Dean Drummond (January 22, 1949 – April 13, 2013) was 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 Defi ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

, conductor and musician. His music featured

microtonality Microtonal music or 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 tw ...

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

, and a variety of

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

. He invented a 31-tone instrument called the zoomoozophone in 1978. From 1990 to his death he was the conservator of the

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 ...

instrumentarium.

Biography

Born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, Drummond studied

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

and

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

and

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

. He studied trumpet with

Don Ellis Donald Johnson Ellis (July 25, 1934 – December 17, 1978) was an American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer, and bandleader. He is best known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of time signatures. Later in his lif ...

and John Clyman, and studied composition with

Leonard Stein Leonard David Stein (December 1, 1916 – June 24, 2004) was a musicologist, pianist, conductor, university teacher, and influential in promoting contemporary music on the American West Coast. He was for years Arnold Schoenberg's assistant, mu ...

. Drummond then worked as a musician for and assistant to the maverick composer and instrument builder

. He performed in the premieres of Partch’s large-scale works ''Daphne of the Dunes'', ''And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell in Petaluma'', and ''Delusion of the Fury''. Drummond also participated in recordings made by Partch for the

Columbia Masterworks Columbia Masterworks was a record label started in 1924 by Columbia Records. In 1980, it was separated from the Columbia label and renamed CBS Masterworks. In 1990, it was revived as Sony Classical after its sale to the Sony Corporation. History ...

label in the late 1960s. In 1976, Drummond moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. A year later he co-founded (with

flutist The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with Reed (instrument), reeds, a fl ...

Stefani Starin) the contemporary music ensemble Newband. Newband recorded works by Partch,

John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...

Joan LaBarbara Joan Linda La Barbara (born June 8, 1947) is an American vocalist and composer known for her explorations of non-conventional or "extended" vocal techniques. Considered to be a vocal virtuoso in the field of contemporary music, she is credited wit ...

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 non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

Anne LeBaron Alice Anne LeBaron (b. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, May 30, 1953) is a United States composer and harpist. Anne LeBaron holds a B.A. in music from the University of Alabama (1974), an M.A. in music from the State University of New Yor ...

, James Pugliese, and

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", "B ...

, as well as original works by Drummond. In 1990, he became director and curator of composer/inventor/musician Harry Partch's homemade instruments. Drummond performed many of Partch's compositions on the original instruments (such as kithara, surrogate kithara, harmonic canons, adapted guitar, and cloud chamber bowls), as well as incorporating the instruments into original compositions. Drummond conducted educational workshops, and trained student musicians to play the idiosyncratic instrumentarium. Drummond was a director of the New York Consortium for New Music for over ten years, and was involved in producing the annual Sonic Boom Festival. At the time of his death he was Associate Professor and Director of the Harry Partch Institute at

Montclair State University Montclair State University (MSU) is a Public university, public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Little Falls, New Jersey, Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. He died in Princeton, NJ, of complications from

multiple myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone pain, an ...

on April 13, 2013.

Works

Most of his works are published by Hypersound.

Solo instrumental

* Suite for Clarinet (1970) - clarinet *Organ

Toccata Toccata (from Italian ''toccare'', literally, "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuo ...

(1971) -

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

*''Cloud Garden II'' (1974) -

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

/ celeste/

almglocken The cowbell is an idiophone hand percussion instrument used in various styles of music, such as Latin and rock. It is named after the similar bell used by herdsmen to keep track of the whereabouts of cows. The instrument initially and traditio ...

*''Post Rigabop Mix'' (1977) -

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

*''Copégoro'' (1978) - percussion *''Columbus Fullmoon'' (1979/1985) - zoomoozophone *''Different Drums for Different Strokes'' (1988) - percussion *''

Mars Face Cydonia (, ) is a region on the planet Mars that has attracted both scientific and popular interest. The name originally referred to the albedo feature (distinctively coloured area) that was visible from earthbound telescopes. The area borders ...

