Priscilla McLean facts for kids
Priscilla McLean (born May 27, 1942) is an American composer, performer, and artist. She creates music, performs it, makes video art, and writes. She also reviews music.
Life and Music
Priscilla Taylor was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Her father, Conrad Taylor, was a business manager, and her mother, Grace Taylor, was a school teacher. Priscilla studied at Fitchburg State College and the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. She earned her master's degree from Indiana University in 1969. There, she was inspired by the music of Iannis Xenakis, a famous composer.
Priscilla McLean has taught music at several universities. These include Indiana University, St. Mary's College, the University of Hawaii, and the University of Malaysia. From 1976 to 1980, she helped produce a radio series for the American Society of Composers.
In 1974, Priscilla and her husband, Barton McLean, started performing together. They called themselves The McLean Mix. By 1983, they were performing their own music full-time. Priscilla sings using special vocal techniques. She also plays the piano, synthesizer, violin, percussion, and Native American wooden flutes. She even plays instruments they created themselves!
The McLean Mix has performed all over the world. They have traveled across the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Experts describe Priscilla McLean's music as very diverse. It ranges from orchestral pieces to exciting electronic works. Since 1978, much of her music has been about nature and the wilderness. She often includes sounds from animals and nature, mixed with electronic music.
Awards and Recognition
Priscilla McLean has received many important awards for her work. These include:
- National Endowment for the Arts Composer Grants: These grants help composers create new music.
- National Endowment for the Arts Media Arts Grant: This award supports artists who use media like video in their work.
- Martha Baird Rockefeller Grant: Another grant to help artists with their projects.
- 1989 UNESCO International Composers Rostrum: Her piece Voices of the Wild was chosen for international broadcast. This was a big honor!
Selected Music and Artworks
Priscilla McLean has created many different kinds of musical pieces and art projects. Here are some examples:
- Rainer Maria Rilke Poems: Three Songs for Soprano Voice and Violin (1967): Songs for a singer and violin.
- Interplanes (1971): A piece for two pianos.
- Night Images (1973): An electronic music piece.
- Dance of Dawn (1974): Another electronic music piece.
- Variations and Mosaics on a Theme of Stravinsky (1975): A piece for a full orchestra.
- Fire & Ice (1977): For trombone and a special "prepared" piano.
- Beneath the Horizon I (1978): This piece uses processed whale songs and a tuba quartet.
- Fantasies for Adults and Other Children (1980): Eight pieces for a singer, piano, and two performers.
- The Inner Universe (1982): Five pieces for prepared piano and recorded sounds.
- O Beautiful Suburbia! (1984): For a singer, autoharp, narrator, amplified bicycle wheel, and recorded sound.
- A Magic Dwells (1986): For orchestra and recorded sound.
- Rainforest (1989): A collaborative art installation with Barton McLean. It used five performance stations, digital processing, recorded sound, and slides or video.
- Voices of the Wild (1989, revised 2011): For symphony orchestra and recorded nature sounds.
- The Dance of Shiva (1990): Electronic music with slides or video.
- Everything Awakening Alert and Joyful! (1992): For a narrator and orchestra.
- Rainforest Images (1993): An electronic music collaboration with Barton McLean.
- Where the Wild Geese Go (1994): For clarinet and recorded sound.
- In the Beginning (1995): For a singer, digital and video processors, and recorded sounds.
- Desert Spring (1997): A collaborative installation with Barton McLean. It featured electronic music, recorded sounds, and images of the American desert.
- Symphony of Seasons: Jewels of January and The Eye of Spring (2001): Electronic music with video.
- Caverns of Darkness, Rings of Light (2007): For solo tuba, recorded tubas, and video.
- Cries and Echoes (2009): For solo cello, recorded cellos, and video.
- Peter's People: Creating the Dream (2012): A video collaboration with Barton McLean. It features interviews with artists and original music.
- Pilgrimage (2015): An electronic music piece.
- Caribbean Fantasy (2019): An electronic music piece.
- Ghost Voices (2020): An electronic music piece.
- Ruckus (2021): An electronic music piece.
- Quarantined! (2022): An electronic music piece.
Books and Films
Priscilla McLean has also written a book and directed a film:
- Hanging Off the Edge— Revelations of a Modern Troubadour (2006): This is her memoir, which is like a story of her life.
- Peter's People— Creating the Dream (2012): She co-directed this film with Barton McLean.
