Mark Small, 2018 November 15
Mark Small, guitarist and former editor of Berklee Today, discusses his interest in guitar, his experience attending Berklee School of Music (later Berklee College of Music) in the early 1970s, and his career and evolution as a writer. He describes his return to Berklee in the Public Relations Office under Alma Berk and his journey to becoming editor of Berklee Today. Small discusses the magazine’s evolution and recounts memorable articles and interviews. He also shares about his music career outside of writing and his advice for a successful career in the music industry.
Massachusetts-born writer, composer, and classical guitarist Mark Small began his music training on accordion before switching to guitar at age fifteen. He attended six semesters at Berklee College of Music in the early 1970s and completed his bachelor’s degree in classical guitar at the New England Conservatory in 1980. He lived and performed in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1988, during which time he obtained his master’s degree from California State University and wrote for Guitar Player magazine. Small started performing with Robert Torres in 1987, forming the Small-Torres Guitar Duo; their work received multiple Pearl Award nominations. After his return to Boston, Small joined the Berklee College of Music Public Relations Office in 1989, later taking over the position of editor for the college magazine Berklee Today in 1992. Small produced eighty-two issues of the magazine over twenty-seven years and retired in 2018.
