Background
Barney Childs was born on February 13, 1926, in Spokane, Washington, United States.
Deep Springs Ranch Road CA-168, Big Pine, CA 93513, United States
During the period from 1943 till 1945, Childs studied at Deep Springs College.
1664 N Virginia St, Reno, NV 89557, United States
Childs attended the University of Nevada, Reno, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949.
University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2JD, United Kingdom
Barney studied at the University of Oxford, where he received his second Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951 and a Master of Arts degree in 1955.
450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, United States
In 1961, Barney received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in English from Stanford University.
Barney Childs and B. Harle.
Barney Childs at a rehearsal.
Childs with his student Chris Coppola.
Barney Childs as a young boy.
Childs, conducting a small group of musicians.
Barney Childs was born on February 13, 1926, in Spokane, Washington, United States.
Initially, Barney was trained as a literary scholar. During the period from 1943 till 1945, he studied at Deep Springs College. Then, Childs attended the University of Nevada, Reno, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949. Later, Barney entered the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. It was at Oxford, that Childs received his second Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951 and a Master of Arts degree in 1955.
Later in his lifetime, Barney came back to the United States, where he enrolled at Stanford University, graduating with a Doctor of Philosophy degree in English in 1961.
In composition, though, Barney was self-taught until he was in his late 20's, when he studied with his mentors Leonard Ratner and Elliott Carter in New York and with Aaron Copland and Carlos Chavez at Tanglewood.
As for Barney's career as a musician, he wrote his first instrumental in 1951. In the years, that followed, Childs created dozens of pieces, including symphonies, instrumental chamber music, choral pieces and the stage play "The Rockville Project". During his career, Childs was also associated with double bass player Bertram Turetzky and clarinet player Phillip Rehfeldt. Together with Rehfeldt, he was a performing participant in the commissioning series "Music for Clarinet and Friend".
In 1956, Childs was appointed a teacher of English literature at the University of Arizona, a post he held till 1965. At the university, Barney also acted as a mentor of young Joseph Byrd. Between 1965 and 1969, Childs held a post of Dean of Deep Springs College.
In 1970, Childs acted as a composer-in-residence at Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. From 1971 till his death in 2000, Barney was a fellow of the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies, where he also was a teacher of composition and music literature. Also, in 1989, he served as a visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Moreover, Childs was on the executive committee and National Council of the American Society of University Composers, of the American Composers Alliance, as well as the advisory board of the American Music Society in England.
During his career, Barney also contributed articles to such publications, as Contemporary Composers on Contemporary Music, Music Educators Journal and Music Theory: Special Topics. Moreover, he penned a poetry instruction manual - "The Poetry 1 Book", published posthumously in 2014.
Barney's musical interests were broad and they all left a mark on his compositions, which embraced the mainstream masters of his early years, like Paul Hindemith, along with Charles Ives and John Cage. Cage's influence was a particular liberation, leading Childs to engage the performer in more or less free music-making. Jazz also had a great impact on Barney's work.
Childs was President of the American Society of University Composers.
Barney had great generosity of spirit, especially towards younger colleagues, and a wickedly ironic sense of humour. Unusually for a Californian, he did not drive.
Physical Characteristics: Barney suffered from Parkinson's disease.
Barney was a father of two daughters - Dirje Smith and Margaret Childs.