Barney Childs- a tribute Three days after the passing of Barney Childs, a long-standing member and supporter of SCI and indeed of many American composers, Greg Steinke asked how SCI might honor his memory. I proceeded to contact Jim Fox and Virginia Anderson, who in turned helped to identify a number of composers and musicians willing to write short tributes. Here are twenty accolades, eulogies and memorials to our friend and colleague. David Gompper lrt tltiS iss_u_e_: --- arney's non-music activities, his letters and private jokes, were original and Bcreative. Visitors to his home would find jokes scattered throughout the place: a book of matches reading "Thanks for Smoking"; a personalized pen which, like its advertisement, was marked something like "John Q. Smith, 1234 112 Main St., Anytown, USA"; a rubber tarantula with a neatly-typed caption: "Do not be afraid of 2 me; I am not real"; an inedible fuzzy stuffed pineapple (he gave me a basketball stuffed toy; unbounceable, commercial, but with the aesthetic reasoning of Oldenberg). He would play such games in his letters. One time he went to the trouble of photocopying etitions. the illustration from a dictionary entry on a fish, mounting it on a card, and typing cornP calls neatly, "The Turbo(t) that takes you where you want to go." 4 Grants. Virginia Anderson, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

WORDS ON AND BY BARNEY CHILDS

arney Childs has died. He was a composer, poet, writer, polemicist, and teacher. BFor me, Edna, and our children in the 'sixties, he was a beloved family friend. In 11 a preamble before his piece, Nonet, published in Source: Music of the Avant Garde (Vol. 3, No. 1, Issue 5, p. 59, 1969), Barney stated, " .. .I am presently dismayed by cheapjack notational novelties, with letting process stand for music, with the pretentious cliches of live-electronics and total environment (now blessedly out of date), with the-flatulent tedium of rock music, and with people_who try to_justify their music in terms of something other than music." That was vintage Barney of the time, and we loved him for it. He was the classic (sic) maverick academician with all the credentials that pertained-a Rhodes scholar, a Ph.D. from Stanford. He was an active conductor, a damned good (as Barney would put it} pianist, and an extraordinarily inventive composer in all mediums and genres. His pieces were statements about music's frills and protocol and ritual. He hated pretense and phoniness. His music didn't fit in ... beautifully! And he was that way as a person. In 1969, Edna, our five children, and I we.r;e invited by Barney-then Dean of Deep Springs College in Death Valley, California-to come for a visit at the ranch-college. The kids helped with the chores-milking cows, riding herd-and joined the ranch hands (the students) for wonderful meals in the ranch house. We cherish that memory, just as we cherish the visits Barney made to our home in Davis, California, those years ago. Many, many stories, not printable here: "The Stockhausen Party", "Medianoce, the Family Cat," "The WW-II Army Fieldjacket", and on. We love you, Barney, and will miss you. But we have our wonderful remembrances of you in your music and your generous humanity. Larry Austin, Denton, Texas

he SCI has lost an important member with the death of January 11, 2000 of T Barney Childs in Redlands, California at the age of 73. He was a very early member of the Society and attended all national and regional meetings faithfully until his declining health prevented it in recent years. He made many important continued on page 3 A publication of the Society of Composers, Inc. February/ March 2000, xxx: l Conference Reviews The following composers were programmed: Charles Argersinger, Christopher Arrell, TRANSITIONS Region VII Conference Review Brian Belet, Bruce Bennett, Marshall We would like to take this opportunity to California Institute of the Arts Bialosky, Jacqueline Bobak, Mark Bobak, thank Vatchara Vichaikul (Oak) for his Valencia, California Richard Brooks, Christopher Coleman, years of service to SCI as one of the January 28-30, 2000 Nickitas Demos, David Drexler, Michael Newsletter editors. Jacqueline and Mark Bobak, hosts Jon Fink, Robert Fleisher, Orlando Garcia, Michael Golden, Bruce Hamilton, hirty-two composers attended this James Harley, Steven Hoey, Daniel SCION T very well organized and musically Hosken, James Ieraci, Daniel Kessner, David Drexler, Editor engaging two-day conference on the David Lefkowitz, Michael McFerron, campus of Cal Arts, one hour north of Janis Mercer, Doug Michael, Lawrence SCION, SCI's on-line electronic news, downtown Los Angeles. While five concerts Mumford, Dimitri Papageorgiou, provides information on opportunities for made up the bulk of the activities, there Howard Quilling, Sung Ah Shin, Mark composers. News items, announcements, were four paper presentations by Robert Trayle, David Vayo, Byron Yasui. comments, and other material for publica­ Fleisher (Three Generations of tion may be sent via e-mail to: New Web Server Contemporary Israeli Music), Larry Christiansen (Composers and the Copyright Good news everyone! SCI is now the [email protected] Law: Part Two), David Lefkowitz (The proud owner of its very own web domain: Inequality Factor: Internal-Similarity and Mail, telephone calls, and fax messages Internal-Distinctiveness Within Abstract www.societyofcomposers.org should be directed to: Sets) and James Harley (Mixing the Vernacular with the Abstract: Bien Serre We have had the good fortune to David Drexler, SCION Editor for Big Band). A number of musicians are piggy-back on the web site of the 2560 Kendall A venue especially to be commended for their Electronic Music Studios at The University Madison, WI 53703 excellent work, in particular Mark Menzies of Texas at Austin for a number of years Telephone (home): 608-255-6491 (viola), Elana Weber (clarinet), Bryan now. But with a larger picture and longer Pezzone (piano), Marc Lowenstein duration in mind, we decided to secure our (conductor). Additionally, Jacqueline place on the internet. Conferences: 1999-2000 The new site allows us a number of Bobak's coloratura, agile and facile voice, ____2nd ~ Annual as well as her anaMark's abi1ity to hosf a ex tra g oodies: flawless conference were the highlights of 1) a real visitors counter and the National Student the conference. counter is incremented automatically. Conference 2) email addresses associated with March 17-18, 2000 The SCI Newsletter our domain name­ University of Michigan, Ann Arbor •[email protected] Ching-chu Hu , host Jon Southwood, Vatchara Vichaikul, (currently forwarding to David Gompper) Matt Groves and Christopher Brakel, editors •chairman@ ... (to Reynold Weidenaar) Region Ill •secretary@ ... (to Martin Gonzalez) February 11-12, 2000 Circulation: 1300 •manager@ .. . (to Gerald Warfield) Hampton University Annual Subscription Rate: $50 Harvey Stokes, host Frequency of Publication: Bi-Monthly. Edited •webmaster@ ... (to Tom Lopez) and printed at The University of Iowa. Send This feature allows personnel to change Region VI articles and member activities to : without disrupting email communication; the address will stay the same, we simply March 30-April 1, 2000 The University of Iowa Sam Houston State University School of Music change the forwarding address. Phillip Schroeder, host Iowa City, IA 52242 3) a secure transaction server. This (319) 335-1626; (319) 335-2637 FAX means that we can safely transmit and E-mail: [email protected] Conferences: 2000-2001 receive private information; such as credit 3rd Annual For other business: card numbers -perhaps we will be able to Martin Gonzalez - Exec. Secretary register for conferences online sometime National Student Society of Composers, Inc. soon. Conference PO Box 296, Old Chelsea Station New York, NY 10113-0296 4) access to list servers Indiana University