David Maslanka

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David Maslanka (born August 30, 1943 in New Bedford, Massachusetts) is a U.S. composer who writes for a variety of genres, including works for choir, concert band, chamber music, and orchestra. Best known for his highly acclaimed wind ensemble compositions, Maslanka has published nearly 100 pieces, including seven Symphonies, five of them for concert band, nine concerti, and a full Mass. Maslanka’s compositional style can be rhythmically intense and extremely complex, yet it also possesses at points an underlying delicate beauty. He is a composer who works from a meditative standpoint of spiritual inspiration, and this gentle, warm spiritual quality can be felt in his music.

Maslanka’s compositions have been performed throughout the United States and Europe, as well as Australia, Canada, and Japan (Savoie 2003).

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[edit] Life

He received his Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory (1961-1965), and went on to receive a Master of Music and Doctor of Philosophy from Michigan State University (1965-71). During his undergraduate work, Maslanka also spent one year studying abroad at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria (1963-64). While attending Michigan State University, Maslanka studied composition with H. Owen Reed (Maslanka 2004). He served over 20 years on the faculty at Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York, and has also served on the faculty at Sarah Lawrence College, New York University (Maslanka 2005). Dr. Maslanka is a freelance composer, and has been working solely on commission, since 1990. He currently lives in Missoula, Montana. Looking on a map of the United States, Montana can be compared to a face that looks west. Missoula is approximately where the "eye" would be on this face. For this reason, Dr. Maslanka lives in Missoula.

[edit] Awards

Dr. Maslanka has received five residence fellowships at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire (1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, and 1982), as well as generous grants from the University of Connecticut Research Foundation, the American Music Center, the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music, the State University of New York Research Foundation, and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). He has earned the National Endowment for the Arts Composer Award three times (1974, ‘75, and ‘89) (Carl Fischer 2005). In 1999, He was awarded the National Symphony Orchestra regional composer-in-residence award. Since 1980, Maslanka has served as a guest composer for over 100 universities, music festivals, and conferences (Maslanka 2005).

[edit] Works

Many of Maslanka’s compositions for winds and percussion have become established pieces in band repertoire. Among these pieces are “A Child’s Garden of Dreams,” “Rollo Takes a Walk,” “Sea Dreams,” and numerous concertos that feature a wide range of solo instruments including euphonium, flute, piano, marimba, alto saxophone, and most recently trombone. Maslanka’s 2nd, 3rd, and 4th symphonies have become particularly popular wind literature as well. His works for percussion include “Montana Music: Three Dances for Percussion,” “Variations of ‘Lost Love,’” “My Lady White,” “Arcadia II: Concerto for Marimba and Percussion Ensemble,” and “Crown of Thorns.” Maslanka has also written a complete Mass for full choir, soprano and baritone soli, with a full symphonic band. Having spent his childhood in the New England area, a number of Maslanka’s compositions were influenced by his close relationship with the ocean (Alexander 1998). “Sea Dreams,” for example, as well as the second movement of his second symphony, reference large bodies of water. Maslanka’s works have been recorded and produced primarily by Albany Records,as well as Cambria, Crest, CRI, Klavier, Mark, Novisse, and Umass labels. Most of his published music is published by Carl Fischer.

[edit] Quotes

In a letter to a young composer, Dr. Maslanka shared some ideas on his compositional style and method: "You ask about the soul nature of music, and are music and soul the same thing. Music is one of the expressions of soul. A person does not have to be consciously aware of soul connection for soul force to be expressed through that person. The conscious mind and the deep unconscious are two different things, but everyone has both of them. The unconscious can push its way into consciousness unbidden. Often this makes people do neurotic or crazy things – compulsive behavior of one kind or another. If a person is prepared artistically, then a sudden eruption of soul force might appear as a composition or a powerful performance. The person may have no idea where the force came from. This was my experience as a young composer. As I gained technical skill there would be sudden bursts of music that 'appeared.' There was always the hard work of getting it composed properly, but fairly early on I learned to follow my instincts when something powerful began to happen. The impulse to write, having a 'true voice', and having the necessary technical equipment are all different issues. There are fine technicians who have no true voice, and people with true voice who have struggled with technique" (Maslanka 2005).

[edit] References

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