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The“business” of music

An introduction to Senior Faculty

Fellow and Composer, Dorothy Chang —

Composer and Assistant Professor of

Composition, Dorothy Chang

How does a business major
become a music composer? In
the case of Dorothy Chang,
Composer and Assistant
Professor of Composition, UBC
School of Music, it came

down to a gift for musical impro-
visation and a wisely chosen
elective in her first year of

university.

Dorothy was born and raised in
Naperville, Illinois, a suburb of
Chicago. Her parents were both
professionals in the telecommu-
nications industry; neither was
particularly musical. Despite this,
Dorothy and her two sisters all
learned to play the piano at a
young age, and Dorothy learned
to play the clarinet as well. She
had little exposure to classical or

contemporary music, but she

loved to improvise at the piano,
playing with pitches and sounds.
She wrote her first piece when

she was only six years old.

Following high school, Dorothy
set off to study business,

not music, at the University of
Michigan. Luckily, she enrolled in
an Introduction to Composition
for Non-Majors course. It
proved to be just what she need-
ed to introduce the possibility
of a career in composition. Soon
after, she transferred into the
music composition program and
began pursuing her passion

full time.

At first Dorothy worried that her
lack of prior training would be

a disadvantage; most of her
classmates had taken pre-college
composition programs at
schools like Juilliard, and had
been writing and working

with teachers for years. However,
her talent and dedicated work
ethic served her well. She com-
pleted a Bachelor of Music and a
Master of Arts in Composition

at the University of Michigan, and
then a Doctorate in Composition

at Indiana University.

After several years teaching a
variety of music courses at
Indiana State University, Dorothy
was thrilled to earn a position
teaching music composition at

UBC. She moved to Vancouver

Winter 2006

composition

By: Yvonne Gillespie,
Junior Fellow

with her musician husband, fully
aware of the challenges and
rewards awaiting her. She knew
it would be difficult to get con-
nected in a new musical environ-
ment, especially in a large city
with such an active arts scene,
but she is delighted with the
welcome and support she has
received from local musicians

and artists.

Dorothy’s main teaching goal is
to engage her students in the
learning and creative process. In

composition, she encourages

students to challenge themselves

to explore new directions, and
tries to help each individual iden-
tify his or her musical goals. As a
composition teacher, she strives
to help her students develop the
skills, knowledge, originality and
direction they need to succeed in
whatever areas they pursue.

Being a composer has definite
advantages and challenges. There
are often long stretches of isola-
tion and hard work, interrupted
by frenzied activity to ensure the
completion of works for looming
deadlines. Dorothy juggles
teaching, students’ needs, com-
mission deadlines, and travel,
not to mention her family life and
recreation. Fortunately, this is
balanced by greatly rewarding

experiences: working with

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