Phone/fax: (212) 989-6764 5) access to database engines, Jason Bahr, host E-mail: [email protected] providing more information about music URL: http://www.societyofcomposers.org (scores and recordings) by SCI members. Region VI Spring, 2001 Copyright © 2000 6) better CGI support; bottom line by the Society of Composers, Inc. is that we are able to utilize more enhanced The University of Kansas Michael Sidney Timpson, host All rights reserved. web site capabilities. Tom Lopez, Webmaster Page 2 The SCI Newsletter XXX:l "Barney Childs" - continued from pg. 1 a rainstorm of the sort we all knew SCI National Council ( 1999-00) would be end of us all: Me, Larry, Barney contributions to the national meetings David K. Gompper, President with a series of lectures filled with elegant All that's gone now-: The University of Iowa Scott Brickman . phrases and references to books most of My most electric memories: Deep University of Maine (I) us had never heard of, let alone read. Springs, late 60s: Barney, Feldman, Noel Zahler He was definitely the SCI guru on Camels, pipe smoke, sour mash, primitive Connecticut College (I) Indeterminancy and his influence on tapes, laughter, sagebrush, coyotes ... Perry Goldstein SUNY-Stony Brook (II) younger members of the Society and on Haro ld Budd's next CD will be for an Daniel Weymouth his own students was very strong. A born ensemble featuring ]ah Wobble, Bill SUNY-Stony Brook (II) curmudgeon, he challenged all poorly Nelson, and Jon Gibson. James Haines explained musical views and insincerely Elizabethtown College (III) Jennifer Barker held beliefs. In going over the membership s a newly recruited member of Christopher Newport Univ (III) today, it is hard to find his equal or even A ASUC's Region VII, I first met Nick Demos a comparable figure among the members. Barney almost thirty years ago. Georgia State University (IV) Over those many years, he remained Tayloe Harding He, along with the late David Cohen, Valdosta State University (IV) initiated the regional meetings of the both a valued friend and colleague. James Chaudoir western states with a pioneer effort in Barney had little tolerance for foolishness University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh (V) 1971 at Arizona State. Since then Region and, of course, could be gruff, abrupt, Rocky J. Reuter cantankerous, iconoclastic and Capital University (V) VII, with very few exceptions, has held Kenton Bales an annual regional meeting throughout thoroughly intimidating. (Had it been up University of Nebraska at Omaha (VI) its vast area. Childs himself was the host to him, we would still be ASUC!} At the Samuel Magrill of one of these at the University of same time, he was more than generous in University of Central Oklahoma (VI) his support and encouragement of Marshall Bialosky Redlands in the early 1980s and was Cal State University, Dominguez Hills (Vm always a source of advice for many others. colleagues, friends and students. I always Glenn Hackbarth His delightfully unkempt look with will be grateful for the support and Arizona State University (VII) its aura of second-hand clothing made it encouragement he gave me as a composer, Charles Argersinger enduring revision upon revision of Washington State University (VIII) clear there were other things he held in Patrick Williams higher regard- music, poetry, literature, material he had agreed to play; for his University of Montana (VIm the world of ideas. One hopes his willingness, along with Phil Rehfeldt, to catalogue of compositions including eight travel to a distant campus for little SCI Executive Committee ( 1999-00) string quartets, five brass quintets, five remuneration in order that cloistered wind quintets, and many, many other students might experience and think Reynold Weidenaar, Chairman William Paterson College pieces will not go unheard. about new music; for his wide ranging Greg A. Steinke, President Emeritus conversations (often conducted late at Marshall Bialosky, Emeritus Professor Chris Brakel, Matt Groves & of Music, California State University, night in motel rooms redolent of ciga"rs Vatchara Vichaikul, Editors of Newsletter Dominguez Hills. and good whiskey) in which, among The University of Iowa other things, he led me to Berryman's Bruce J. Taub, BARNEY CHILDS: THE COWBOY Dream Songs and William Haggard's Editor of Journal of Music Scores mysteries; and for his understanding and C. F. Peters Corporation COMPOSER compassion for musicians like myself Richard Brooks, Producer of CD Series whose academic careers have been lived Nassau Community College - -,d known of Barney several years in areas outside of music. William Ryan, Submissions Coordinator before we met and became instant James Paul Sain, Student Chapters Tom Cleman continues to teach at - .friends: in 1964 or so I read an University of Florida Northern Arizona University as a account, or a review, somewhere, of a Tom Lopez, Webmaster Professor in the Department of performance of "Welcome To David Drexler, Editor, SCION Humanities, Arts and Religion. Whipperginney": the title alone was Kristine H. Burns, Listserv Coordinator Dorothy Hindman, enough to count him as a soul-friend: a aturally I was deeply saddened Representative for Local Chapters grand compadre in this (then) obscure to learn of Barney's passing. and Affiliate Groups dance of indigenous vanguard music­ N Membership Chair That stark reality is cause to David Vayo, he was miles ahead and I admired his give us pause to contemplate our own Illinois Wesleyan University work before I even knew anything about ~yron Petty, mortality, but more important, to reflect it. Independent Composer Representative on the life of this very special man. To say We met in San Francisco in 1966 at Thomas Wells, that Barney had a dynamic personality is a shindig Larry Austin produced to Audio Streaming Project Manager a bit of an understatement. It is clear that celebrate the premier publication of Ohio State University anyone who came in contact with him Gerald Warfield, General Manager Source Magazine. The shindig continued was strongly affected. That he was a Martin Gonzalez, Executive Secretary 100 miles east to Davis: the drive was in Concluded on pg. 7 The SCI Newsletter XXX.1 Page 3 Competitions, Grants and Calls ______

The following listings are condensed and may not Big Ten Band Commission information about the Indianapolis have complete information. You are encouraged Deadline: April 1 Symphony Orchestra visit the Orchestra' to contact the sponsoring organizations directly website at www.indyorch. Please contac1 / for submission guidelines, particularly if anony­ The concert bands of the Big Ten Linda Noble at: (317) 262-4907 or: mous submission is required. Universities willawarda$5000commission [email protected] for further for a new 7 to 15 minute work for standard information. Southeastern Composers concert band. Submit: scores of two sample Competition and Forum pieces; cassette or CD recordings (MIDI Kidsing 2000 Composer's Competition Deadline: March 27 (postmark) accepted but live performances preferred); Deadline: April 1 resume; list of recent performances. Sample Fee: $15 per song Judges decision will be made by May 5, scores need not be band or wind ensemble 2000. Composers are invited to submit no compositions, but large ensemble MontessoriParentsCooperativeforChildren more than two works, 15 minutes long or compositions are encouraged. Send all invites submissions for the KidSing 2000 less, for any combination of the following materials to: Craig Kirchhoff, Director of Composer' s Competition. Submit new or instruments or voice, not to exceed 16 Bands, School of Music, University of previouslypublishedsongsinthecategories musicians: String quintet, brass quintet, flute, Minnesota, 2106 4th street South, of"Inspirational" and "General." Songs must oboe, clarinet, 2 pianos, 8 voices Minneapolis, MN 