Deon Nielsen Price

Deon Nielsen Price
Born (1934-05-16) May 16, 1934
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Alma materBrigham Young University
University of Michigan
University of Southern California
Employer(s)California State University, Northridge
University of California, Santa Barbara
Long Beach City College
El Camino College
Organization(s)International Alliance for Women in Music
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
Mu Phi Epsilon
Notable workAccompanying Skills for Pianists (1991)
SpouseKendall O. Price
Children5

Deon Nielsen Price (born May 16, 1934) is an American collaborative pianist, classical composer, educator and writer. Her book Accompanying Skills for Pianists (1991) is noted for outlining the foundational concepts for pianists new to collaborative piano.

Biography

Price was born on May 16, 1934, in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. She began signing as a child and performed as a vocal soloist from kindergarten.[1] She was awarded the San Francisco Bay Area Bank of America Achievement Award in Fine Arts when she graduated from high school.[2]

Price studied a Bachelor of Arts at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah; a Master of Music at the University of Michigan (UMich) in Ann Arbor, Michigan; and a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, California.[3][4] She studied piano with Gwendolyn Koldofsky[5][6] and composition with Leslie Bassett and Samuel Adler.[7]

As a solo and collaborative pianist, Price has performed in the continental United States, South America, Asia and Europe.[3] In the 1980s, she performed in the Echosphere Duo with saxophonist Paul Stewart.[2] In the 1990s, she performed in the Echosphere Quartet with violinist Ayke Agus, tenor Darryl Taylor and saxophonist Douglas Masek.[2]

As an educator, Price taught music theory, history and composition at California State University, Northridge in Los Angeles; University of California, Santa Barbara; her alma mater USC; El Camino College in Torrance, California; and Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California.[1][3][4]

Price wrote the book Accompanying Skills for Pianists (1991), which outlined foundational concepts for pianists new to collaborative piano[8] and designated the common accompaniment types as chordal, rhythmic, characteristic and orchestral-type.[9][10] It became a required text in many American musical faculties.[11]

Price served on the board of directors and as president of the International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM), was an officer of the Mu Phi Epsilon International Music Fraternity (MPE), and is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).[4]

In 2021, Price composed Gallery for baritone and piano with accompanying words written by Dublin, California's Poet Laureate James Morehead.[1] The piece premiered at the historic Presidio Chapel for the Interfaith Center at the Presidio of San Francisco, California, where she has been composer in residence since 2017.[3][12]

Select compositions

  • Augury (1980, Alto Saxophone, Violin, and Piano)[7]
  • Gallery (2021, Baritone and Piano)[1][12]
  • Behind Barbed Wire (Saxophone and Piano or Saxophone and Orchestra)[13]
  • Dancing on the Brink of the World[14]

Personal life

Price is the mother of five children. Her son Berkeley became a clarinetist and they perform on tour together as the Price Duo.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Morehead, James (26 October 2021). "Dr. Deon Nielsen Price on Creating the Music for James Morehead's "gallery" [INTERVIEW]". Viewless Wings. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 "The New York Times Honors Deon Nielsen Price" (PDF). Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music. 29 (1): 4–6. 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Deon Nielsen Price". Culver Crest Publications. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 "Deon Nielsen Price". Corelia Project. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  5. ↑ Piano & Keyboard: The Bimonthly Piano Quarterly. String Letter Press. 1993. p. 40.
  6. ↑ Puccinelli, Elvia; VanderHart, Chanda (2025). "Gwendolyn Koldofsky, Pathfinder and Pioneer". In VanderHart, Chanda (ed.). Accompaniment in America: Contextualizing Collaborative Piano. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781003540908.
  7. 1 2 Fischer, Stephen Michael (2008). An annotated bibliography of published works for saxophone, violin, and piano (Thesis). University of Georgia. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  8. ↑ Douglass, James; Puccinelli, Elvia (2025). "How to Accompany: Tracing a Century of Memoirs and Manuals of the Collaborative Arts". Journal of Singing. 81 (5): 599–606. doi:10.53830/sing.00138. ISSN 2769-4046. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  9. ↑ Price, Deon Nielsen (1991). Accompanying Skills for Pianists. Culver Crest Publications. pp. 79–87. ISBN 978-0-9627821-0-7.
  10. ↑ Henning, Michelle (1 May 2023). "Encouraging equal musical collaboration : a guide for collaborative pianists in facilitating effective rehearsals". University of North Dakota. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  11. ↑ Gunders, Gaby (2018), What is pianistic collaboration, and how do collaborating musicians perceive it?, The University of Western Australia, doi:10.26182/5B95C3F14D528, retrieved 15 April 2026
  12. 1 2 Morehead, James (27 October 2021). ""Gallery" by Dublin Poet Laureate James Morehead and Composer Deon Nielsen Price World Premiere at The Presidio Chapel Sun Nov 14". OneDublin.org. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  13. ↑ "'Behind Barbed Wire' to highlight Japanese American WWII experience". Santa Maria Times. 18 January 2025. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  14. ↑ Zick, William J. (1 October 2009). "John McLaughlin Williams Conducts Deon Nielsen Price's "Dancing on the Brink of the World"". AfriClassical. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
  15. ↑ Paris, Francesca (24 December 2022). "The Tom Brady of Other Jobs". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 April 2026.
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