James Tenney

His piano instruction came from Eduard Steuermann, while composition lessons were undertaken with Chou Wen-chung, Lionel Nowak, Paul Boepple, Henry Brant, Carl Ruggles, Kenneth Gaburo, Lejaren Hiller, and Edgard Varése. From 1961 to 1964 he held the position of Associate Member of the Technical Staff at Bell Telephone Labs. Computer systems were subsequently developed at Yale and the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He co-founded the Tone Roads Chamber Ensemble, active from 1963 to 1970, and performed with ensembles led by Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Harry Partch, John Cage, and Fluxus. Lectures were delivered at the New School for Social Research, and teaching appointments followed at the University of South Florida, the University of California at Santa Barbara, Stanford University, and elsewhere. His standing as a theorist rests on the books META + HODOS (1961), John Cage and the Theory of Harmony (1984), and A History of Consonance and Dissonance (1988).