| Interview with Cindy A. Cox by Jena N. Spurgeon 1 1/99 |
Soft spoken, but an extremely powerful presence, describes the Cindy A. Cox that I was fortu nate enough to interview. An intellectual musician and composer, Ms. Cox graduated summa cum laude from Texas Christian University, and went on to receive her masters and doctorate in composition from Indiana University. Ms. Cox has been playing piano sin ce childhood and went on to college knowing that she would pursue a career in music. However, it wasn’t until graduate school that Ms. Cox would find her love for composing. Studying under Harvey Sollberger, Eugene O’Brien, Donald Erb, and among 2,000 music students, Ms. Cox referred to her training at Indiana University as “intense”. It is no wonder, then, that her music reflects such profound knowledge of her talent, as well as tremendous creativity. Ms. Cox has co mposed several works, those of which include a piece titled “Cathedral Spires”, created for The Women’s Philharmonic of San Francisco. “Cathedral Spires” differs from other works by Ms. Cox in that it is an orchestral piece tendin g towards a more conservative style. Rather unique, is the piano and percussion piece called “Four Studies of Light and Dark” that was originally designed to be for dance. Almost tribal sounding, “Four Studies of Light and Dark” puts f orth a conglomerate of sounds both peaceful and harsh, generating a feeling of calmness in chaos. It incorporates what Ms. Cox referred to as “gestures that could be connected to popular music”. Ms. Cox has received many awards for her contribut ion to music. The GEDOK award was given to her by the International Competition for Women Composers, acknowledging Ms. Cox’s important contribution to her profession as a female composer. As a woman composer, Ms. Cox, has experienc ed some discrimination, although she does not feel that it was overt. During her graduate studies Ms. Cox was the only female graduate student in music. Quite frequently her teachers were male and because of this she felt a “sense of isolation”. Ms. Cox likened her struggles as a woman composer to the issues that women face everyday in society, but stated further that the problems she faced were, “sometimes harder, because there are so few female composers”. Presently, Ms. Cox is an as sistant professor at UC Berkeley. She works to bring more female students into the composing program, and most importantly to make them feel, while in the program, that they are not “isolated”. She emphasizes the importance of informing women of careers in music while they’re young, so that they have more knowledge and opportunity to pursue their field once they get to the university. Growing up in Houston, Texas, Ms. Cox revealed that, although she had support from famil y, there lacked any women composers for whom she could call role models. Ms. Cox “didn’t have a sense growing up that women even composed music”, and so feels that becoming a woman composer takes a great deal of “courage and imaginatio n” seeing as it is difficult to be the first to become that role model. Hence, she came to the realization that she had to leave her home in order to move on in her career. Ms. Cox was interested in the intellectual aspect of music and felt that it c ould be better obtained elsewhere. She fulfills that intellectual desire, still, by teaching at Berkeley, where she shares her expertise and advice on composition, as well as helping to expose her students to contemporary music. Ms. Cox is an incredible r ole model for women who wish to pursue their dream of composing.
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| Interview With Cindy A.
Cox: Fellowships: |
| Pieces Include*: Cathedral Spires |