Michael Sidney Timpson
Encyclopedia
Michael Sidney Timpson (born February 26, 1970 in Mountain View, California) is an American composer of contemporary classical music
.
Although clearly a composer of the concert art-music genre, his definitive style combines elements of European, American, and Asian musical sources. His music is written for nearly every medium, including orchestral, chamber, band, percussion, electronic, vocal, and even non-western instruments. His two most well-known and performed compositions are Chasin’ Bill for Chinese silk and bamboo ensemble and CRUSH for soprano saxophone and Chinese Guzheng
.
The nature of his music is eclectic, stemming from maximalism to minimalism, modernism to postmodernism, and fluidly combines tonality and atonality.
His musical beginnings were borne out of playing baritone saxophone and bass clarinet, often manipulating the latter instrument with guitar pedals; he was also co-founder of the group Jazz on the line
with fellow saxophonists Rent Romus (Aaron Repke) and Dan Magay. This led to a strong interest in American improvisational forms, especially Cool Jazz
, Progressive Bebop
, Free Jazz
, and non-commercially oriented Jazz Fusion
. He would later evolve incorporations and influences of Funk
, New Wave
, Heavy Metal
, New Jack Swing
, Alternative Electronica
, Trip Hop
, and Shibuya-kei
into his music.
A child of the multicultural era in Northern California, he was intrigued with Japanese, Korean, Southeast Asian, and Oceanic traditional music in his formative years; seeds that would eventually bear a lasting impact on his musical style. In recent years, with his research on Chinese instruments, he has become a doubler/improviser on various Chinese wind instruments, such as suona
, guanzi
, yamudi
, dizi, xiao
, chiba
, xun
, koudi
, bawu
, hulusi
, sheng
, hulusheng and other related instruments from Asia and the Middle East.
He was born and grew up in Silicon Valley, California at the height of the computer age. Although still regularly frequenting that area, he has also lived in Los Angeles, Upstate New York, Michigan, Kansas, Memphis, England, and Taiwan. Currently, he resides in Tampa, Florida, but will be moving to Seoul, Korea in August 2010.
He has recently been appointed as Associate Professor of Music Composition at Ewha Womans University
in Seoul, Korea. He is a former faculty member in the same fields at University of South Florida
, University of Kansas
and Rhodes College
and in 2009, was a Senior Fulbright Research Scholar (Humanities) in Taipei
, Taiwan
to write a book on orchestration for Chinese instruments. A musical style that merges American jazz and pop, Asian traditions and the European avant-garde, his compositions have been featured throughout the United States, France, Czech, Ukraine, Canada, Japan, and Taiwan. Timpson won the ASCAP Grant for Young Composers, the BMI
Student Composers Award, the DownBeat Magazine award for extended composition, and was twice nominated for the American Academy of Arts and Letters composition award. He also won the Brian M. Israel Prize (The Society for New Music and the New York Federation of Music Clubs), the Lee Ettelson Composer’s Award, National Federation of Music Club’s Youse competition, second places at the Music From China International Competition and in NACUSA’s composition competition, very highly commended in England’s Kathryn Thomas Flute Competition, and honorable mention at the National Federation of Music Club’s Beyer competition.
His compositions appear on Albany/Capstone, CRS, NACUSA, and ERM recording labels, and have been published by World-Wide-Music. Three of his works were recorded by the Kiev Philharmonic and a fourth by the Chinese National Film Orchestra. His works were premiered in Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and Taiwan National Concert Hall, and his orchestral compositions were premiered by The Florida Orchestra and the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. Timpson’s works have also appeared on radio shows throughout the U.S., Asia, and Europe. His music is published by HoneyRock Music and American Composers Editions.
He earned a BM at the University of Southern California
, an MA at the Eastman School of Music
, and a DMA at the University of Michigan
; his notable teachers include Samuel Adler
, William Albright
, William Bolcom
, Morten Lauridsen
and Joseph Schwantner
.
Contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
.
