Gary Lee Nelson Professor Emeritus Computer Music and New Media Conservatory of Music Oberlin College Oberlin, OH 44074 USA [email protected] www.timara.oberlin.edu/GaryLeeNelson Home address One Woodflower Place Santa Fe, NM 87508 440-522-4278 Personal Information born: Albion, Michigan children: Sarah Benedict, 19 November 1971 Alyce Hardesty, 3 August 1975 Johanna Quigley, 20 June 1977 home: One Woodflower Place Santa Fe, NM 87508 440.522.4278 email: [email protected] www: www.timara.oberlin.edu/garyleenelson Education 1963 Bachelor of Music, music composition and performance (tuba), Youngstown University, Youngstown, Ohio. 1963-1964 Graduate study in music theory, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 1965-1966 Graduate study in electronic and computer music, Institute of Sonology, Utrecht University, Netherlands. 1968 Master of Arts in music composition, Washington University, Saint Louis, Missouri. Summer 1969 Graduate study in electronic and computer music, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. 1974 Doctor of Philosophy in music composition, Washington University in Saint Louis, Gary Lee Nelson Application Materials - 1 Employment Summers 1959-1963 Instructor of Tuba and Music Theory, Allegheny Music Festival, Westminster College, Pennsylvania. 1959-1963 Tuba, Youngstown Philharmonic Orchestra and Akron Symphony, Ohio. Summers 1964, 1967-1968 Instructor of Tuba and Music Theory, New England Music Camp, Oakland, Maine. 1964-1966 Tuba, Toledo Orchestra, Ohio. 1964-1966 Tuba, Het Kunstmaandorkest, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Frequent substitute with Het Concertgebouw Orkest. 1969-1973 Instructor of Music Theory, Music Division, Creative Arts Department, Purdue University. Summer 1970 Visiting Lecturer in Computer Music, Department of Music, Washington University, Saint Louis. 1973-1974 Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition, School of Music, Bowling Green State University. 1974-Present Professor of Electronic and Computer Music, Conservatory of Music, Oberlin College. Director of the Technology in Music and Related Arts (TIMARA) Program, Conservatory of Music, Oberlin College. 1978 Researcher in Computer Music, Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ. 1979 Researcher in Computer Music, Ircam, Paris. Summers 1985-90 Instructor of Music Theory and Composition and Department Chair, National Music Camp, Interlochen, Michigan. August 1979, January 1981, and Academic year 1985-1986 Visiting Professor at the University of Melbourne, Australia and guest researcher in the Computer Music Project that is jointly administered by the faculties of music and computer science. Summer 1991 Visiting Professor of Computer Music, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. January 1993 Visiting Professor of Computer Music, Soo Chow University, Taiwan. 1992-present Fellow of the Center for Art and Technology, Connecticut College Gary Lee Nelson Application Materials - 2 Professional References John M. Chowning Professor of Music, Emeritus Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) Stanford University 4235 MCKellar Lane Palo Alto CA 94306 650-493-9289 [email protected] Paul Lansky William Shubael Conant Professor of Music Princeton University 3 Ziff Lane Princeton Junction NJ 08550 609-799-4248 [email protected] Curtis Roads, Professor Vice chair and Graduate Advisor Media Arts and Technology, joint appointment in Music University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106-606 805-893-2704 [email protected] You may also want to contact the following with regard to my work at Oberlin. David Stull, Dean Conservatory of Music Oberlin College 77 West College Street Oberlin, OH 44074 440-775-8200 [email protected] Tom Lopez, Chair Technology in Music and Related Arts (TIMARA) Conservatory of Music Oberlin College 77 West College Street Oberlin, OH 44074 440-775-8748 [email protected] Gary Lee Nelson Application Materials - 3 Career Narrative I began my musical studies somewhat late at the age of 14 with an interest in both composition and performance. At 17, I accepted a position as tuba player in the Youngstown Philharmonic Orchestra and began undergraduate study at Youngstown State University. During that time I also played regularly as a substitute in the Akron Symphony. During my undergraduate years I taught music theory and tuba at the Allegheny Music Festival and performed in the faculty orchestra with members from the Cleveland, Minnesota, and Philadelphia Orchestras. After graduation from Youngstown in 1963 with degrees in composition and performance, I attended the University of Michigan where I played tuba in the orchestra and served as first chair in the symphonic band under William Revelli. At the same time, I was a member of the Toledo and Winsor, Ontario orchestras and the instrumental ensembles of the Composers Forum and the ONCE Festival where I worked with Roger Reynolds, Alvin Lucier, Eric Dolphy, and Morton Feldman. My composition energies became fully charged in Ann Arbor as a result of exposure to a wide range of new music, particularly