Beth Anderson (composer) facts for kids
Beth Anderson is an American composer who writes music that sounds both new and classic. She is known for creating a special type of music called "swales."
Swales are like musical collages. Beth Anderson makes them by putting together new sounds and pieces of music she creates herself. She once explained that she named them "swales" because a swale is a place where many different wild things grow together, just like her music brings many sounds together.
She learned from famous composers like John Cage and Terry Riley. She also studied music at several universities, including the University of Kentucky, UC Davis, New York University, and Mills College.
Biography
Early life
Beth Anderson was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1950. She grew up in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. Her parents, Marjorie and Sidney Anderson, encouraged her to love music.
She started playing the piano when she was a child. Soon after, she began writing her own music. At age 14, she started taking piano lessons from a composer named Helen Libscomb. Ms. Liscomb taught Beth how to write traditional music. In high school, Beth also learned to compose more modern music by reading books.
Education
After high school, Beth Anderson went to the University of Kentucky. After two years, she moved to the University of California at Davis. There, she earned her first degree in piano performance.
While finishing that degree, one of her musical pieces, Peachy Keen-O, was performed at Mills College. The director of the music center at Mills College, Bob Ashley, heard her music. He was so impressed that he asked her to stay and study there. She then earned another degree in music composition from Mills College.
Later life
After her studies, Beth Anderson became known as an important composer in California. She married Elliotte Rusty Harold, who writes computer books, on July 28, 1995. They met at a dinner party in New York.
A newspaper story about her wedding in 1995 described her as both old-fashioned and modern. It also mentioned that she "giggles often" and listens to the band Megadeth when she cleans her apartment!
Music Albums
- Feminae in Musica (Feminae Records, 2007)
- Tale One
- Tale Three
- Belgian Tango
- Performed by: Aleksandra Maslovaric (violin), Tania Fleischer (piano)
- Namely (Other Minds Records, 2020)
Listen to Her Music
- NewMusicJukeBox.org: Beth Anderson
See also
In Spanish: Beth Anderson para niños
