John Elwood Price


John Elwood Price was an American composer, pianist, ethnomusicologist, and music teacher. He composed approximately 600 musical works in a wide variety of genres. His works are widely performed in the United States by professional groups.

Biography

Elwood began to study piano when he was five years old. He was a musical prodigy. In sixth grade he wrote a piece for piano that he performed at the graduation ceremony. In high school, he learned orchestral instruments. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in piano and composition from Lincoln University in 1957. There he studied composition with David Baker. In 1963, he earned a Master of Music at the University of Tulsa, where he studied with Oscar Anderson Fuller and Bela Rozsa. He later studied music at Washington University in St. Louis, working with Robert Wykes and Harold Blumenfeld. From 1957 to 1959 Elwood was the staff pianist at the Karamu House, a historic Black theater in the Fairfax neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio. He composed incidental music for theater and worked as a vocal coach. He taught at Florida Memorial College, where he was Chairman of Music and Fine Arts and composer-in-residence. He then taught at Eastern Illinois University, and finally at Tuskegee University, where he began his employment as the Portia Washington Pittman Fellow and artist-in-residence.

Works

Works for orchestra

1. The Solent
2. Inertia
1. Recitative
2. Spiritual
3. Variations
1. Spiritual
3. Jumpin 'Dance
1. Arawak
2. Citadel
3. Makandal
1. Recitation
2. Rag
3. Spiritual
For three instruments, clarinet, tuba and piano

Works for piano