Home > James Tenney
James Tenney (1934 in Silver City, NM) is an American composer and influential music theorist. He studied information theory under Lejaren Hiller, and composed stochastic early computer music before turning almost completely to writing for instruments with the occasional tape delay, often using just intonation and alternative tunings. His work deals simply and artfully with perception ( For Ann (rising), see Shepard tone), just intonation ( Clang , see gestalt), stochastic elements (Music for Player Piano), information theory ( Ergodos , see Ergodic theory), and with what he calls 'swell' ( Koan: Having Never Written A Note For Percussion (for John Bergamo)), which is basically arch form. His pieces are most often tributeA tribute (from Latin tribulum contribution) is wealth one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often case in historical contests, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threas and subtitled as such. As his friend Philip CornerPhilip (Lionel) Corner ( April 10, 1933—) is a composer as well as trombonist, vocalist, and pianist. He has been active in events with the name Fluxus since 1961, was a resident composer and musician with the Judson Dance Theatre from 1962- 1964 and late says, For Ann (rising), "must be optimistic! (Imagine the depressing effectiveness of it -- he could never be so cruel -- downward)..."Tenney is the author of the in depth liner notes to Wergo's edition of Conlon NancarrowConlon Nancarrow ( October 27, 1912 August 10, 1997) was an American composer who took Mexican citizenship in 1955. He is remembered almost exclusively for the pieces he wrote for the player piano, using it as a sort of mechanical music sequencer. He live's Studies for Player Piano (Nancarrow, as a favor, punched the roll for Tenney's Spectral Canon for Conlon Nancarrow), the seminal Meta (+) Hodos (one of, if not the, earliest applications of gestalt theory and cognitive scienceCognitive science is usually defined as the scientific study either of mind or of intelligence (e. Luger 1994). Practically every introduction to cognitive science also stresses that it is highly interdisciplinary; it is often said to consist of, take par to music), the later Hierarchical temporal gestalt perception in music : a metric space model with Larry PolanskyLarry Polansky is a composer, guitarist, and a professor at Dartmouth. A member of the Frog Peak Music collective, he co-wrote HMSL (Hierarchical Music Specification Language) with Phil Burk and David Rosenboom. He has an album of mensuration canons, Four, and other works. He currently teaches at the California Institute of Arts.
1 Further reading
- Garland, Peter (Ed.) (1984). Soundings Vol. 13: The Music of James Tenney. Santa Fe, N.M. : Soundings Press.
- Tenney, James (1988) (Meta-Hodos and Meta Meta-Hodos: A Phenomenology of 20th Century Musical Materials and an Approach to the Study of Form. Santa Fe, N.M.: Frog Peak Music. BooksEnthsiast.com.
2 External links