Although clearly a composer of the concert art-music genre, his definitive style combines elements of European, American, and Asian musical sources. His music is written for nearly every medium, including orchestral, chamber, band, percussion, electronic, vocal, and even non-western instruments. His two most well-known and performed compositions are Chasin’ Bill for Chinese silk and bamboo ensemble and CRUSH for soprano saxophone and Chinese Guzheng
Guzheng
The guzheng or "gu zheng", also called zheng is a Chinese plucked zither. It has 18-23 or more strings and movable bridges....
.
The nature of his music is eclectic, stemming from maximalism to minimalism, modernism to postmodernism, and fluidly combines tonality and atonality.
His musical beginnings were borne out of playing baritone saxophone and bass clarinet, often manipulating the latter instrument with guitar pedals; he was also co-founder of the group Jazz on the line
Jazz on the Line
Jazz on the Line is a San Francisco Bay Area jazz sextet formed in the early 1980s by Rent Romus . At its initial inception, it primarily featured the compositions of its co-founders and included notable musicians such as saxophonist/composer Michael Sidney Timpson, saxophonist Dan Magay and...
with fellow saxophonists Rent Romus (Aaron Repke) and Dan Magay. This led to a strong interest in American improvisational forms, especially Cool Jazz
Cool jazz
Cool is a style of modern jazz music that arose following the Second World War. It is characterized by its relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the bebop style that preceded it...
, Progressive Bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
, Free Jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
, and non-commercially oriented Jazz Fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
. He would later evolve incorporations and influences of Funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
, Heavy Metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, New Jack Swing
New jack swing
New jack swing or swingbeat is a fusion genre spearheaded by Teddy Riley and Bernard Belle which became extremely popular from the late-1980s into the mid-1990s. Its influence, along with hip-hop, seeped into pop culture and was the definitive sound of the inventive Black New York club scene...
, Alternative Electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
, Trip Hop
Trip hop
Trip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronic music which originated in the early 1990s in England, especially Bristol. Deriving from "post"-acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat which...
, and Shibuya-kei
Shibuya-kei
is a sub-genre of Japanese pop music which originated in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. It is best described as a mix between jazz, pop, and electropop.- Overview :...
into his music.
A child of the multicultural era in Northern California, he was intrigued with Japanese, Korean, Southeast Asian, and Oceanic traditional music in his formative years; seeds that would eventually bear a lasting impact on his musical style. In recent years, with his research on Chinese instruments, he has become a doubler/improviser on various Chinese wind instruments, such as suona
Suona
The suona ; also called laba or haidi is a Han Chinese shawm . It has a distinctively loud and high-pitched sound, and is used frequently in Chinese traditional music ensembles, particularly those that perform outdoors...
, guanzi
Guanzi
Guanzi may refer to:*Guan Zhong , Chinese Legalist philosopher and politician*Guanzi , Chinese text named after Guan Zhong...
, yamudi
Yamudi
Yamudi , is the native guan of Taiwanese music. The instrument, which translated means "mother duck flute" is very simple, as it primarily uses a large partially flattened tube reed connected to a thin cylindrical pipe A similar to the southern Chinese Luguan and Houguan, it is made of bamboo,...
, dizi, xiao
Xiao
Xiao may refer to:* Xiào, “filial piety", or "being good to parents", a virtue* Xiao , a Chinese end-blown flute* Xiao , a rank used for field officers in the Chinese military* Xiao , a Chinese surname* Xiao County, in Anhui, China...
, chiba
Chiba
-Places:* Chiba, Chiba, capital city of Chiba Prefecture, Japan* Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on the eastern coast of Honshū Island, Japan* Chiba Station, a train station in Chiba, Chiba...
, xun
Xun
The xun is a globular, flute-like, Chinese musical instrument. The xun is made of clay or ceramic, similar to an ocarina but without a fipple mouthpiece. Other Chinese flute-like instruments, such as the Wudu and Taodi, however, include a fipple....
, koudi
Koudi
The koudi is a very small Chinese flute made from bamboo. It was invented in 1971 by the late dizi master Yu Xunfa .-Overview:The instrument comes in two sizes...
, bawu
Bawu
The bawu is a Chinese wind instrument. Although shaped like a flute, it is actually a free reed instrument, with a single metal reed. It is played in a transverse manner...
