ABOUT ME
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What is my name?
I’m known by different names depending on the setting, but I’ll respond to any of them interchangeably. Alex is usually fine.
What is my quest?
I actually have three quests:
1) to optimize the quality of all life through hard work, compassion, creativity, and genuineness
2) to question everything
3) I seek the grail
What is my favorite color?
Blue.
…
Wait, no! It’s definitely orange, sort of like an idealized hue of my own hair…maybe more auburn – the color, not the football team.
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Musical background:
I am a composer, electronic music producer, and multi-instrumentalist (mostly percussion, including piano and several types of world drums as well as a little guitar). I’m professionally trained in ethnomusicology, music therapy, and psychiatry. Making music is always fun and therapeutic for me, but my musical projects released as deaf-child are also about 1) determining the music that I desperately want to hear but does not yet exist, 2) willing it into existence, and 3) sharing it with anyone who wants to listen.
Music that influences me most: 90s rock (especially anything by Nirvana; the first three Pearl Jam albums; and five other standouts – American Thighs, Siamese Dream, Live Through This, Superunknown, and Purple), Indian and Ghanaian drumming (especially Zakir Hussain, Swapan Chaudhuri, and my former instructors Andrew McLean and Sowah Mensah), my mother’s fiddle playing and the lullabies she sang to me when I was but a wee one, any jazz within one degree of separation from either Miles Davis and/or Macalester College, several American minimalist composers1, hip hop that focuses on flow and simple but strong beats (think Ready to Die and 36 Chambers), artists who aren’t afraid to experiment with sounds and styles that don’t fit neatly into boxes2, Sheila Chandra’s visionary voice, the polyrhythms of Meshuggah, the polyharmonies of Jacob Collier, the polymelodies of Nils Frahm, the weirdly esoteric fan cultures of Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada, Rebirth Brass Band as heard live at the Maple Leaf on Oak Street after a whiskey sour, Bobby McFerrin making vocal sound effects to accompany The Wizard of Oz, Zappa being Zappa, and anything played reasonably well on a sarangi, theremin, or cristal baschet.
1Fun fact: I once attended a live concert featuring both Phillip Glass and Steve Reich, including performances by both of their ensembles and even some collaborative elements. The second half of the concert was a complete performance of Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, which, along with Terry Riley’s In C, holds a special place in my heart.
2Another fun fact: I used to play in a music ensemble called Outside the Bachs, which coincidentally performed In C on several occasions.
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Selected Professional Publications:
Legge, A. Medical training, teamwork counter fear, anxiety on COVID-19 floors. Psychiatric News, 55(10), 2020, pages 8-9.
Hunt AM, Legge AW. Neurological Research on Music Therapy for Mental Health: A Summary of Imaging and Research Methods, Music Therapy Perspectives, Volume 33, Issue 2, 2015, Pages 142–161.
Legge AW. On the Neural Mechanisms of Music Therapy in Mental Health Care: Literature Review and Clinical Implications, Music Therapy Perspectives, Volume 33, Issue 2, 2015, Pages 128–141.
Legge AW, Detyniecki K, Javed A, Hirsch LJ, Kato K, Buchsbaum R, Chen B, Choi H. Comparative efficacy of unique antiepileptic drug regimens in focal epilepsy: An exploratory study. Epilepsy Res. 2018 May;142:73-80. doi: 10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2018.03.011. Epub 2018 Mar 10. PMID: 29571152.
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