Lifetime Achievement In American Music Composition example essay topic

Cross 1 Gunther Schuller "Scholar, composer, conductor, teacher, author, music publisher, indefatigable advocate -- Gunther Schuller isn't merely a musician, he's a monopoly". This is a description by Alan Rich of Gunther Schuller in the New York Magazine in 1995. The description fits well with Gunther's personality. He was a do-all type of guy. He was often called the "practitioner of the 28-hour day".

From an early age Gunther was a hard worker and extremely passionate in what he pursued. His passions ranged from education to composing. Gunther also seemed to excel in everything he put his mind to. He has received much praise for all of his endeavors and especially in his contributions to the horn. He also created a lot of wonderful original pieces in virtually every musical genre.

Gunther is an extremely talented human being and has contributed and continues to contribute to society. Gunther Schuller was born in New York City on November 22, 1925. He was born of German immigrants to America. At a young age, Gunther fell in love with music and playing the horn. As he got older, his talents began to show immensely. He studied the horn, as well as the flute and musical theory.

He advanced in the horn very quickly and joined the Cincinnati Symphony at age 17. He was the principal horn in the symphony and amazed many with his talent of playing. By age 19, he had begun playing in the Metropolitan Opera. At this time he became involved in the local bebop scene. He began recording and playing with jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and John Lewis. At age 25, Gunther began teaching the horn at the Manhattan School of Cross 2 Music.

This was the beginning of his distinguished teaching career, which evolved throughout his entire life. He moved up the educator ladder and became the Professor of Composition at the School of Music at Yale. He also was the President of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He had a great run at being the Artistic Director of the Tanglewood Berkshire Music Center and The Festival at Sandpoint. Later in life he served as the Co-Director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. He has started up a publishing company and a recording company.

The publishing company, Margin Music, is the company that has published his books that have been influential in the music world. He has recorded his works with his own recording company called GM Recordings. His current job is serving as the Artistic Director of the Spokane Bach Festival. He has accomplished a lot so far in his life.

Gunther has created many original works throughout his lifetime. He has more than 160 original compositions accredited to him. These works are in virtually every musically genre he has encountered. He has been commissioned by many big symphonies throughout America and abroad. Such symphonies include the Baltimore Symphony, Berlin Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Minneapolis Symphony, National Symphony, and the New York Philharmonic. Some of his most recent commissions have gotten him great praise.

In 1994, his work Of Reminiscences and Reflections for the Louisville Orchestra gained him the Pulitzer Prize. Another major work of his was An Arc Ascending for the American Symphony Orchestra League and the Cincinnati Symphony. He also did The Past is in the Present for the Cincinnati Symphony. Two other works are Brass Quintet No. 2 for the American Brass Quintet and an Organ Cross 3 Concerto for the Calgary International Organ Festival. His works are in great number and in great variety. He has shown his versatility in musical stylings and has shown his excellence in many musical genres throughout his life.

Gunther has worked with many of his peers in the music world. The artist in which he has collaborated with has been as varied as his original works themselves. Such artists are as followed: Arturo Toscanini, Miles Davis, Aaron Copland, Ornette Coleman, Leonard Bernstein, Eric Dolph y, Charles Mingus, John Updike, Joe Lozano, Elvis Costello, Wynton Marsalis, Frank Zappa, and many more. He has written a book collecting all these experiences he has had with others. The book is called The Compleat Conductor and also contains his writings on jazz, music performance, contemporary music, music aesthetics, and education.

Along with great collaborations, Gunther has received many awards for his works. He first won the William Schuman Award given by Columbia University for "lifetime achievement in American music composition". In 1991, he won the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Award. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for Of Reminiscences and Reflections for the Louisville Orchestra along with the BMI Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also the inaugural Member of the American Classical Music Hall of Fame along with the Down Beat Lifetime Achievement Award. He won the Gold Medal for Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1997.

Along with all these awards, he has also won several Grammys. Even though Gunther was a high school drop-out, he also received twelve honorary degrees from various colleges and universities for his work in teaching, literature, and music. Cross 4 In 1962, Gunther published his most important work. It was a book called Horn Technique.

In it he covered a full range of musical genres and fit the horn into each genre. He also included chapters on the history of the instrument. He added in warm-up and basic exercises, legato, legato tonguing, staccato, the art of practicing, and other miscellaneous aspects of the horn. It is his most well known work throughout the world and arguably his best.

It influenced many artists in their uses of the horn in their works. It is considered a standard read for all who play the horn. In conclusion, Gunther Schuller is one of the world's wonders. His accomplishments in the fields of music, literature, and education make him apart from the crowd. He has a great mind and has used it to the best of his abilities.

He has influenced the world of music with his original pieces and his theory of the horn. He has created the standard of horn technique and has helped many horniest develop their techniques. He has received national and international recognition for his works and has been a moving force in the evolution of music in the 20th century. Gunther Schuller is definitely a "monopoly" in the world of musical education and literature.