, hulusi
Hulusi
The hulusi or cucurbit flute is a free reed wind instrument from China. It is held vertically and has three bamboo pipes which pass through a gourd wind chest; the center pipe has finger holes and the outer two are typically drone pipes...
, sheng
Sheng
Sheng can refer to:* Sheng * Beijing opera#Sheng, the main role in Beijing opera* Sheng , a slang dialect of the Swahili language* Province , an administrative division of China, called sheng in Mandarin...
, hulusheng and other related instruments from Asia and the Middle East.
He was born and grew up in Silicon Valley, California at the height of the computer age. Although still regularly frequenting that area, he has also lived in Los Angeles, Upstate New York, Michigan, Kansas, Memphis, England, and Taiwan. Currently, he resides in Tampa, Florida, but will be moving to Seoul, Korea in August 2010.
He has recently been appointed as Associate Professor of Music Composition at Ewha Womans University
Ewha Womans University
Ewha Womans University is a private women's university in central Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the city's largest institutions of higher learning and currently the world's largest female educational institute. It is one of the best-known universities in South Korea, and often considered to...
in Seoul, Korea. He is a former faculty member in the same fields at University of South Florida
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...
, University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
and Rhodes College
Rhodes College
Rhodes College is a private, predominantly undergraduate, liberal arts college located in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Originally founded by freemasons in 1848, Rhodes became affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in 1855. Rhodes enrolls approximately 1,700 students pursuing bachelor's and master's...
and in 2009, was a Senior Fulbright Research Scholar (Humanities) in Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
to write a book on orchestration for Chinese instruments. A musical style that merges American jazz and pop, Asian traditions and the European avant-garde, his compositions have been featured throughout the United States, France, Czech, Ukraine, Canada, Japan, and Taiwan. Timpson won the ASCAP Grant for Young Composers, the BMI
Broadcast Music Incorporated
Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
Student Composers Award, the DownBeat Magazine award for extended composition, and was twice nominated for the American Academy of Arts and Letters composition award. He also won the Brian M. Israel Prize (The Society for New Music and the New York Federation of Music Clubs), the Lee Ettelson Composer’s Award, National Federation of Music Club’s Youse competition, second places at the Music From China International Competition and in NACUSA’s composition competition, very highly commended in England’s Kathryn Thomas Flute Competition, and honorable mention at the National Federation of Music Club’s Beyer competition.
His compositions appear on Albany/Capstone, CRS, NACUSA, and ERM recording labels, and have been published by World-Wide-Music. Three of his works were recorded by the Kiev Philharmonic and a fourth by the Chinese National Film Orchestra. His works were premiered in Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and Taiwan National Concert Hall, and his orchestral compositions were premiered by The Florida Orchestra and the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. Timpson’s works have also appeared on radio shows throughout the U.S., Asia, and Europe. His music is published by HoneyRock Music and American Composers Editions.
He earned a BM at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, an MA at the Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
, and a DMA at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
; his notable teachers include Samuel Adler
Samuel Adler (composer)
Samuel Hans Adler is an American composer and conductor.-Biography:Adler was born to a Jewish family in Mannheim, Germany, the son of Hugo Chaim Adler, a cantor and composer, and Selma Adler. The family fled to the United States in 1939, where Hugo became the cantor of Temple Emanuel in...
, William Albright
William Albright (musician)
William Albright was an American composer, pianist and organist.Albright was born in Gary, Indiana, and began learning the piano at the age of five, and attended the Juilliard Preparatory Department , the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan , where he studied composition with...
, William Bolcom
William Bolcom
William Elden Bolcom is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, two Grammy Awards, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. Bolcom taught composition at the University of Michigan from 1973–2008...
, Morten Lauridsen
Morten Lauridsen
Morten Johannes Lauridsen is an American composer. He was composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and has been a professor of composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music for more than 30 years.-Biography:Lauridsen was born February 27, 1943, in...
and Joseph Schwantner
Joseph Schwantner
Joseph C. Schwantner is a Pulitzer Prize winning American composer and educator and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was awarded the 1970 Charles Ives Prize....
.