Webster High School Marching Band Dr. Ron Nelson Background

The need to categorize composers and artists is a natural step in our desire to understand them. In this case, however, no single category can encompass the diversity of styles and forms in which Ron Nelson has chosen to express himself. His works may be light or somber, exuberant or profound, extroverted or highly personal. He has composed two operas, a mass, cantata, oratorio, music for films and television, 90 choral works, and over 40 instrumental works, of which half were composed for wind band.

Nelson's prolific output would alone be impressive for his mastery of these diverse genres. But, the fact that he has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and grants (Howard Foundation, Ford Foundation, Fulbright and NEA grants), commissions (Rochester Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, universities and choral groups), and has twice been the only composer to win coveted honors (the first musician to hold the Acuff Chair of Excellence in the Creative Arts, and the only composer to win all three major band composition contests with the same work) testifies that he is not merely an eclectic craftsman, he is a gifted artist.

Ron Nelson was born in Joliet, Illinois, December 14, 1929. His father worked for the railroad, his mother in a department store. Both parents had ambitions for their son: his father, who knew little about music but could whistle perfectly, wanted Ron to be a professional left-handed pitcher. His mother who could play anything by ear on the piano, wanted Ron to be an organist. Obligatory piano lessons began at age 6 with the same teacher who had taught his mother. He recalls, "I found it more fun and easier to make up pieces than learn others. My teacher taught me notation and insisted that I write down what I improvised. It was good discipline." His first composition, at age 6, was entitled "The Sailboat" ("I still have it, my mother saved everything").

Nelson's interest in piano waned around age 12 and he switched to organ, becoming a church organist at 13. His motives were heavenward, but not entirely spiritual: "I used the money I earned to secretly take flying lessons." He considers organ studies crucial because they revealed the basic principles of orchestration. He started conducting and arranging shows when attending Joliet Township High School: "Many schools are known for their athletic programs but Joliet was renowned for its music. We were at the top of the heap." He taught himself string bass in order to play in the band, and received support from the director, Bruce Housknecht (an Eastman alumnus), who encouraged him to compose. This resulted in a 22-minute concerto for piano and symphonic band. Ron played the first and last performance at age 17.

The concerto and a recommendation from the Houseknecht got him accepted to the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Howard Hanson and Bernard Rogers. "Hanson's genius was to create an environment where you couldn't wait to write something for the next class. He was a source of inspiration, a mentor, and one of the reasons that I stayed at Eastman." Nelson earned his B.Mus degree in 1952, M.Mus. in 1953, and D.M.A. in 1956, all from Eastman.

He went to Paris in 1954-55 on a Fulbright Grant and studied at the Ecole Normale de Musique and the Paris Conservatory. "Paris was the perfect antidote to the heavy drain of doctoral work. I interviewed at the school and was offered the option to study with either Nadia Boulanger or Arthur Honegger. I chose Honneger because I admired his music. He subsequently became ill, so I ended up studying with Tony Aubin and spent the rest of my time travelling. My favorite course at Eastman was Fine Arts, where we dealt with the great cultures of Egypt and Greece. To actually travel to those places was overwhelming."

During a visit to England, he met two of his heroes, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Willian Walton. "Walton's Troilus and Cressida was being rehearsed and I got the chance to meet Walton briefly. He was a very cold person, not at all like his music, with its warm and dynamic qualities. On the other hand, Vaughan Williams was like meeting God. He was very kind and his personality did seem to fit his music."

Returning to Eastman, Nelson became involved with film music. "As a teenager I had visited my cousin, a film composer, in Hollywood. I thought 'this is for me,' so while at Eastman I prepared myself for two careers: one in film scoring and one in academia, as a backstop. Later, I reversed the order and put academia first."

Following graduation, he joined the music faculty of Brown University in 1956, served as Chairman of the Music Department 1963-1973, and was named professor emeritus in 1993 upon his retirement.

Savannah River Holiday was composed in 1953 and established, for better and worse, what some would see as his "style." Nelson said, "I have long ago accepted being typecast as a composer of flashy, high energy overtures. I would like listeners to understand that I do not 'arrange' my lighter pieces, I really feel this music. There are two distinct aesthetic tracks in my musical personality, and I believe that both are composed and orchestrated equally well."

Nelson's writing for concert band took off with Rocky Point Holiday, and he sees it as a critical moment in the development of his transparent manner of wind composing. "This style had its genesis at Eastman. I came from huge, Revelli-style bands in Joliet and had that sound in my ear. Then I got to Eastman and heard this very tight, sinewy sound in the form for the Eastman Wind Ensemble under Frederick Fennell. This sound was seeping into my musical consciousness, and it was not until I got away from it that I realized how important this experience was."

It struck a chord with wind band conductors and audiences, and composing for band became a major part of his compositional life. During this period, he was equally well known for his highly effective choral works. "Choral writing has profoundly influenced my style. You will hear that in Passacaglia and Chaconne. I often ask players to 'sing' their parts, and sometimes literally to sing." His world travels also left their mark: "The non-Western connection started in the early 1950s and moved naturally into the minimalist style of the late 1960s. All that remains identifiable with minimalism is my use of ostinati."

Ron Nelson is the wind band composer's Renaissance man, not simply because he was employed Renaissance music in Courtly Airs and Dances. He is a composer whose curiosity and skill are not bounded by instrumentation, and who has the courage to express himself, depending upon the inspiration at the time. He said "I think that composers MUST have something to say musically, and I think that all music, regardless of its 'specific gravity,'must be well crafted. I hope the audience hears these pieces as such, well crafted, with something to say." Perhaps, in the end, Ron Nelson will create his own "category" (to use Slatkin's word) and other composers will seek to be compared to him.