An Introduction to George Perle

I am in a somewhat unique position, since I studied composition privately with George Perle while he was working with Paul Lansky on expanding the system now called "twelve-tone tonality." In addition to learning fundamentals of composition, I was also a sort of test subject for his then still-developing system. As a result I find I must speak as much about myself at times as I do about George. In the early 1970s, Queens College (City University of New York) undergraduates could not major in music composition. I found this frustrating, having come to Queens with the near-obsessive intent of studying composition. On one hand, I had limited experience with classical music, had taken only a rudimentary theory course in high school, and I had written just a few short works on my own without the guidance of a teacher or mentor. On the other hand I was tenacious, and I began reading anything to do with new music (whether or not I understood it), going to concerts, looking at scores in the library, and listening to every recording I could. I also didn't let being a mere undergraduate stop me from convincing a professor or two to let me take a graduate-level course here and there. By my second year I was more than eager to study composition and decided to find a private teacher from among the faculty at the college. Like all good students in search of answers I went to the music office, where I asked a faculty member for the name of "the best composer in the school." The Queens College music department faculty at that time listed a broad spectrum of well-respected and talented composers; these included Sol Berkowitz, Leo Kraft, Joel Mandelbaum, Henry Weinberg, Hugo Weisgall and, of course, George Perle. I knew nothing about any of them then. The faculty member whom I queried asked if I meant "the best composition teacher," but I answered no I was in search of the best composer. After all, I reasoned, who would have the most to teach me? And since I didn't know any of the faculty, I felt safe asking for the best. And of course I was sent to George Perle.