David Maslanka
Used with permission from DavidMaslanka.com.

David Maslanka (born 1943) is a contemporary composer who writes for a variety of genres, including choral works, wind pieces, chamber music, and orchestral works. Best known for his highly acclaimed wind compositions, Maslanka has published nearly 100 pieces, including seven Symphonies for Band, dozens of concertos, 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. Image File history File links David_Maslanka. ... Image File history File links David_Maslanka. ... Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. ... A symphony is an extended piece of music for orchestra, especially one in the form of a sonata. ... Mass is a property of physical objects that, roughly speaking, measures the amount of matter they contain. ...

Maslanka’s compositions have been performed throughout the United States and Europe, as well as Australia, Canada, and Japan (Savoie 2003). A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is the worlds second-smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ...

Life

David Maslanka was born on August 30, 1943 in New Bedford, Massachusetts (Phillips 2001). 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. August 30 is the 242nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (243rd in leap years), with 123 days remaining. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) is a common year starting on Friday. ... New Bedford is a city located in Bristol County, Massachusetts. ... Categories: Stub | Ohio culture | Lorain County, Ohio ... Michigan State University Michigan State University (MSU) is a university in East Lansing, Michigan near the state capital of Lansing. ... Flag of Salzburg Salzburg (population 145,000 in 2003) is a city in western Austria and the capital of the federal state of Salzburg (population 520,000 in 2003). ... H. Owen Reed (b. ... Kingsborough Community College, part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system, is a junior college in Brooklyn, New York. ... The City University of New York (CUNY; acronym usually pronounced kyoo-nee or coo-nee), located in New York City, is the largest urban university in the United States, with more than 198,000 enrolled in degree programs, about 20,000 enrolled in non-degree programs and more than 200... Founded in 1927, Sarah Lawrence College is a co-educational, four-year liberal arts college. ... New York University (NYU) is a major research university in New York City. ... Missoula, Montana viewed from the top of Mount Sentinel in 1999. ...

Awards

Dr. Maslanka has received five residence fellowships at the MacDowell Colony in Petersborough, 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). The MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, created in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his spouse Marion, largely with donated funds. ... State nickname: Granite State, Mother of Rivers, White Mountain State, Switzerland of America [1] Official languages English Capital Concord Largest city Manchester Governor John Lynch (D) Senators Judd Gregg (R) John Sununu (R) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 46th 24,239 km² 3. ... University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut, commonly known as UConn, is the State of Connecticuts land-grant university. ... The American Music Center (AMC), founded in 1939 by a consortium led by the American composer Aaron Copland, is a national information, service, and support center for new U.S. music. ... The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) is an organization known as a collecting society that protects intellectual property, ensuring that music which is broadcast, commercially recorded, or otherwise used for profit, pays a fee to compensate the creators of that music. ... The National Endowment for the Arts is a United States federally funded program that offers support and funding for projects that exhibit artistic excellence. ... The National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC is a major symphony orchestra that performs at the Kennedy Center. ...

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, and alto saxophone. 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 by the following record labels: Albany, Cambria, Crest, CRI, Klavier, Mark, Novisse, and Umass. Percussion instruments are played by being struck, shaken, rubbed or scraped. ... A typical 4-valved bell-upright euphonium The euphonium is a valved brass instrument, the tenor member of the tuba family. ... This article is about the musical instrument. ... This article is about the modern musical instrument. ... // The Modern Instrument The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. ... Alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a family of woodwind instruments invented by Adolphe Sax. ... Percussion instruments are played by being struck, shaken, rubbed or scraped. ... // The Modern Instrument The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. ... While the states marked in red show the core of New England, the regions cultural influence may cover a greater or lesser area than shown. ... The worlds oceans as seen from the South Pacific Ocean (from Okeanos, Greek for river, the ancient Greeks noticed that a strong current flowed off Gibraltar, and assumed it was a great river); covers almost three quarters (71%) of the surface of the Earth, and nearly half of the...

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).

References

• Alexander, Peter. 1998. UI School of Music performance will feature simultaneous world premiere April 7. Press Release. University of Iowa. March 27.
• Carl Fischer LLC. 2005. David Maslanka: Biography.
• Maslanka, David. 2004. Composers on Composing for Band. Ed. Mark Camphouse. GIA Publishing Inc.. Chicago. p.197-224.
• Maslanka, David. Personal web page. http://www.davidmaslanka.com
• Phillips, Paul. 2001. New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Ed. Stanley Sadie. Macmillan Publishers, Ltd. London. Vol. 16. p.30.
• Savoie, Bernard. 2003. David Maslanka