Professor of music

For many of us, music is a background sound that ebbs and flows throughout our day. For Jackson Hill it is a constant in his life. He hears it all the time and, while it is often on a CD or tape, more often it is playing in his head. Not surprisingly, Hill is a prolific composer.

He began composing at age 14 and has composed well over 100 pieces, including symphonies, music for solo piano and solo voice, church music, choral concert music, and electronic music. Hill's compositions are perhaps best known for their Japanese or Asian influence. In 2002 "Voices of Autumn," a Hill choral composition that was strongly influenced by Japanese music, was one of the pieces on a Grammy-nominated CD by the 12-voice a cappella vocal ensemble called Chanticleer. More recently, his latest work, "Remembered Love, Unforgotten Dreams,"premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

On campus, Hill has been able to share his love of Asian music with his students in a very "hands-on" way, through a Javanese gamelan. The gamelan is a set of 15 percussion instruments. As Hill explains, while "often it takes 6 or 7 years of study to be able to take part in Japanese, Chinese, or Arabic music, this is not true of Javanese music. Players can learn enough in an hour to start playing. It provides the students a window on a different musical culture."

Teaching areas

• Music history
• Ethno musicology
• Composition

Performances

• Tanglewood Festival
• Ravinia Festival
• Chautauqua Festival
• Edinburgh Festival

Commissions

• Chanticleer
• The King's Singers
• Fitzwilliam String Quartet
• Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra

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