55455. include some vocal elements which can be (SSAATTBB) Electroacoustic works will performed by children (solo or two part also be considered, as long as the composer Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra harmony for any of K-6 grades). Optional is prepared to provide the performers and Deadline: April 1 (postmark) instrumentation (for adults or children to playback equipment required, should the perform) may include pf, synth, gtr, fl, vn, score be accepted for performance. This The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra vc, and any percussion instrument easily competition is open to composers from the (Raymond Leppard, Music Director) availablewithinschoolsandchurches(such following Southeastern States: Maryland, announces the Marilyn K. Glick Young as congas, spoons, kazoos, maracas, etc.). West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Composers Showcase. Selection Criteria: All finalists will be performed at a concert at South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Composer Qualification: age 25 or under; the Rose Theatre for Young People in Washington, D.C. Submissions must be Maximum Duration: six minutes; Maximum Omaha, Nebraska. Prizes in each category: written legibly in ink or computer processed Ensemble: 3-3-J-3~ 4-3-3-=..1,.. timp_± 3 perc.,_$..lODD.,..$500,..and..$25.0, plus.an.invitation t and·freefrormmy TITirrk~ that wcmlciidem:ify - hP,- piano/c-eleste, strings. Pieces are be promoted on a cas.sette tape to ~e the composer to the judges; three paper especially sought that divert, inspire, touch, distributed to local pn vate and pubhc copies must .be submitted, one for each or amuse, and above all, communicate. schools. For application form, contact: Mary judge, and one for the Diehn Composers Composer Benefits: Work to be rehearsed Kay Mueller, Co-Chair, KidSing 2000, PO Room. Identity of the winning co~poser &performedbythelndianapolisSymphony Box 6470, Omaha, NE 68106-0470, te~ . will not be revealed, even to the judges, Orchestra on the 2000-2001 Roche (402)558-7764,fax(402)556-3837,e-mail until the day of the performance. Diagnostics Classical Series. Travel & [email protected], web Compositions must not have been previously accommodations to attend rehearsals and www .marykaymueller.com/kidsing/. published, or awarded or selected for performances. A copy of a restricted-use previous prize. Compositions must be archival tape of the performances of the Midwest Composers' Forum accompanied by a separate envelope piece. Parts will be professionally prepared Call For Scores Deadline: containing the composer's biography and by the Orchestra. Selections of pieces to be April 7, 2000 (Postmark) program notes to be used for a printed performed will be announced on June 15, program if the composition wins. Winning 2000. Submission of Materials: Send one Composers residing in Illinois, Indiana, compositions will be performed and clean, legible, unbound, single-sided COPY Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and recorded at Chandler Recital Hall, Diehn of the score. Title and composer's name Ohio are encouraged to submit scores to be Fine & Performing Arts Building, Old should appear on the first page of music. considered for a performance on the Midwest Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, June Each subsequent page should have a page Composers' Forum at the 34th Annual 24, 2000, with possible publication by ODU number and the title or its abbreviation in Contemporary Music Festival at Indiana Libraries. Winners will be announced the one of the comers. Scores to be returned State University, Friday, October 27, 2000. day of performance. Judges decisions are should include a self-addressed, stamped Selected composers will receive a $100 final. Send all submissions to: Southeastern envelope. Enclose a brief biography or travel stipend. Previous winners from the Composers Symposium, attn: Karen resume,includingcurrentaddressandphone past three years (1996) are ineligible. Meizner, Diehn Composers Room, Diehn number. Send materials to: Linda Noble, Application Materials: One full score with Fine & Performing Art, Rm. 189, Old Marilyn K. Glick Young Composers the composer's social security number Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529- Showcase, Indianapolis Symphony placed in the upper right hand comer of the ~ 0186 e-mail: [email protected], phone: Orchestra, 45 Monument Circle, manuscript. The composer's name must not (757) 683-4175; fax: (757) 683-4175. web: Indianapolis, IN 46204-2919. For more appear anywhere on the score. A cassette http://www.lib.odu.edu/music Page4 The SCI Newsletter XXX: 1 tape or compact disc recording of the unperformed score under 20 minutes long The International New Music corresponding score (if available) with the for orchestra (2222-2211-timp, 2 perc, hrp, Consortium Composition Competition composer's social security number and title kybd, str 6-6-4-4-2). Concertos and works Deadline: May 1 (receipt) of composition affixed to the cassette or for string orchestra will be considered, but ,om pact disc. Composer's name, address, not small ensembles. Fee: $30. Prize: $3000 Composers of all ages and nationalities may telephone number, biography, and program and possible performance. Submit two submit unpublished works up to 10 minutes notes in a sealed envelope labeled with the copies of the score, identified only with long in one of three categories: solo composer's social security number. All your Social Security number, and $10 instrument; solo instrument with tape, CD, performance parts must accompany each handling fee if you wish score to be returned. or DAT; and tape, CD, or DAT of a fully submission unless the composer is supplying For complete information and entry form, electronic or computer work. Instruments the performers. Entrants will be notified of contact: Omaha Symphony Guild, c/o Nancy available are: fl (picc, alto fl, bass fl); Bb cl; the results of the call for scores by May 1, Szalay, 13505 Parker Street, Omaha, NE sax (SATB); pf; perc; vn; vc. Prizes: $250in 2000. Incomplete entries will not be 68154, e-mail [email protected], each category, performance in June, and considered. Address to: Daniel McCarthy, web http://www.omahasymphony.org. recording of the performance. Fee: $25 first Co-chair ISU Contemporary Music Festival submission, $20 each additional, payable to Call for Scores, Midwest Comosers' Forum Young Composers Awards 2000 "INMC Inc." and marked "for the INMC Department of Music Indiana State April 15 (Postmark) Competition." Submit: score and parts; tape, University Terre Haute, IN 47809, tel. 812- Fee:$5 if needed for performance; performance 237-2795. recording if available; short bio; fee; 4" by National Guild of Community Schools of 6" photo; and SASE. Send materials to: International Clarinet Association the Arts and The Hartt School, University of INMC Composition Competition, Attn.: Ms. Deadline: April 10 (postmark) Hartford, announce Young Composers Young-Mi Ha, New York University, A wards 2000, recognizing exceptional Composition Program, 35 West 4th Street, The International Clarinet Association creative ability and designed to encourage Suite 777D, New York, NY 10003. announces its eighth Annual Composition young people to write music. The Competition. Composers of all ages may competition is open to students who are 14th Annual Young submit newly composed duets for clarinet residents of the United States and Canada. Composers Competition (any size) and piano, clarinet and harp, There are two categories: ages 13-15 (as of Deadline: May 15 (postmark) clarinet and guitar, clarinet and mallet June 30, 2000) and ages 16-18 (as of June percussion, clarinet and voice, or clarinet 30, 2000). Each category will award two This competition is open to student and any acoustic wind or string instrument. prizes:- Senior, $1,000 