Kyle Eugene Gann (born November 21, 1955, in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

) is an American

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 ...

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of music,

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

, analyst, and

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

who has worked primarily in the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

area. As a music critic for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' (from 1986 to 2005) and other publications, he has supported progressive music, including such "

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

" movements as postminimalism and totalism.

Biography

Gann was born in 1955 and raised in a musical family. He began composing at the age of 13. After graduating in 1973 from

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

's Skyline High School, he attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he obtained a B.Mus. in 1977, and

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

, where he received his M.Mus. and D.Mus. in 1981 and 1983, respectively. As well as studying composition with Randolph Coleman at Oberlin, he also studied

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...

with Greg Proctor at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. He studied composition primarily with Ben Johnston (1984–86) and Peter Gena (1977–81), and briefly with

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminacy in music, a development associated with the experimental New York School o ...

(1975). In 1981–82 he worked for the New Music America festival. Gann has also worked on

Dennis Johnson Dennis Wayne Johnson (September 18, 1954 – February 22, 2007), nicknamed "DJ", was an American professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Seattle SuperSonics, Phoenix Suns, and Boston Celtics. He was a c ...

's once lost minimal composition ''November'', which was written for solo piano in 1959 and later revised. The creation of ''November'' was inspired by Johnson's

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

college friend

La Monte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best k ...

's '' Trio for Strings'', written in 1958. Johnson recorded part of it in 1962 on

audio cassette The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

. ''November'' was in turn an inspiration for Young's 1964 '' The Well-Tuned Piano''. Young gave, from his archive, a cassette copy of ''November'' to Gann, who made a new recording of it and produced six pages of the original score. Gann first performed a four-and-a-half-hour version in 2009 with Sarah Cahill, and has produced a new performance score based on the original material that R. Andrew Lee recorded in a five-hour version released in 2013 by Irritable Hedgehog Music, after receiving good reviews. In 2017 the Dutch pianist and composer Jeroen van Veen released ''November'' as part of his eight- disc ''Minimal Piano Collection'', Vols. XXI–XXVIII. Gann also worked as a journalist at the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

'' Reader'', ''

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

'', '' Sun-Times'', and ''

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 1986, he was hired as music critic at ''The

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Ma ...

'', where he wrote a weekly column until 1997, and then less frequently until 2005. Gann taught part-time at

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal-arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts a ...

from 1989 to 1997. Since 1997, he has taught music theory, history, and composition at

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

. Gann is married to Nancy Cook and is the father of Bernard Gann, a guitarist formerly with the New York "transcendental black metal" band

Liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

As composer

Gann's work as a composer can be classified generally into three categories: *

microtonal Microtonality is the use in music of microtones — intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of twelve equal interv ...

works in

just intonation In music, just intonation or pure intonation is a musical tuning, tuning system in which the space between notes' frequency, frequencies (called interval (music), intervals) is a natural number, whole number ratio, ratio. Intervals spaced in thi ...

, involving electronics;Max Limpag
"American Festival of Microtonal Music,"
(on the 27th Annual Festival) ''New Music Connoisseur''. Undated. Retrieved Aug. 6, 2007.Jeff London

Vocal Area Network, February 12, 2007. Retrieved Aug. 6, 2007. *rhythmically complex works for Disklavier (computer-driven acoustic piano); and *piano and ensemble music whose rhythmic complexity tends to be milder and within a single tempo framework. Most of his music has expressed the concept of repeating loops, ostinati, or

isorhythm Isorhythm (from the Greek for "the same rhythm") is a musical technique using a repeating rhythmic pattern, called a ''talea'', in at least one voice part throughout a composition. ''Taleae'' are typically applied to one or more melodic patterns o ...

s of different lengths going out of phase with each other; the idea leads to simultaneous layers of different, mutually prime tempo relationships in his Disklavier and electronic works, and is used in a less obvious structural way in his live-ensemble music. This concept can be traced back to suggestions in the rhythmic chapter of Henry Cowell's book ''New Musical Resources.'' Gann has also said that he found inspiration in his studies of

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

, into which he was drawn by the writings of composer/astrologer

Dane Rudhyar Dane Rudhyar (March 23, 1895 – September 13, 1985), born Daniel Chennevière, was an American author, modernist composer, painter and humanistic astrologer. He was a pioneer of modern transpersonal astrology. Biography Dane Rudhyar was born ...

. Another thread in his work has been the influence, both rhythmic and melodic, of

Native American music Indigenous music of North America, which includes American Indian music or Native American music, is the music that is used, created or performed by Indigenous peoples of North America, including Native Americans in the United States and Abori ...

, particularly that of the

Hopi The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...

