much for a wonderful semester, Professor! I couldn’t have asked for a better professor. I am far from perfect, but… I try my best to be supportive, and your class has absolutely inspired me to do so even more, for others and myself!

A fun course with a great professor that kept everyone’s spirits up, loved engaging with students, understood how to read the room (was able to say “Hey the world’s kinda crummy right now let’s take a break”) and kept assignments light-hearted with a lot of extra credit opportunities.

Cory Cullinan — I just have to take a moment to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being the wonderful and inspirational person that you are. This was a trip of a lifetime and we are forever grateful to have been a part of this amazing event!

You are an amazing professor. Thank you.

I am always inspired by your boundless energy, creativity and optimistic spirit Cory.

Cullinan began composing music in junior high school, and fell in love with classical and orchestral music while attending Stanford University. Since then he has created and recorded numerous music releases, and taught many aspects of music composition and production to youth. He’s led an award-winning youth choir (winners of Disneyland’s huge Music in the Park competition) and his music has appeared in television shows, movies and documentaries.

An engaging teacher, and a most effective communicator with people of all ages.

Thanks for your incredible influence on my life and career!

Coach, I got your number from Katy D. I want you to know that I’m a good man, a better man, and that I learned from what you taught me.

Very personable and helpful.

Awesome!!!!! Love it!

Last performance — and sold out house. The kids all made a special thanks to you at the end of the show, telling the audience how awesome it was to work with you. It was very sweet. And a really great last performance. It really came together.

Watch out, Curious George; there’s a new rock-star monkey in town.This week, the Palo Alto Children’s Theatre is debuting a stage version of Cory Cullinan’s The Ballad of Phineas McBoof, the story of the titular Phineas, a monkey who’s achieved fame and fortune but lost his passion and creative drive along the way. He rediscovers his love of music with the help of his oddball new band. Judge Luckey, the theater’s artistic director, commissioned Cullinan to write the musical with the hope of fostering creativity in children and teaching them about the value of music.“The kids are between the ages of 8 and 15, and they’re really loving the music,” said Luckey just before one of the final rehearsals.

Our goal at the Children’s Theatre is to present stories that engage our audiences.  We are honored to collaborate with a composer of Cullinan’s experience, imagination, and musical skill directing his talents toward fostering new work for young audiences.

Amazing!!!

The pleasure was mine! What a great experience.

We had a great time. Thank you for creating this experience!