and $500; Junior, composers who are citizens or permanent Entries should be unpublished, not $500 and $250. A special prize of $1 ,000 residents of the U.S. and enrolled in commercially recorded, and at least 7 will be awarded in either the senior or junior accredited secondary schools, colleges, or minutes long. Prize: $2,000 and performance category for a chamber music composition, conservatories of music, or engaged in at the 2000 ClarFest at the University of defined as a work for at leasttwo instruments private study with recognized teachers. Oklahoma in Norman, OK. Send score (parts and intended to be performed by one • Applicants must not have reached their 30th optional) and cassette (no MIDI) to the performer per part. Student composers must birthday by May 15. Composers may submit address listed below. Scores must be labeled notbeenrolledin an undergraduateprogram one 4-15 minute long work scored for any with typed composer's name, address, e­ when they apply. Applicants must be combination of the following: fl, cl, hn, tpt, mail, telephone number, and date of enrolled in a public or private secondary pf, perc, gtr, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone. composition (biography optional). All copies school, in a recognized musical institution, Other instrumental combinations will be of scores and tapes will be deposited at the or be engaged in the private study of music considered, but a performance cannot be ICA Research Center, a repository of clarinet withanestablished teacher.Nocompositions guaranteed. Prizes: $600, $300, $100. The research items housed at the University of will be considered without certification by first prize winner will be performed during Maryland Performing Arts Library. For the applicant's teacher, as set out on the the 2000-2001 season of the Dimensions further information contact: Prof. Michele reverse side of the entry blank. Each Contemporary Music Series at Austin Peay Gingras, Chair, ICA Composition applicant may submit only one work for State University. Submit: anonymous score Competition, Department of Music, Miami consideration. Four copies of the work must identified with a pseudonym; letter University, Oxford, OH, 45065, tel. (513) be submitted, with a check for the entrance containing the pseudonym and composer's 529-3071, fax (513) 529-3027, e-mail fee made payable to The Hartt School. The name, address, and telephone number; tape [email protected]. composer's name must not appear on the if available. Send scores to: Dr. Jeffrey composition submitted. Manuscripts must Wood, Young Composers Competition for Omaha Symphony Guild 2000 be identified with a pseudonym. All entries 2000, Department of Music, Austin Peay International New Music Competition and inquiries should be addressed to: State University, Clarksville, TN 37044, e­ Deadline: April 15 (postmark) Michael Yaffe, Director, The Hartt School mail woodj @apsu.edu. Fee: $30 Community Division, University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Composers who will be 25 or older as of Hartford CT 06117, tel. (860) 7 68-4451, e- the deadline may submit one unpublished, mail [email protected] The SCI Newsletter XXX: 1 Page5 •

Cyberslag Foundation New England String Classical Guitar Competition Open Electronic Festival Ensemble Competition July 15 Deadline: May 31 Deadline: June 1 Fee:$25 The Permanent Committee for the Promotion The Third Annual Open Electronic Festival of the "Michele Pittaluga" Internationa to be held in December, 2000, will be a Composers are invited to submit a several­ Guitar Competition, Premio Citta di multiple-day event featuring electronic movement work for string orchestra of 12- Alessandria, is organizing the 4th music and media art in Groningen, The 25 minutes in length. Special consideration International "Michele Pittaluga" Netherlands. The music director of the will be given to works that tie into New Composition Competition for Classical Cyberslag Foundation seeks submissions in England historical themes, specifically, Guitar. Held as a tribute to the founder of the the following genres: works for tape; electro­ using the folk music of New England prestigious Alessandria event, Dr. Michele acoustic music; acousmatic music; live immigrants from early years to the present. Pittaluga, the aim of this contest is to increase electronic music; techno and other dance­ Prizes: $500, $300, and $200. The first­ the contemporary repertoire of this oriented music; musique concrete; place composition will be performed in the instrument. For more information, contact: soundscapes; multimedia works; and February, 2001 NESE concert program. The Comitato Promotore del Concorso di improvised music with electronics. To composer of the winning piece will be invited Chitarra Classica "Michele Pittaluga", submit recordings (CD, tape, MD, vinyl, to the Boston area to take part in a number Piazza Garibaldi 16, 15100 Alessandria VHS pal/ntsc) and biographies, or for more of workshops at local secondary schools. (Italia), tel. 0039-0131-25.12.07, fax 0039- information, contact: Cyberslag Foundation, Expenses and compensation will be 0131-23 .55 .07, e-mail Jeroen de Boer/music director, provided. Send score, bio, and fee to: New [email protected], web: http:// Munnekeholm 10, 9711 JA Groningen, The England String Ensemble, NESE www.pittaluga.org. Netherlands, tel. 0031 (0)50-3637513, fax Composition Competition, PO Box 2012, 0031 (0)50-3632209, e-mail Wakefield, MA 01880, tel./fax (781) 224- 2000 Jazz Composers Alliance/Julius [email protected], web http:// 1117, e-mail [email protected], web Hemphill Composition A wards www .cyberslag.com/. http://www.nese.net. August 1 (Postmark) Fee:$20 International Musical Composition North/South Consonance Prize Contest "Queen Marie Jose," June 1 (Postmark) The Jazz Composers Alliance is pleased to Deadline: May 31 Fee: $25 announce that its annual Jazz Composition contest, the Julius Hemphill Composition The-"Queen Marie-fose" International Pl'i-ze North/South eonsonarrce, Inc~ is a non­ - A wards, is now in its eighth year. AL for Musical Composition is designed to profit organization devoted to the promotion composers are eligible to enter; the emphasis reward a work that already has been created and performance of music by living is on emerging composers. There are two and recorded. All composers are invited to composers. The concerts take place at categories, Jazz Orchestra (9 pieces or submit works for string quartet and important spaces throughout New York City larger), and Small Groups (1 -8 Instruments chromatic-concert accordion or string quartet and other locations in New York State. Ah or voices). The winning Jazz Orchestra and bandoneon. The submitted works should open search for compositions to be featured composition will be performed by the JCA not have been published, performed, or in the 2000-2001 season is currently being Orchestra. $1250 will be split between the broadcast prior to the end of Nov., 2000. conducted. Of the compositions top three composers in each category, and The works must be between 12 and 25 recommended for performance, one will music software, worth up to $500, donated minutes. The duration must be indicated on possibly be selected for recording on a CD by Mark Of The Unicorn, will go to six the score. Two scores must be submitted album issued by the North/South Recordings finalists. To enter, composers must submit a anonymously and accompanied by a sealed label. All composers are invited to submit score and cassette tape (for the small group envelope marked with the same motto as the works scored for any solo instrument or for category, a score or a lead sheet as scores and recording (if available). The mixed chamber ensembles up to a maximum appropriate). Composer's name on score sealed envelope must contain the composers of 15 performers (voice, percussion and/or should be removed