faculty bio from New England Conservatory
Randy Wong is a nationally respected researcher, published writer, and educator in the specialized field of Music-in-Education. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Wong serves as Director of Portfolio Assessment and Documentation Services for the Music-in-Education National Consortium (MIENC), and has overseen projects in Atlanta, Boston, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Mankato, Minneapolis, Norwalk-La Mirada, New York City, Oakland, San Francisco, Tucson, and other cities where the Consortium is partnered.
Wong’s expertise in working with teaching artists, developing interdisciplinary music curricula, and training teachers to collect, evaluate, and share documentation led to his being named a Center for Music-in-Education National Guided Practice Consultant in 2009. Wong has also contributed research to the San Francisco Symphony’s Keeping Score and Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education’s PAIR initiatives. Furthermore, Wong’s research has been published in The Journal for Music-in-Education, where he is also Associate Editor.
NEC’s Music-in-Education Guided Internship Program, which Wong directs, has partnered with schools, community centers, arts organizations, museums, and researchers throughout New England to develop initiatives that provide equity and access for a wide range of students and in diverse contexts. Current and past partnerships that Wong has forged include those with Boston Arts Academy, From The Top, Boston Children’s Museum, the Josiah Quincy schools, Atrium School, and Roland Hayes Middle School. A majority of these partnerships have been reported on, and acclaimed, at national meetings held by the MIENC.
Trained as a double bassist at New England Conservatory, Wong performs throughout the world in pop, exotica, and jazz/world markets, having toured, recorded, or performed with Brother Ah, George Clinton, Susan Werner, Michael Dease, Sharel Cassity, Tim Mayer, Zaccai Curtis, Harold Chang, Abe Lagrimas Jr., Robert Drasnin, Lopaka Colon, and The Waitiki 7. As a classical musician, Wong has performed with the Honolulu Symphony, Orchestra of Indian Hill, Nashua Symphony, and Project Copernicus.
Equally accomplished as a composer/arranger, band leader, and record producer, Wong’s music is regularly featured on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition,” “Weekend America,” and “All Things Considered” programs, The Pentagon Channel, and the Department of Defense’s Armed Forces Network. His compositions have garnered awards from the Music Foundation of Hawai’i, and a nomination from the Ontario Independent Music Awards. Since 2006, Wong has produced records for ukulele magnate Jim Beloff/Flea Market Music, including the Australian best-seller Rare Air and the Hawaii Music Award–winning Paradise Lost & Found. In 2007, a Project Copernicus performance of his violin concerto L’ours Chinois was ranked #4 in the Palm Beach Post’s Top 10 Classical Music Concerts.
Recent projects produced by Wong include two chart-topping albums by The WAITIKI 7, Adventures in Paradise and New Sounds of Exotica for Waitiki International LLC. Wong’s expert knowledge of the historical and sociocultural conditions that led to mid-century exotica music has led him to be a frequent guest commentator on radio programs and podcasts dedicated to lounge music, being cited in Phillip Roberts’s book Waikiki Tiki, as well as numerous other publications.
B.M., New England Conservatory. Ed.M., Harvard University. Graduate Studies, Carnegie Mellon University. Education studies at Harvard with Howard Gardner, Steve Seidel, Jessica Hoffman Davis, and Larry Scripp. Double bass studies with Todd Seeber, Jeffrey Turner, and Cecil McBee.