Faculty

Dafna Naphtali is a versatile sound artist, vocalist, guitarist, and composer and improviser of electronic and experimental music. She focuses on experimental music and improvised music in combination with electronics using her custom Max/MSP programming for sound processing of the voice and other instruments, as well as works for multi-channel sound, robotics and location-based audio augmented reality soundwalks.   In her longest running projects she use live sound-processing of acoustic instruments and voice, as her self-made “instrument.” She’s performed and released duo recordings with: Luis Tabuenca, Chuck Bettis, Ras Moshe Burnett, Edith Lettner, Jen Baker, Gordon Beeferman and Hans Tammen. In 2023, she gathered all her duos into a large ensemble, (DUOS++OCTET), for a performance at Roulette Intermedium in New York.  She is currently writing a book on this work, "Live Processing & Improvisation" for Taylor & Francis / Routledge.  

Dafna was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship (2023, Music/Sound).  

Master of Music, Music Technology, New York University

Bachelor of Music, Vocal Performance (Jazz), New York University

Voice Pedagogy CCM certified (multi-technical vocal pedagogy training) Shenandoah University Summer ’11&’13 with Jeannette Lovetri and CCM Institute.

Book Chapters: “What if Your Instrument is Invisible?” Boverman, Till, et al, editors. “Musical Instruments in the 21st Century - Identities, Configurations, Practices” 2016, Springer Verlag

"Locative Media" (co-authored with Richard Rodkin) Filimowicz, Michael, et al, editors. "Foundations of Sound Design Vol. 2", 2018, Routledge

Forthcoming book (in-progress) Live Processing & Improvisation" for Taylor & Francis / Routledge.

Blogs:  Authored four posts for New Music Box (newmusicbox.org) October 2017: -- http://dafna.info/new-music-box-blog-posts-oct-2017/ LIVE SOUND PROCESSING AND IMPROVISATION DELAYS AS MUSIC DELAYS, FEEDBACK, AND FILTERS: A TRIFECTA RESONATING FILTERS: HOW TO LISTEN AND BE HEARD

Blog for performance classes: Electronic Music Performance. Ed. Dafna Naphtali, 2012-present. www.electronicmusicperformance.wordpress.com

Created for my students, to serve as a living and evolving list of essential listening in experimental electronic music + related fields– grouped topically with the intention of underscoring connections between music made over several generations and overlapping practices. 

Online Article: "What If Your Instrument Is Invisible?" Almanac on Contemporary Instruments. 3DMIN, 15 Feb. 2015. Web. 13 Sept. 2015. . Journal Article: "A View on Improvisation from the Kitchen Sink." (with Hans Tammen). Leonardo Music Journal 20 (2010): 97.

Web. Interviews: Vdovin, Marsha, and Rod MacLeod. "C74: An Interview with Dafna Naphtali." Cycling '74, Sept. 2011. Web. 

Harries, Guy, "Dafna Naphtali interview", LiveElectronicSound.com, 2013, Web.