or covered. Cassettes name, nationality, date and place of birth, electronic means are acceptable). A brief should be labeled with title only. Include address, telephone number, short c.v., and a biographical sketch and a cassette recording name, address and phone number, ensemble/ photograph of the composer. When of the work (ifavailable) should accompany recording info, a resume or brief bio, and a submitting materials, be sure not to break the score. Please indicate if the work is check, made payable to the Jazz Composers anonymity. If possible, the organizers will registered with ASCAP, BMI or other Alliance. Multiple entries must be submitted arrange a performance of the winning work performing rights agency. A current address under separate cover, with separate fee. Do in cooperation with Radio Suisse Roman de. and telephone number should also be not put multiple entries on the same tape. For complete contest rules, contact: Queen included. Composers wishing their materials The composition should be the first selection Marie Jose International Prize for Musical returned should include a self-addressed on side I of the tape. There is no duration Composition 2000, Radio Suisse Romande, stamped envelope. For more information, limit, but no more than eight minutes will be ~ Studio de Geneve, 66, boulevard Carl-Vogt, contact: North /South Consonance, Inc., PO played on initial listening. Specify if and Ch-1211Geneve8, Switzerland, web http:/ Box 698 Cathedral Station New York, NY what type noise reduction was used. Multiple /mus.unige.CH/prixrmj. 10025-0698 entries are limited to three per category. Page 6 The SCI Newsletter XXX: 1 "I

Cash prize winners from the previous year "Barney Childs" - continued from pg. 3 BC are not eligible. Include SASE if you wish consummate musician and a dedicated, materials to be returned. Inquiries and entries talented teacher is a given. It was his n high school, I heard my first live should be mailed to: Jazz Composers personality-at once warm and affable, I "new music" performance-Barney's Alliance, Box 491, Allston MA 02134, e­ as well as crusty and curmudgeonly, that fifth wind quintet. Around that time, mail: [email protected]. comes to mind in conjuring up an image I also stumbled upon his "Jack's New of Barney. On several of my tours I had Bag" score and a recording of a couple of CALLS FOR WORKS WITHOUT the privilege of sharing hotel rooms with his wind duos (not easily found items in DEADLINES him as well as his home. I came away late-sixties Indiana polis). Perhaps with, in addition to the aroma of cigar friendship was inevitable. Librettist Seeks Composer smoke in my clothing, a feeling of having I met Barney in Chicago in '74. After A screenwriter and novelist with fifteen been with a special, unique individual. we exchanged a few letters (BC's bristling years professional writing experience seeks So many vignettes of our association with humor and excitement about music a composer for a libretto based on the life come to mind. On one occasion after a and just about everything else), in '75, I and works of Michael Lermontov, one of performance in Toronto, I drove Barney drove out to Redlands, California, to Russia's greatest poets. Contact: Peter J. back to the U.S. At the border crossing, study with him. Thus Barney aided my Bartels, 48 W. 6th St. #2, Bayonne, NJ I made the mistake of telling the customs escape from the Midwest (every 07002, tel. (201 ) 436-5726, e-mail official that we were musicians. They Midwestern adolescent's dream) to the [email protected]. promptly pulled us over and spent several Wild West. hours searching the entire car for the In Redlands stood the legendary Librettist Seeks Composer illicit drugs we were bound to be carrying "Hartzel Hilton" (BC's modest tract A librettist who has been working in the while we sat idly by wasting our day. house with a backyard that drifted into a industry for over 25 years seeks a composer Needless to say, all that was found was now-lost orange grove)-usually as for collaboration on a new opera entitled Barney's cigar stash. The remainder of smoke-filled as a B-movie nightclub. "The Last Farm." For information, contact: the trip was quite entertaining as I was There, on and off for the next 25 years, Patricia Smith, Box 88, Haslet, TX 76052, regaled Barney's colorful reactions to the we sat and chatted about pretty much home tel. (817) 439-4820, work tel. (972) official's demeanor, and my faux pas of anything (often music) and spun 761-7117, mobile tel. (preferred) (817) 909- admitting to being a musician. (On recordings to amuse or enchant. And, of 4820, e-mail [email protected]. subsequent trips, I have always been a course, Barney fired off his marvelous "Professor"). Barney was indeed a aphorisms, glass of bourbon and potent Journees D'informatique Musicale wonderful man-a colorful character cigar in hand. The Joumees d'Informatique Musicale is who brightened our lives. He will be What can I say here? As kind as he an annual meeting ofresearch ers in computer sorely missed by his many dedicated was thorny? As open as he was biased? music and musicians who use the computer friends. As serious as he was unwilling to succumb as a means of expression or as a tool for F. Gerard Errante is a clarinetist/ to The Serious? Awash and delighted in composition. This year, the seventh edition composer teaching at Norfolk Stat e contradictions-perhaps because of this meeting will occur May 15-18 at University in Norfolk, Virginia. through them one approaches something Bordeaux. JIM 2000 is now requesting very like the truth (whatever that might papers and musical works to be submitted hen I came to Barney as a be). for review. For more information: http:// W student in 1978, I brought And Barney was motion-and that www.scrime.u-bordeaux.fr/JIM2000. him several pieces that were might define American art (whatever that very long and had very few notes. He ~ight be). Jim Fox The Carome Trio suggested I write a very short piece with The Carome Trio is a newly formed music a lot of notes. I went home and wrote a ack in the early 1980s when I was group consisting of a mezzosoprano/ piano solo for the right hand alone. This Ba graduate student at the narrator, tuba, and Piano. Performing piece proved to be the basis of my musical University of Miami, I had the mainly in England and Sweden, they are style for the next 20 years. great fortune to have a work performed seeking compositions that may include all W e shared a fondness for at the SCI (then ASUC) National three members or part of the trio. for more Connecticut Valley Cigars and the slow Conference held at Louisiana State information contact: Robert Augustsson, 5/ movements of certain Schubert Sonatas. University. At that time I was still very 29 Cathcart Hill, N19 5QN London, His oeuvre contained many much trying to find a way to express ENGLAND e-mail: [email protected]. marvelous gems, ranging from the lyric myself searching for a musical language to the dramatic to the "god knows what". that was not like everyone else's while I'll miss him. hoping to somehow still contribute to Michael Jon Fink lives just outside of the music world as a composer. After the Los Angeles and teaches composition Have you considered becoming performance of my work at the conference at the California Institute of the Arts. (a trio for soprano, clarinet, and piano), a lifetime member of SCI? an older long haired, extremely bohemian looking gentleman walked up to me and The SCI Newsletter XXX: 1 Page 7 told me that my work was the freshest this word?" "Per-jor-a-tive." he t was up at Big Bear that Barney and piece of music he had heard in years. answered. I immediately felt as if he were I I developed The Toast Game. We When I later found out that this gentleman a source for any information I might were staying with Virginia was none other than Barney Childs, a