'' (1997) -

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

and

microtonal Microtonal music or 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 tw ...

ly programmed

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

*Four Miniatures (1997): ''Syncopation in Glass'' and ''Talking Bowls'' - cloud chamber bowls; ''Bow, Chords and Zoom'' and ''Three Dream Fragments'' - zoomoozophone duet *''Two Short Zoomoozophone Duos'' (1997) *''Two Short Solos for Cloud Chamber Bowls'' (1997) *''Precious Metals'' (1997) - flute

Vocal compositions

*''Bertrans de Born'' (1971) -

bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing thr ...

, flute, clarinet,

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

/ celeste,

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

*''My Data's Gone'' (1997) - bass and microtonally programmed synthesizer - lyrics by Charles Bernstein *''It Must Be Time'' (1997) - soprano and microtonally programmed synthesizer - lyrics by Charles Bernstein *''Congressional Record'' (1999) - baritone and eight instrumentalists - texts from the

Congressional Record The ''Congressional Record'' is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record Inde ...

*
Café Buffé
' (2006) -

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

- five singers, dancers, and eighteen instrumentalists - libretto by

Charles Bernstein Charles Bernstein may refer to: * Charles Bernstein (composer) (born 1943), American composer of film and television scores * Charles Bernstein (poet) Charles Bernstein (born April 4, 1950) is an American poet, essayist, editor, and literary sc ...

Works for multiple instrumentalists

*''Ni Kioku'' (1971) - flute, celeste, harp, violin, cello, two percussionists *''Dedication'' (1972) - oboe, harp, string quartet, double bass, three percussionists *''Fission'' (1972) - flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, harp, vibraphone, violin, viola, cello *''Ghost Tangents'' (1973/1975) -

prepared piano A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sounds temporarily altered by placing bolts, screws, mutes, rubber erasers, and/or other objects on or between the strings. Its invention is usually traced to John Cage's dance music for ''Bacchanale' ...

, three percussionists *''Cloud Garden I'' (1974/9) - flute, piano, four percussionists *''Zurrjir'' (1976) - flute, clarinet, piano/celeste, three percussionists *''Dirty Ferdie'' (Quartet Version) (1976) - four percussionists *''Little Columbus'' (1979) (Part 1 of ''Columbus'') (1980) - two percussionists *''Columbus'' (1980) - flute, three percussionists *''Dirty Ferdie'' (Octet Version) (1981) - eight percussionists *''Mysteries'' (Octet Version) (1982/6) - flute, violin, cello, five percussionists *''Mysteries'' (Quintet Version) (1983) - five percussionists *''Mysteries'' (Septet Version) (1983) - flute, bass trombone, five percussionists *''Then or Never'' (1984) - flute, viola, double bass, three percussionists *''Ruby Half Moon'' (1987) - 2 trumpets, trombone, bass trombone, four percussionists *''Incredible Time (to live and die)'' (1988) - amplified flute, microtonally programmed synthesizer, three percussionists *''Dance of the Seven Veils'' (1992) - flute, cello, chromelodeon, microtonally programmed synthesizer, three percussionists *''The Day the Sun Stood Still'' (1994) - flute, trumpet, cello, microtonally programmed synthesizer, harmonic canons, four percussionists *''Before the Last Laugh'' (1995) - flute, cello, microtonally programmed synthesizer, three harmonic canons, two percussionists *''The Last Laugh (Der Letzte Mann)'' (1996) - live film score for the 1924

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

by F.W. Murnau - flutes, cello, trumpet, chromelodeon, microtonally programmed synthesizer, four harmonic canons, four percussionists *''For the Last Laugh'' (1998) - suite from the film score - flutes, cello, trumpet, chromelodeon, microtonally programmed synthesizer, four harmonic canons, four percussionists *''M.S. Genitron'' (2001) - ten percussionists *''Phil Harmonic'' (2002) - 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, alto saxophone, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, chromelodeon, zoomoozophone, timpani, percussion, strings

Films

*1995 - ''Musical Outsiders: An American Legacy - Harry Partch, Lou Harrison, and Terry Riley''. Directed by Michael Blackwood.

External links

Composer's website

Harry Partch website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drummond, Dean American male classical composers American classical composers 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers Deaths from multiple myeloma Montclair State University faculty 1949 births 2013 deaths American musical instrument makers Musicians from Los Angeles USC Thornton School of Music alumni California Institute of the Arts alumni Pupils of Harry Partch 21st-century American composers 20th-century American composers