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Kenneth Louis Gaburo (July 5, 1926 – January 26, 1993) 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 Def ...
.


Life

Gaburo was born in
Somerville, New Jersey Somerville is a borough and the county seat of Somerset County, New Jersey, United States.New Je ...
. He served as a professor of music at the
University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...
, the
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is ...
, and the
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 co ...
. His notable students include
Louise Spizizen Louise Fleur Meyers Schlesinger Spizizen (August 24, 1928 - July 2, 2010) was an American composer, critic, harpsichordist/pianist, and singer. She is best remembered today for her research and controversial claim that pianist Johana Harris actually ...
,
James Tenney James Tenney (August 10, 1934 – August 24, 2006) was an American composer and music theorist. He made significant early musical contributions to plunderphonics, sound synthesis, algorithmic composition, process music, spectral music, microto ...
,
Betty Ann Wong Betty Ann (Siu Junn) Wong (born September 6, 1938) is an American author, composer, and multi-media musician. Early life and training A native of San Francisco, Wong and her twin sister Shirley grew up speaking Cantonese at home as well as Engli ...
, and
Allen Strange Allen Strange (June 26, 1943 – February 20, 2008http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/feb/25/allen-strange-leader-in-electronic-music-dies/ ''Allen Strange, Leader in Electronic Music, Dies at 64'' By Rachel Pritchet, Kitsap Sun) was an American ...
. He is renowned as a teacher, pioneer of electronics in music, jazz pianist, writer, ecologist, publisher, and proponent of compositional
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...
. In 1968, he joined the faculty at the new San Diego campus of the University of California where in 1972 a
Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropy, philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, aft ...
grant enabled him to start NMCE IV, this time with an actor, a virtuoso speaker, a mime, a gymnast, and a sound-movement artist. Until his resignation from UCSD in 1975 he produced a large number of integrated theatrical works, such as the collection ''Lingua and Privacy''. In 1975, Gaburo founded Lingua Press, which produces scores, books, records, audio tapes, videotapes, and films. This firm is dedicated to putting forth unique artist-produced works in all media having to do with language and music. Many of the publications have been exhibited in book art shows throughout the world. Gaburo lived in the Anzo-Borrego desert writing and teaching from 1980 until 1983. In 1980, he was artistic director for the first "authentic" production of
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 ''The Bewitched'' for the Berlin Festival (recorded on ''Enclosure Five: Harry Partch'', innova 405). His understanding of Partch's concept of corporeality has deep connections with his own concern for physicality and how it informs compositions. His 1982 tape work, ''RE-RUN'', for instance, was generated after a 20-hour
sensory deprivation Sensory deprivation or perceptual isolation is the deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more of the senses. Simple devices such as blindfolds or hoods and earmuffs can cut off sight and hearing, while more complex devices can ...
exercise. He became Director of the Experimental Music Studio at the University of Iowa in 1983. The studio put intensive focus on composition, technology, psycho-acoustic perception, performance, and the affirmation of the uniqueness of the individual to create his/her own language reality. At the studio, he founded the Seminar for Cognitive Studies, a forum for discussion of the creative process. His concern for the investigation of music as legitimate research, and composition as the creation of intrinsic appropriate language, led to a series of readings in compositional linguistics for solo performer. He most often made innovative use of electronics and explored
tonality Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and/or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions and directionality. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or triadic chord with the greatest stability is ca ...
,
serialism In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were al ...
, and what he called "compositional linguistics" such as in his LINGUA series. He also wrote minimal pieces such as '' The Flow of (u)'' for three voices singing
unison In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...
. Gaburo died in 1993 in
Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the tim ...
, aged 66. The archive of his life's work is held at the University of Illinois Music Library.


Discography

*''Kenneth Gaburo: Five Works for Voices, Instruments, and Electronics'' (2002).
New World Records New World Records is a record label that was established in 1975 through a Rockefeller Foundation grant to celebrate America's bicentennial (1976) by producing a 100-LP anthology, with American music from many genres.Harley Gaber Harley Gaber (June 5, 1943 – June 16, 2011) was a visual artist and composer known for his minimalist and spectral approaches to time and sound. With his emphasis on quiet sustained sonorities and textures, Gaber is counted among the earl ...
, Susan Motycka, Herbert Brün, et al. 1979–1980. "Gaburo". ''
Perspectives of New Music ''Perspectives of New Music'' (PNM) is a peer-reviewed academic journal specializing in music theory and analysis. It was established in 1962 by Arthur Berger and Benjamin Boretz (who were its initial editors-in-chief). ''Perspectives'' was firs ...
'' 18, nos. 1 & 2 (Fall–Winter & Spring–Summer):7–257. * Dunn, David (ed.). 1995. "A Kenneth Gaburo Memorial". ''Perspectives of New Music'' 33, nos. 1 & 2:6–207. * Manning, Peter. 2004. , Edition 3. Oxford University Press US. .


External links


Kenneth Gaburo page
Philip Blackburn, angelfire.com

Bruce Duffie, April 7, 1987 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaburo, Kenneth 1926 births 1993 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians American classical composers American male classical composers Music & Arts artists Pupils of Bernard Rogers