seek. Anderson's friend Candy at her summer man who I had known about and deeply With time growing short, I had three lakeside cabin. One day, after a respected from reading articles, other things to ask him. He had answered prolonged breakfast - the previous textbooks, reviewing his scores, etc., my two, after which he suddenly got up and evening's drinking had been good and level of commitment to the art form and left, apparently bothered. long - Barney and I went and sat in my determination to contribute increased But at a good turnout, there he was deckchairs and looked out over the lake. even more. Barney's support, beginning in the front row . I felt his encouragement A set of darts lay idly by a tree where that day and continuing as we met at throughout as he nodded and laughed at they had been left since the day before. other conferences and often all the right parts. Candy came out with some leftover toast corresponded, was extremely important At the conclusion, he clapped the and threw it out for the birds. It lay a to me as a young composer. Our soonest and loudest as if demanding that few yards from us. One of us, I don't conversations on everything from the others should follow. He let out an remember who, picked up a dart and aesthetics to performance practices were uncharacteristic whoop, though maybe threw it in a desultory fashion at the invaluable as I evolved as a composer. A not so for him. toast. It missed. The other of us retrieved few years after our first meeting and I never saw him again. Those short the dart, returned to the deckchair, and shortly after completing my graduate moments are amplified in my mind and threw in similar manner. It missed again. studies, Barney presented me with one of seem to have lasted much longer. The too Thus did we spend a lazy hour or two, my first commissions, something I will brief encounter touched me greatly. quietly nursing our hangovers, chatting always remember and be grateful for. Andrew Celt is semi-retired and a about Life, the Universe and Everything, Barney Childs' unselfishness, his concern professional woodwind performer in while aimlessly flicking darts at a piece for young composers, and his devotion the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area. of burnt toast. and contributions to contemporary music Christopher H obbs' soon-to-he­ wereandtothisdayremainaninspiration M y first impressions of Dr. re/eased CD on Black Box will include for me and numerous others. I feel Barney Childs were clouded clarinetist Ian Mitchell and feature extremely fortunate to have known such by the confusion typical of Barney's 'Edge of the World'. a positive, devoted, and concerned human the mind of a college freshman. I thought being. him odd, but this soon turned, to the arney Childs was a quintessential Orlando Jacinto Garcia is a Professor- realization- that he was the driving force B American artist and intellectual. of Music Composition, Florida behind some of the most interesting He relished his position as an International University in Miami. musical events on campus. His New o utsider, looking in and goading Music Ensemble was adventurous, and establishment types to be as intellectually THANKS, BAD Boy he had access to pieces that stretched the responsible and honest as he was. He hile at Temple University, my mind and the limits of technique. As I was strongest in an adversarial role.Woe W second year of teaching, I was joined the Ensemble and spent more time to the SCI conference presenter speaking selected to give a presentation with him, his intellect seem ed in Barney's presence with less than at a Society of Composers, Inc. N ational intimidating, but he was always willing ironclad logic, or w h o sp o k e Conference. I believe it was at M emphis to work with his students. H e could be prescriptively about what kind of music State. scathing in his denunciations, but he also one should write or value, or who glibly Still horribly unprepared, I was in was unsparing in his support. assumed that American music represents the copy room, when in walked a man As the years passed, I would like to an ~xt ens i on of European cultural values! with substantial presence. I recognized think we became good friends. H e Barney wrote a tremendous amount him from a picture in David Cope's book. introduced me to ASUC/SCI and many of music, in a vast variety of styles. His H e wore no name tag. of the members. H e took pleasure in my compositions were widely played for "Do you need to use this?" I asked. improving performing ability, which had some time but are now heard less often. "No." He said, having a seat at a big its roots in the unbelievably difficult This is a shame, because some of them white round table behind me, seeming to scores which he procured. During the are quite wonderful. He traversed many want to rest, away from the crowd. 70's and 80's, his home was the epicenter compositional methods, including a "I'm doing a presentation o n of a group of interesting folk, many of healthy amount of indeterminacy, which eclecticism." I said. whom have contributed to serious music gave him the unjustified reputation as "Good! I'm glad SOMEONE'S doing in diverse ways. Barney will always be not being very musical. In fact, he had an something on eclecticism!" he said. remembered as a source of wonderful excellent ear, and the music in which he I felt honored and asked if he would tales, a witty host, and an intellectual used it, such as the concert band work attend, though didn't expect so, as there giant of the first magnitude. The Golden Shore, can be very beautiful. were four other things going on during David Hatt, Assistant Cathedral I hope that his music will be studied and ' - that time slot. Organist St. Mary's Cathedral, performed, because there are some real I asked, "H ow do you pronounce San Francisco. gems that deserve to be kept alive. Page 8 The SCI Newsletter XXX: 1 Barney's egalitarianism is evident in and genius. But aside from his comments allowed you to unpack first, and then his prose. Just open to any page of his about American music, literature, and played you their own music. many articles, and you w ill find culture, there is one very personal section Memories of visits to Redlands quotations from major authors next to where he talks about his connection to abound. The occasion he persuaded me : citations of unknowns, extracts from place and to the land of the Southwest-a to rise in time for an open-air concert by important publications (usually literary) connection that is reflected in the rhythms the Paris of the West Bassoon Quartet, at next t o excerp ts from private and silences of his music. dawn (the ironic name for Redlands was correspondence, or discussions of Barney was a master teacher who "the Paris of the West"). The evening we compositions known to everyone next to brought music alive and never spoke spent smoking cigars, drinking Scotch those seemingly known to only Barney from notes. After many rehearsals of the and watching Spaghetti Westerns on and their composers. Yet Barney treated Redlands New Music Ensemble, we met television, getting more and more them all with equal seriousness and at his house to listen to music and to hysterical as the films became more respect. drink some of the most rot-gut bourbon ludicrous. The way the area around his H e was particularly helpful to other I've ever had while inhaling the smoke house changed-the walk to the composers, offering commissions, from that ever-present but never-quite­ University campus was through orange performances, recordings (through fully-consumed cigar. groves when I first visited, and through a Advance Records), and recommendations Of all of his pieces that I know, A large estate of identikit "little boxes" to performers. He usually favored the music; that it might be ... made the most when I was there last, a metamorphosis unknown, the