Beth Anderson is an American neo-romantic

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. She studied with

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist music, minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his work became notab ...

Robert Ashley Robert Reynolds Ashley (March 28, 1930 – March 3, 2014) was an American composer, who was best known for his television operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques. His works often involve ...

, and

Larry Austin Larry Don Austin (September 12, 1930 – December 30, 2018) was an American composer noted for his electronic and computer music works. He was a co-founder and editor of the avant-garde music periodical '' Source: Music of the Avant Garde''. Aust ...

, among others. She studied at the University of Kentucky, UC Davis, New York University and

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...

. Anderson is best known in her field for her swales, a musical form she invented based on collages and samples of newly composed music rather than existing music. She told a reporter for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' in 1995 she named the form based on this definition of the word: "A swale is a meadow or marsh where a lot of wild things go together."

Biography

Early life

Anderson was born in Lexington,

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

in 1950 and grew up in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. Her parents, Marjorie and Sidney Anderson, encouraged her to pursue music. She began playing the piano as a child and began composing shortly after. At age 14 she began studying piano with composer Helen Libscomb. Liscomb taught Anderson the rules of counterpoint, enabling her to compose simplistic traditional music. During her last two years of high school she began to compose serial music, learning from books on the topic.

Education

Anderson attended the University of Kentucky after graduating from high school. After two years there she transferred to the University of California at Davis. After completing her undergraduate degree she received her Master of Fine Arts Degree in Piano Performance. Shortly before completing that degree, her piece ''Peachy Keen-O'' was performed at Mills College.

Bob Ashley Robert Gene Ashley (July 4, 1953 – May 14, 2024) was an American politician from West Virginia. As a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ashley served in the West Virginia House of Delegates, representing the 28t ...

, director of the Mills College Center for Contemporary Music, upon hearing the performance, urged her to stay there and study. She completed her M.A. in Composition there.

Later life

In California, Anderson became known as one of the prominent "avant-garde feminist composers, critics, and poets." She married the computer book author Elliotte Rusty Harold on July 28, 1995, one year after they met at a potluck dinner held by the New York Macintosh Users Group. A 1995 ''

'' feature story on Harold's wedding called her both old-fashioned and conventional and observed, "She giggles often, as lightly as wind chimes. And yet she listens to the band

Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist and guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal—alo ...

when cleaning her apartment."

Discography

* ''Feminae in Musica'' ( Feminae Records, 2007) ** ''Tale One'' ** ''Tale Three'' ** ''Belgian Tango'' *** Performed by: Aleksandra Maslovaric (violin), Tania Fleischer (piano) * ''Namely'' ( Other Minds Records, 2020)

References

External links

Listening

NewMusicJukeBox.org: Beth Anderson
1950 births 20th-century American classical composers 21st-century American classical composers Living people Pupils of John Cage American women in electronic music American women classical composers University of California, Davis alumni 20th-century American women composers 21st-century American women composers {{US-composer-20thC-stub