Three brothers michael colgrass biography

He also wrote a number of works for children to perform. Colgrass lived in Toronto, OntarioCanada for nearly five decades, while earning his living internationally as a composer. Colgrass died on July 2,at the age of As a prose author, Colgrass wrote My Lessons with Kumia fictionalized "teaching tale" outlining his techniques for performance and creativity; he also gave workshops throughout the world on the psychology and technique of performance.

Colgrass also wrote, in collaboration with his wife and son, Adventures of an American Composer: An Autobiography, published in The following is a list of works by Colgrass. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikidata item. This article includes a list of general referencesbut it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations.

Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. April Learn how and when to remove this message. American and Canadian composer. Brookfield, Illinois. Toronto, OntarioCanada. She was raised in an atmosphere where art was a prime value. When our son, Neal, was age five we had to think about schools. We wanted to raise him in a metropolitan area that also allowed him be independent, not guarded all the time.

Professionally, I needed to live on the eastern seaboard, because that's the center of culture in North America. In fact, it's south of one-fifth of the United States. We tried it, liked it and stayed. It's truly a people city. I write for the musicians. They have to play it and comprehend it, so I see and hear it from their standpoint. I was a player for many years, so I identify naturally with the performer.

Coming out of a jazz background as a musician, composing and performing are almost one act to me. In fact, for many years I didn't think of myself as a composer, but rather as a performer who was providing material for my colleagues - especially in my percussion pieces, which were my first compositions. I certainly hope listeners enjoy my music and I make every effort to explain it and write clear program notes.

I love to do pre-concert talks and to meet the public in post-concert chats. Some composers may think of this as pandering to the public, but I call it communicating. I'm especially interested in children and inspired by them, and often go into the schools and show them how to write music. I also correspond with children, when they write and ask about being a composer.

Three brothers michael colgrass biography

Going the extra mile to make a piece the best it can be - cracking the nut to get that little bit more that makes a piece great. Let me give you an analogy. I ran on a track team in college. In March the best sprinters were already running the hundred meters under 12 seconds. In another three weeks they'd be near 10 seconds. Then the real work started: it took a month or more to shave it down to 9.

The winning times would often be only a few hundredths of a second faster than the others,' and those times were achieved by the athletes who were willing to put in the gut-wrenching work to shave off a tenth of a second. The same principle applies to creative work. To write music is not difficult if you're gifted. But to flush out and refine your conception to the point where it penetrates the consciousness of others in a permanently memorable way requires a quantum leap in effort.

If, as Blake said, "The devil's in the detail," you can magnify that a thousand-fold for composing, especially for a symphony or a concerto. Because it's my nature, I'm born that way. There's Michael, with whom I want to live, then there's that other curious being who must produce music to exist. Download the full text as PDF file. How did you start in music?

What happened then? We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe. If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly. Forgot your password? Retrieve it. Michael Colgrass Composer — 52 Views. Who is Michael Colgrass?

We need you! Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!