Beverly Grigsby

Beverly Grigsby (née Pinsky, January 11, 1928 – August 22, 2022) was an American composer, musicologist and electronic/computer music pioneer.

Early life

Beverly Pinsky was born in Chicago, Illinois, and studied music and ballet as a child. She danced in Chicago Civic Opera's ballet chorus. She moved to California with her family at the age of 13 and graduated from Fairfax High School at age 16.

Education

Grigsby entered the University of Southern California to study pre-med, and also studied composition with Ernst Krenek at the Southern California School of Music and the Arts. She earned Bachelor of Arts (in 1961) and Master of Arts (in 1963) degrees in composition from San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University, Northridge); upon graduation she was hired to teach at her alma mater. In 1971 she earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts in composition from the University of Southern California. She later studied computer music generation at Stanford University’s Center for Artificial Intelligence (CCRMA) and at M.I.T. in 1975-1976.

Career

In 1962 she scored Francis Coppola's UCLA student film Ayamonn the Terrible with a music concrète score.

In 1963 Grigsby took a position teaching music at California State University, Northridge. With Krenek and Aurelio de la Vega, she established its Computer Music Studio. This was the first electronic music studio on the United States' west coast based at a university; other private studios had been established earlier by Ivor Darreg, John Robb, Henry Jacobs, Paul Beaver, and the San Francisco Tape Music Center. She taught theory, composition, and musicology there until her retirement in 1993. Her studio focused on analog synthesis, electronic music, and computer-generated music. Her studio was among the first to acquire a Synclavier and later a Fairlight CMI.

In 1984 Grigsby composed the first computerized opera score, for The Mask of Eleanor.

Along with Jeannie G. Pool, she founded the International Institute for the Study of Women in Music in 1985. She was heavily involved with the International Congress on Women in Music.

The 1994 Northridge earthquake destroyed her personal studio. After her retirement from CSU Northridge she continued to teach privately and work as a composer. She studied medieval and renaissance music in Solesmes Abbey, a site of major musicological interest in Gregorian chant due to Dom Prosper Guéranger's revival of the Benedictine Order and its original monastic traditions; this led to her being named a Getty Museum Research Scholar in 1997 and 1998.

Her music has been performed internationally.

Death

Grigsby died on August 22, 2022, at the age of 94.

Honors and awards

Works

Grigsby has composed choral and chamber music, and also for film soundtracks and stage. She is noted for electroacoustic compositions. Selected works include:

In a chapter she contributed to Judith Zaimont's book The Musical Woman: An International Perspective, 1983, Grigsby wrote the first survey of women in the field of electronic music.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Pool, Jeannie (2003). "Beverly Grigsby Marks Her 75th Birthday with a Compact Disc and Concert" (PDF). Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music. 9 (2): 13.
  2. 1 2 Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393034875. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Hinkle-Turner, Elizabeth (2006). Women Composers and Music Technology in the United States: Crossing the Line. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-7546-0461-7.
  4. ↑ Wierzbicki, James Eugene (2005). Louis and Bebe Barron's Forbidden Planet: A Film Score Guide. Scarecrow Press. pp. 30–31. ISBN 978-0-8108-5670-7.
  5. ↑ Wharton, David (April 8, 1988). "Institute at Cal State Northridge Hopes to Even the Score on Women Composers : Donated Records, Music Put Library on a Grander Scale". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
  6. ↑ "Guide to the Library of the Institute for the Study of Women in Music Collection" (PDF). Online Archive of California. California Digital Library. 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
  7. ↑ Pool, Jeannie Pool (2003). "Beverly Grigsby Marks Her 75th Birthday with a Compact Disc and Concert". IAWM Journal. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2010.
  8. ↑ "Beverly P. Grigsby". Mount Sinai Memorial Parks and Mortuaries. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  9. ↑ Arts, National Endowment for the. Annual Report. Division of Publications, National Endowment for the Arts.
  10. ↑ Hanawalt, Anita (2007). "News of Individual Members' Activities" (PDF). Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music. 13 (2): 75.
  11. ↑ Grigsby, Beverly (1985). "Occam's Razor". Perspectives of New Music. 24 (1): 336–356. doi:10.2307/832785. ISSN 0031-6016.
  12. ↑ "Local And State Association News". American Music Teacher. 38 (4): 61–61. 1989. ISSN 0003-0112.
  13. ↑ Wyma, Mike (1990-02-09). "Clarinetist's Public Valentine to 12 Women". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-03-08.
  14. ↑ Phillips, Jan (1985). "Review of Redesigning the American Dream: The Future of Housing, Work, and Family Life". Signs. 11 (1): 184–185. ISSN 0097-9740.