Jody Diamond
Encyclopedia
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, performer, writer, publisher, editor, and educator. She specializes in traditional and new music for Indonesian gamelan
Gamelan
A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....
and is active internationally as a scholar, performer, and publisher.
Biography
She received a B.A. from the University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
in 1977, and an M.A. from San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
in 1979, pursuing interdisciplinary studies in music, anthropology, and education.
Diamond is a co-founder and co-director, with Larry Polansky
Larry Polansky
Larry Polansky is a composer, guitarist, mandolinist, and a professor at Dartmouth College. He is a founding member and co-director of . He co-wrote HMSL with Phil Burk and David Rosenboom....
, of Frog Peak Music (a composers' collective)
Frog Peak Music
Frog Peak Music is a composer's collective that produces and distributes experimental works, and functions as a home for its artists. It was co-founded in 1984 by Jody Diamond and Larry Polansky....
. She also founded (in 1981) and directs the American Gamelan Institute
American Gamelan Institute
The is an organization devoted to promoting and documenting all forms of gamelan, the performing arts of Indonesia, and their international counterparts....
and edits its journal, Balungan.
She received a Fulbright Senior Scholar Research Fellowship to survey contemporary music in Indonesia (1988–89), as well as two National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
Fellowships for work on Indonesian composers (1991), and for work on the gamelan music of Lou Harrison
Lou Harrison
Lou Silver Harrison was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison...
(2007).
She has created numerous works for gamelan, some based on songs from various traditions. Her works have been performed internationally. She is often a guest composer/performer with Gamelan Son of Lion
Gamelan Son of Lion
Gamelan Son of Lion is a new-music American gamelan ensemble based in New York City. The group was founded in 1976 by Barbara Benary , Philip Corner, and Daniel Goode. It is a composers' collective as well as repertory ensemble...
, notably for their participation in the Yogyakarta Gamelan Festival in 1996.
Diamond teaches at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
with the instruments of Gamelan Si Betty, built by Lou Harrison and Wiliam Colvig. She also teaches at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. At Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
she has used a Javanesegadon, as well as a Balinese Gamelan Angklung. She has also taught at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, Mills College
Mills College
Mills College is an independent liberal arts women's college founded in 1852 that offers bachelor's degrees to women and graduate degrees and certificates to women and men. Located in Oakland, California, Mills was the first women's college west of the Rockies. The institution was initially founded...
, Goddard College
Goddard College
Goddard College is a private, liberal arts college located in Plainfield, Vermont, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Goddard College currently operates on an intensive low-residency model...
, Bates College
Bates College
Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...
, Franklin Pierce College
Franklin Pierce College
Franklin Pierce University is a small, private, regionally-accredited university in rural Rindge, New Hampshire, founded in 1962, combining a liberal arts foundation with coursework for professional preparation...
, and Monash University
Monash University
Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
in Australia.
Selected works
- 1981 In that Bright World, voice, gamelan (based on Appalachian folk song)
- 1982 Sabbath Bride, gamelan, 1982 (based on Hebrew melody)
- 1984 Hard Times, chorus, violin, mandocello, gamelan (based on a Stephen Foster song)
Recordings
- In That Bright World: Music for Javanese Gamelan. Compositions by Diamond performed by the musicians of the Indonesian National Arts Institute in Surakarta, Central Java, called ISI Solo. Liner notes by Judith Becker can be downloaded at "In That Bright World". Produced by New World RecordsNew World RecordsNew World Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in American music. The label was established in 1975 through a Rockefeller Foundation grant to produce a 100 disc anthology covering 200 years of American music....
.