Kyle Eugene Gann (born November 21, 1955, in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

) is an American

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

of music,

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

, analyst, and

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 ...

who has worked primarily in the

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 ...

area. As a music critic for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

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

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers 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 distric ...

" movements as postminimalism and

totalism Totalism is a style of art music that arose in the 1980s and 1990s as a response to minimalism. It paralleled postminimalism but involved a younger generation of creators, born in the 1950s. This term, invented by writer and composer Kyle Gann, h ...

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 the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

's Skyline High School, he attended

Oberlin Conservatory of Music The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music conservatory in Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the second oldest conservatory and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States. It is one of ...

, where he obtained a B.Mus. in 1977, and

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, 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 ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

with Greg Proctor at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. 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 indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School ...

(1975). In 1981–82 he worked for the New Music America festival. Gann worked as a journalist at the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

'', ''

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

'', ''

Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'', and ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

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

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

'', 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 liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering ...

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

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

. 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. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

As composer

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

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 t ...

works in

just intonation In music, just intonation or pure intonation is the tuning of musical intervals Interval may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Interval (mathematics), a range of numbers ** Partially ordered set#Intervals, its generalization from numbers to ...

, 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 Disklavier is a brand of reproducing pianos manufactured by Yamaha Corporation. The first Disklavier was introduced in the United States in 1987. The typical Disklavier is a real acoustic piano outfitted with electronic sensors for recording and ...

(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

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 claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...

, 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 a American author, modernist composer and humanistic astrologer. He was a pioneer of modern transpersonal astrology. Biography Dane Rudhyar was born in Paris on ...

. 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, Zuni, and other Southwest

Pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

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. 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 harmonic changes that can occur in a microtonal context from notes moving from one chord to another by tiny in ...

, 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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

harmony with John Esposito, and began using

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...

harmony as a basis for his non-microtonal music, even in contexts not reminiscent of jazz.

Selected bibliography

Gann's books include: :''American Music in the 20th Century'' (1997), :''The Music of

Conlon Nancarrow Samuel Conlon Nancarrow (; October 27, 1912 – August 10, 1997) was an American- Mexican composer who lived and worked in Mexico for most of his life. Nancarrow is best remembered for his ''Studies for Player Piano'', being one of the first ...

'' (1995), :''Music Downtown: Writings from the Village Voice'' (2006), :''No Such Thing As Silence: John Cage's 4'33"'' (2010), :''

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 i ...

'' (2012), :'' Charles Ives'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 Olana State Historic Site is a historic house museum and landscape in Greenport, New York, near the city of Hudson. The estate was home to Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), one of the major figures in the Hudson River School of landscape pa ...

'' 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

(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

(computer-driven acoustic piano) (2003) * ''Tango da Chiesa'' for

(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