promising, and the unjustly lasting impression on me. This work is a that greatly saddened him. The fact that neglected, and in many cases he made a masterpiece, not because tradition, critics, for the first few days of my first visit my noticeable difference to someone's career. or musicologists have decreed it to be a view from the front door was of the Barney attended almost every national masterpiece, but for the quality and depth houses opposite-I didn't realise, until SCI, from its inception until his decline in of its feeling. Although he would hate to the smog suddenly cleared about the health in recent years. During these hear me say this, Barney was a genius­ fourth day, that there was a range of high conferences, he was at just about every not a genius in the sense of the heroic, mountains almost within touching concert, a record no one else came close misunderstood, suffering, neglected, and distance. Barney making "Sun Tea," to matching. impoverished 19th-century artist. His was which involved leaving a large jug of Perhaps Barney's greatest strength true genius-the ability to see and express water, including tea, in the sun for a few was in continually challenging people to the extraordinary in life when looking at hours. Barney trying to get rid of some examine and re-examine their beliefs. I the commonplace in the world around pestilential gophers in his lawn by ? hope that we will continue to ask us. destroying them with what he described ourselves the difficult kinds of questions Best wishes to you my friend as "gopher bombs" (without a great deal Barney used to challenge us all to A life; that it might be .... of success, much to his amusement). confront. I will deeply miss having him Barney coming back immediately with a around to goad us into doing so. Jerry McBride is Music Librarian at source of an obscure 18th century English Jonathan D. Kramer, Middlebury College and formerly literary quotation I'd asked him about. Columbia University, New York Archivist of the Arnold Schoenberg Hours spent in talking about desert Institute at USC. landscapes, which fascinated both of us. A FEW DISJOINTED REMINISCENCES He was a non-pareil. I suspect he MEMORIES OF BARNEY CHILDS could be difficult with people he didn't yone who wants to know Barney like, and certainly intolerant of narrow A Childs and his music should read arney was one of the most minds, but to the rest of the world he was is keynote address to the 1974 B gen erous colleagues supportive, constructive, and generous. ASUC conference published in imaginable-he always We will all miss him. Proceedings as "Some Anniversaries." promoted other people's music before John M cCabe, Southall, The speech was drafted on a bus ride his own, and was a great encourager of Middlesex, England through the Imperial Valley on a Redlands young composers. It was, indeed, difficult band tour. I vividly remember that tour­ sometimes to get him to play his own n our first meeting, Barney, my the intensity of the sunshine on a late music to you, or persuade him to let you 0 family, and our mutual friend January day illuminating a vast open have a copy of something you might play Virginia Anderson, were able desert with lonely cottonwoods and (or get played). I remember once arriving to eat, drink and recline in our garden on mesquite spreading to the horizon at his home in Hartzell Avenue (referred balmy summer's day- a rarity for rimmed with mountains and glinting off to by him as the Hartzell Hilton), to be England. It was in '87. Later that year we tiny shards of broken glass bordering the given immediately a large glass of performed together in a concert of his highway. There is Barney, speaking about bourbon and sat down to listen to an music at Goldsmiths College. I organized all of the things he taught us to value and admittedly magnificent two-piano five clarinet students to perform 0 f place, disdain in music-respect for our own composition by one of his friends. "You as altered, and Barney and I did his American musical heritage and distrust gotta hear this," he said, and it was well Sunshine Lunchh, & like matters (1 984). of the concepts of the musical masterpiece worth it- but most people would have I have often wanted to perform this The SCI Newsletter XXX: 1 Page 9 since-I love the bass clarinet writing that he was right. Few people have been many. Barney Childs could be and its friction with the other performer's capable of seeing where I was going any transformed from a ground-breaking, doings-but I can't get his voice and better than Barney. innovative creative artist one moment, movements, including hitting the cymbal Among Barney's many one liners, to a supporting player in a John Wayne (just!), out of my mind whenever I look four are favorites and have remained western movie the next, or an Oxford at the piece. Somehow it wouldn't be the with me, directly influencing my own don, or a brilliant public speaker, or a '­ same without him alongside. Perhaps composing and teaching: thoroughly professional no-nonsense someday ... "A composer never intentionally copy editor. He had a weatherbeaten We met just once more, when he writes a wrong note." face but a poet's hands and fingers. came to De Montfort University, where "Composing is easy - just write one Although his surface demeanor was I worked, in '94. He was quite unwell, good sound after another." cynical, often testy and curmudgeonly, but somehow summoned up all his During a rehearsal, he stopped the he was also a remarkably supportive energies for his talk, which was delivered ensemble and screamed at the pianist, colleague, a sensitive, sympathetic ear, in typically laconic style, with side swipes "What are you doing over there, and the most loyal of friends. I remember at all sorts of things, pulling you up short hammering nails?" the gifts he would send, for no apparent as you realized he had hit another musical "An eraser is a composer's best reason other than the desire to give pomposity right on the head. friend." pleasure: a box of cigars, a jar of hot chili My musical memories can be Cheers BC! peppers, a record album. He may have encapsulated in three of his pieces I play: Phillip Schroeder, Sam Houston seemed the quintessential loner, leery of the poignant and sensitive Sleep, and State University, Texas institutions and establishments. But he then going on .. . his poetic background dedicated the greater part of his shining through the music; the arney Childs and I first met in the professional life to the University of unfathomableness of The Word from B summer of 1962 (or perhaps '63) Redlands (where he taught) and the Department R; and the out front energy at the Bennington Composers Society of Composers, Inc. (where his and inventiveness of The Edge of the Conference in Vermont. He was one of contributions over many decades are World. I was delighted that he heard my the most outsize personalities I had ever legendary). recording of this before he died, and I encountered: brash, irreverent, bright, He was a very special human being, offer it as my memorial to a wonderful wonderfully articulate, and an anomaly one whose life (and work) influenced musical maverick. at Bennington-in part because he was many other lives-and he will be greatly Ian Mitchell, an English clarinetist, is concerned with issues of chance, missed. Director of the chamber ensemble performer-choice and controlled group Elliott Schwartz, Bowdoin College Gemini and Lecturer in Music improvisation while virtually everyone Performance at Exeter University, else there was a hard-edged post­ IN MEMORIAM BARNEY CHILDS England. Webernian, and in part because he was (assertively, almost defiantly) a Wes tern er have just returned from an incredible ·3 arney was a good friend. He marooned in New England. His lack of I weekend at Redlands University (Jan. helped me with thinking in certain interest in