Van der Slice, John
Van der Slice, John
Van der Slice, John, American composer, ethno-musicologist, and teacher; b. Ann Arbor, Feb. 19, 1940. He studied at the Univ. of Calif., Berkeley (B.A., 1964), with Russell, McKay, and Dahl at the Univ. of Hawaii (M.A. in ethnomusicology; M.M., 1973), and at the Univ. of III, Urbana (Ph.D., 1980, with a diss. on Ligeti’s Atmosphères). He taught at the Univ. of Hawaii at Hilo and served in an administrative position at the Univ. of Hawaii at Honolulu; then joined the faculty of the Univ. of Miami. His musical tastes range from the medieval period to the contemporary era, and also include jazz and non-Western musics; he studied performance traditions of the Japanese koto, the Korean kayakeum, and the bonang panerus member of the Javanese gamelan. His compositional language involves both pitch set permutation and a subtle implication of tonal hierarchy.
Works
ORKS: Jo-ha-kyu (1977-79); Fantasia (1988). CHAMBER: Pulse/Impulsefor Percussion (1983); Trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Marimba (1984); Doodle Musicfor Piccolo and Percussion (1985); Piano Trio (1986); Animistic Studyfor Double Bass (1986); Time Shadowsfor 11 Instruments (1987).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire