Episode 163 - Aaron Perrine

Everything Band Podcast

Aaron Perrine is a composer and two-time winner of the American Bandmasters Association Sousa/Ostwald Award. He joins the show to talk about his career and shares some remarkable anecdotes from his journey so far.

Topics:

• Aaron’s daughter and keeping kids motivated during the period of online learning.
• Aaron’s background in music and growing up in Minnesota as the grandson and son of band directors.
• Aaron’s experiences at the University of Minnesota Morris and the importance of jazz in his musical development.
• A brave decision by a studio teacher that helped Aaron be successful in his music degree an also helped to kick off his composition career.
• Aaron’s decision to leave college teaching to become a full-time composer and advice for anyone thinking about starting to write music.

Links:

• Aaron Perrine
• Schneider: Winter Morning Walks
• Bon Iver: 22, A Million
• Brahms: Intermezzo in A, Op. 118, no. 2
• Colgrass: Winds of Nagual
• Maslanka: A Child's Garden of Dreams
• Perrine: Only Light

Biography:

With works in a variety of genres, Aaron Perrine’s music has been performed by some of the leading ensembles and soloists across the United States and beyond. He is a two-time winner of the American Bandmasters Association Sousa/Ostwald Award for his compositions: Only Light in 2015 and Pale Blue on Deep in 2013. Only Light—commissioned by the University of Iowa Symphony Band, Richard Mark Heidel, conductor—was included on the latest University of Kansas Wind Ensemble recording (Of Shadow and Light, Klavier). Another one of his compositions—Temperance—recently won the 2017 CBDNA Young Band Composition Contest. His music for winds has also been featured at the 2017 CBDNA National Conference, multiple regional CBDNA Conferences, The Midwest Clinic, The Western International Band Clinic, and at numerous all-state, state conference and honor band concerts.

Perrine’s music for saxophone has also received many notable performances. Primal—for saxophone quartet—was performed at the 2014 NASA Biennial Conference in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, and the 2012 World Saxophone Congress XVI in St. Andrews, Scotland. Bridge Suite—for alto saxophone and cello—was performed at the 2012 NASA Biennial Conference in Tempe, Arizona. This past summer, It Has to Be Beautiful, a concerto for alto saxophone and wind ensemble, was premiered by Kenneth Tse with the Symphonic Wind Orchestra of Croatian Armed Forces at the 2018 World Saxophone Congress, in Zagreb, Croatia.

In addition to composing, Perrine is an active conductor and educator. He has conducted a variety of honor bands, with his most recent appearance being the 2018 All-Iowa 8th Grade Honor Band. Future conducting engagements include the 2021 South Dakota All-State Band. He is currently on the faculty at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.

Perrine has received degrees from the University of Iowa, the University of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota, Morris. For more information, please visit aaronperrine.com.