, Zuni, and other Southwest

Pueblo Pueblo refers to the settlements of the Pueblo peoples, Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settlement ...

tribes. Gann first learned about this music from reading a musical analysis of a Zuni buffalo dance published in the book ''Sonic Design'' by Robert Cogan and Pozzi Escot. According to Gann, "It was going back and forth between different tempos: triplet, quarter, dotted quarter, and quarters. So I started collecting American Indian music. tsolved a rhythmic problem for me, because I was really interested in music with different tempos." Starting in 1984 with his political piece ''The Black Hills Belong to the Sioux,'' Gann adopted a method of switching between different tempos (usually between quarter-notes, dotted eighths, triplet quarters, and other values) as a more performable alternative to the simultaneous layers at contrasting tempos that he had sought earlier under the influence of

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, actuary and businessman. Ives was among the earliest renowned American composers to achieve recognition on a global scale. His music was largely ignored d ...

. Other composers had arrived at a similar technique via other routes, coalescing into a New York style of the 1980s and '90s called Totalism. A common Gann strategy is to set a rhythmic process in motion and use harmony (mostly triadic or seventh-chord-based, whether microtonal or conventional) to inflect the form and focus the listener's attention. Gann's microtonal music proceeds according to

Harry Partch Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of unique musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century com ...

's technique of

tonality flux ''Tonality flux'' is Harry Partch's termPartch, Harry (1949). ''Genesis of a Music'', p.188-190. Da Capo Press . for the kinds of subtle harmony, harmonic changes that can occur in a microtonal music, microtonal context from notes moving from one ch ...

, linking chords through tiny (less than a half-step) increments of voice-leading. In 2000, Gann studied

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

harmony with

John Esposito John Louis Esposito (born May 19, 1940) is an American academic, professor of Middle Eastern studies, Middle Eastern and religious studies, and scholar of Islamic studies, who serves as Professor of Religion, International Affairs, and Islamic S ...

Selected bibliography

Gann's books include: :''American Music in the 20th Century'' (1997), :''The Music of Conlon Nancarrow'' (1995), :''Music Downtown: Writings from the Village Voice'' (2006), :''No Such Thing As Silence: John Cage's 4'33"'' (2010), :'' Robert Ashley'' (2012), :''

's Concord: Essays after a Sonata'' (2017), :''The Arithmetic of Listening: Tuning Theory and History for the Impractical Musician'' (2019),

Major musical works

*''Hyperchromatica'' (2012; 2015-17; 2020-2021) *''Busted Grooves'' (2017) *''Space Cat'' (2017) *''Andromeda Memories'' (2016-17) *''Futility Row'' (2015) *''Pavane for a Dead Planet'' (2016) *''Orbital Resonance'' (2015) *''Star Dance'' (2015-16) *''The Planets'' (Astrological Studies: Sun, Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) for Relâche: flute, oboe, alto saxophone, bassoon, viola, contrabass, synthesizer, and percussion (tom-toms, cymbals, and vibraphone)(1994–2008) *''Composure'' for four electric guitars (2008) *'' Olana'' for vibraphone (2007) *''Kierkegaard, Walking'' for flute, clarinet, violin, cello (2007) * ''Sunken City'' (Concerto for piano and winds, in homage to New Orleans) for solo piano with flute, alto sax, tenor sax, baritone sax, three trumpets, horn, three trombones, and electric bass (2007) * ''Fugitive Objects'' for keyboard sampler (2007) * ''On Reading Emerson'' for piano (2006) * ''Implausible Sketches'' for piano four hands (2006) * ''my father moved through dooms of love'' for chorus, violin, and piano (2005-6) * ''The Day Revisited'' for flute, clarinet, keyboard sampler, synthesizer, and fretless bass (2005) * ''Unquiet Night'' for Disklavier (computer-driven acoustic piano) (2004) * ''Scenario'' for female voice and soundfile/orchestra (2003-4) * ''Private Dances'' for piano (2000/04) * ''The Watermelon Cargo'', microtonal chamber opera for six singers, three synthesizers, flute, fretless bass, and drummer (2002-3) * ''Love Scene'' for string quartet (2003) * ''Petty Larceny'' for Disklavier (computer-driven acoustic piano) (2003) * ''Tango da Chiesa'' for Disklavier (computer-driven acoustic piano) (2003) * ''Cinderella's Bad Magic'', microtonal chamber opera for six singers, three synthesizers, flute, and fretless bass (2001-2) * ''Transcendental Sonnets'' for chorus and orchestra (2001-2) * ''New World Coming'' for solo bassoon with flute (or oboe), violin (or viola), and piano (2001) * ''Hovenweep'' for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello (2000) * ''Time Does Not Exist'' for piano (2000) * ''"Last Chance" Sonata'' for clarinet and piano (1999) * ''Custer and Sitting Bull'' for speaker, synthesizer, and soundfile (1996–99) * ''The Disappearance of All Holy Things from this Once So Promising World'' for orchestra (1998) * ''Snake Dance No. 2'' for five percussionists (1994) * ''Desert Sonata'' for piano (1994) * ''Chicago Spiral'' for flute, clarinet, saxophone (or three flutes), violin, viola, cello, synthesizer, and drums (1990–91) * ''Cyclic Aphorisms'' for violin and piano (1987) * ''I'itoi Variations'' for two pianos (1985) * ''Baptism'' for two flutes, synthesizer, and two drums (1983) * ''Long Night'' for three pianos (1980–81)

References

External links