the electronic works of Stockhausen, Berio, and Davidovsky. Beginning in the summer of 1964, I taught composition and tuba at the New England Music Camp. I also conducted the “junior” choir and played in the faculty brass quintet. My first full-time professional position in 1964 was as tubaist with Het Kunstmaandorkest of Amsterdam (since renamed the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra). During that time I played as substitute in many Dutch orchestras including the Concertgebouw under Bruno Maderna, Ado De Waart, Pierre Boulez and Willem Haitink. The new music scene in Holland was rich and I immersed myself in performances of experimental music. In 1965, I enrolled part-time at the Institute of Sonology at the University of Utrecht and began my study of electronic and computer music. In 1966, I resigned my position with Het Kunstmaandorkest and returned to the United States to begin graduate studies in composition with Paul Pisk and Robert Wykes at Washington University in St. Louis. During my tenure in St. Louis I developed interests in research and a love for teaching that led me to my present career as a composer in academia. Two works from that period should be mentioned. My “Three Motets on Poems of Daniel Brodsky” won several national competitions and were recorded by the Madrigal Singers of Washington University. My solo flute piece, “Moreso,” was premiered by Michel Debost and later recorded on Opus One. Near the end of my time in St. Louis, I served as tuba player in the St. Louis Symphony brass quintet for Young Audiences concerts. My first university position was at Purdue in 1969 where I was the only teacher of music theory and composition in a very small department. I organized and conducted a chamber orchestra and the "Experimental Music Ensemble." I also established a curriculum in electronic and computer music and began the work in this medium that has occupied me to the present day. At Purdue, I also established a town/gown chamber music program. The highlight of that program was a series of concerts I conducted featuring performances of all of the Bach harpsichord concertos on instruments built and played by local musicians. Near the end of my time at Purdue, I worked again with Pierre Boulez and Max Gary Lee Nelson Application Materials - 4 Matthews as a consultant in the plans to establish a major research center in Paris, later to become known as the Institute for Research and Coordination of Acoustics and Music (IRCAM). In the summer of 1973, I was invited to compose in the Electronic Music Studio of the Swedish Radio in Stockholm and to lecture at the Institute of Sonology in the Netherlands. Upon my return to the USA in September 1973, I took up a position at Bowling Green State University where I established a computer music research program with a development grant from that university. The following year I accepted Oberlin College's offer to become director of the Technology in Music and Related Arts (TIMARA) Program. Oberlin had already established a firm base in electronic and computer music and this move enabled me to take a giant step forward in my research, teaching and creative activities. Since coming to Oberlin in 1974, I have become active in professional organizations concerned with computer music. I deliver papers regularly at meetings of the Society of Composers, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) and at the International Computer Music Conferences (ICMC). At ICMC 78 at Northwestern University, I delivered one of six invited papers and was identified, along with Lejaren Hiller and Iannis Xenakis, as a "pioneer" in computer music composition. In 1986, I was elected to the board of the Computer Music Association. I have been a guest researcher in computer music at Bell Laboratories, the Center for Music Research at Florida State University and IRCAM in Paris. At IRCAM, I designed software for a device variously known as the IRCAM jukebox and the Everyman Project. That software was used to generate compositions algorithmically from minimal information given casual visitors to the Centre Pompidou. With more detailed and specific information, professional composers could make pieces that were highly individual in style. In the summer of 1985 I joined the music theory and composition faculty at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. During that first summer I drafted a course of study in computer music for high school students. Those classes were added to the NMC curriculum in 1986. I served as chair of composition and theory and expanded the offerings to include a synthesizer ensemble. I also revised the NMC music theory curriculum to focus on practical performance skills like sight singing and improvisation. During the 85-86 academic year, I was on sabbatical leave from Oberlin to undertake research in the Computer Music Project at Melbourne University in Australia. I was a visiting professor in the Faculty of Music and a guest researcher in the Computer Science Department. During that time I worked with graduate students on research in both music and computer science.