the "mysterious east" (his 28-29), where "A Series of Concerts ways in my career and in life in term for any part of the United States and Lectures Celebrating the general, and there are a number of others, that was not west of the Mississippi) was Establishment of the Barney Childs Music students and colleagues, that I know exceeded only by his dismissal of the Archive at the Armacost Library," would say, and have said, the same thing. European high-modernist avant-garde. organized mostly by Phillip Rehfeldt, His 160 ("or so") compositions constitute Boulez and Stockhausen meant very little was presented. Over fifty of Barney's a remarkable legacy, often revealing a to Barney; his real heroes were the rugged­ works were performed live, and wonderful sense of humor and always individualist composers of this continent, recordings of another dozen or so were revealing an exceptionally fertile mind. many of them rooted in the American played in lectures devoted to various Phillip Rehfeldt, University of West as he was. aspects of his music. Though Barney had Redlands, California But this was only one side of the been seriously ill for some time, we all paradoxical Barney. He wore his hoped he would be around for the • • began studying with Barney while scholarly hat-his Stanford doctorate in concerts, but Alas, it was not to be. [He going through my own "Second English, his Rhodes Scholarship, his passed away on the afternoon of Jan. • •Viennese Period." Little did I initially "other life" as published poet and literary 11.) know that this aesthetic ran counter to editor-very lightly. On various The festival, of course, became the anything he deemed relevant. Seldom occasions, however-giving a guest memorial retrospective tribute he would was anything said about it, until, after lecture to an upper-level English class at not have sanctioned had he been writing what he and most others thought my college, for instance, or delivering a consulted about its true purpose. was a fairing good 12-tone piece, Barney paper at an SCI conference-that other Nonetheless, the Armacost Library at simply suggested, "Well, I think you've Barney would appear, revealed as an Redlands will indeed become the'--­ learned all you can from that." It took erudite, first-class scholar. (But never an repository of a treasure-trove of his me another year or so to fully understand academic!) The paradoxes were, in fact, manuscripts, sketches, articles, notes, Page JO The SCI Newsletter XXX: I poems, publications, recordings, and to be "real poker." He was a fixture in Bamey Childs other memorabilia. our quondam San Diego games and is (b. 1926 - d. 2000) The performances, a labor of love famous locally for having once drawn a Barney Childs was born in Spokane, and tribute by his former students, pat hand of four Aces plus the Bug (a 5th Washington, February 13, 1926; he moved with : friends, and colleagues, were uniformly Ace) in a Draw Poker game of Low-Ball, his family to Palo Alto, California, in 1939. He of high quality, and an especially moving called in desperation after several earned a B.A. from the University of Nevada, a note was struck by his daughter Dirje desultory rounds of rotten hands. The B.A. and M .A. in English language and literature Childs Smith, who ended one concert rafters are still reverberating from the as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, and a with a beautiful performance of Barney's expletives, which Barney generally turned Ph.D. in English and music from Stanford recently rediscovered Music for Cello­ into his own idiosyncratic spoonerisms, University, where he was a fellow in poetry and creative writing. As a composer, Childs was a work she had never played for him such as "I'm in sheep dit," or "I'll be largely self-taught until the early 1950s, when he before. shipped in dit," or "This hand isn't worth studied at Tanglewood with Carlos Chaves and The scope of Barney's output is frog pucky." Aaron Copland and in New York with Elliott staggering. There are some 160 works in My introduction to him came in my Carter. By the late'5 Os, his works were performed his catalog, and though I have known sophomore year in college, when he was regularly in New York (including performances at him intimately for over 40 years and coming to town to visit a mutual friend Max Pollikoff' s Music in Our Time series and the thought I knew most of his work, there who thought I should meet him. Music in the Making series) and elsewhere were many pieces performed that were Unfortunately, I was scheduled to be throughout the U.S. new to me, with some real gems among away on tour with one of the ensembles In 1956, he accepted the job as instructor of them. No other composer has explored when he was coming, so I left behind a English (later assistant professor ofEnglish) at the University of Arizona, where he remained until so exhaustively the resources and string quartet I had written the previous 1965, when he became dean of Deep Springs potential in indeterminacy and self­ summer while studying with Wallingford College, (CA). From 1969-71, he was composer generating (or performer-generated Riegger. When I returned I found a five­ in residence (acting dean, 1971) at the Wisconsin structures-not even Cage. And no other page letter waiting for me, discussing my College Conservatory (Milwaukee). In 1971, he composer I know of could be so genuinely quartet in minute critical detail. I was began teaching literature and musicatthe University witty in so many ways in so many pieces. overwhelmed, and this began a life-long of Redlands (CA), becoming a full professor in Barney was a catalyst for many things friendship that resulted in his being a 1973. He was a visiting lecturer at the University in music, a true force majeure to be frequent house-guest, godfather to my of London, Goldsmith College, in 1989. reckoned with. In partnership with Phil daughter, and passenger in my plane to Childs was poetry editor of the journal , Rehfeldt, he obtained grants to SCI conferences and such. Genesis West (1962-65) and an editor of Perspectives ofNew Music. He was the author of commission ovef30 new worl

WHY NOT GO FIRST-CLASS? SENIOR MEMBERSHIP ($25/YR): Open to those 65 years of age or older, or retired. Same First-Class Mail instead of the slower Bulk­ benefits as full members. Rate, send $8 to cover postage and handling for ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP ($25/YR): Open to performers and other interested professionals. one year to the New York Office. Receives the Newsletter and can participate in the national and regional conferences.

ADDRESS LABELS Members of SCI STUDENT MEMBERSHIP ($25/YR): Eligible to submit to regional conferences and receive the Newsletter. may obtain the Society's membership list on pressure-sensitive labels for $30 (half the usual STUDENT CHAPTER MEMBERSHIP ($15/YR): Same benefits as student members, but open price). Write to the New York office, enclosing only on campuses having Student Chapters. your payment. Specify alphabetic or zip code sequence. The list can also be sorted by region. INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP ($25/YR): Organizations receive the Newsletter and other Allow four weeks for delivery. mailings.

LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP ($950 OR $11 O/YR FOR l 0 YEARS): Benefits the same as full PUBLICATIONS include the SCI members, for life. Newsletter, CD Series, Journal of Music Scores, Monograph Series and SCION-the SCI On-line AFFILIATE MEMBERSHIP ($45/YR): Open to members of music organizations that are newsletter. · institutional members of SCI, except libraries and archives. Same benefits as for full members. <[fl The SCI Newsletter Non-profit Organization The Society of Composers, Inc. U. S. postage SCI Editors PAID School of Music The University of Iowa Permit #45 Iowa City, Iowa 52242 Iowa City, IA