Dr. Wayne J. Kirby

Professor Wayne J. Kirby

Prof. Wayne J. Kirby Wayne Kirby was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He was tutored in music theory, solfège and composition as a child. By the time he was thirteen, he was a working professional musician. In the mid-1960s, he moved to New York City to attend Juilliard, where he pursued composition studies and was a student of New York Philharmonic double bassist Frederick Zimmerman and bass virtuoso Gary Karr. While at Juilliard, Kirby formed a rock group with singer/actor Deborah Harry (later of Blondie). After recording two albums on Capitol Records—and sharing the bill with Jimi Hendrix, Leslie West (Mountain, Traffic, Bette Midler, Spooky Tooth, Rhinoceros, et al—Kirby left the group to pursue work as a performer, composer, arranger and conductor in New York theater, television, and records. From the late 1960s until the early 1980s, Kirby wrote arrangements and conducted for television shows including the Tonight Show, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, and Julie Andrews shows.

Following graduation from Juilliard, Kirby traveled to Spoleto, Italy to perform as principal double bassist with the Juilliard Orchestra under Thomas Schippers of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Later that year, he accepted a scholarship to Yale University for graduate studies.

His principal composition teachers included Jacob Druckman (Columbia/Princeton Electronic Music Laboratories, Pulitzer Prize, 1972, Yehudi Wyner (Pulitzer Prize, 2006), Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki (Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, St. Luke Passion) and electronic music pioneer Bulent Arel (Columbia/Princeton Electronic Music Laboratories).

He has performed under the batons of Leopold Stokowski, William Steinberg, Gustav Meier, John Nelson, Dennis Russell Davies and other conductors of note. After receiving his master’s degree, he traveled internationally as music director, arranger, record producer and conductor for the tenor, Sergio Franchi. Later, Kirby enrolled at New York University where, in 1981, he received the Doctor of Arts degree in music, art and technology.

His compositions for large and small ensembles and his multimedia installation artworks have been performed and exhibited at Symphony Space (NYC), Carnegie Recital Hall (NYC), P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center (NYC), 80 Washington Square East Galleries (NYC), North Carolina Museum of Art (NC), Walker Art Gallery (MO), Spirit Square (NC), International Electronic Music Plus Festivals (NC, MO), Cumberland Science Museum (TN), Belcourt Theater (TN), River Sculpture Festival (Asheville, NC 2006 & 2007), and numerous other venues.

Kirby has performed on the theremin for many years. Invented in the 1920s by Russian scientist Leon Theremin, it is considered the first electronic music instrument. Kirby’s theremin was designed and built by electronic music pioneer, Dr. Robert Moog, the inventor of the Moog synthesizer. Kirby and Moog, who have been friends for decades, also have worked together as university colleagues. In 1998, they hosted the International Theremin Workshop of Asheville with the famed Russian theremin virtuosa Lydia Kavina.

Dr. Kirby, formerly a professor at New York University, has taught at the University of North Carolina at Asheville since 1983. He currently serves as Professor of Music and Chair of the Department of Music. Kirby has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and presented scholarly papers at international conferences on music perception, composition, and music therapy.

Kirby has written several computer programs for music composition, performance and therapy that are in use internationally by experimental music composers, performers, health professionals and educators. His computer program, Serious Composer, facilitates the composition of music based on concepts derived from the science of chaos such as strange attractors, fractals and fractional noise. It also facilitates the creation of very precise proportional rhythms that exist outside traditional note values. He has also created a program called Phi-Music. This program makes the precise micro-tuning of electronic instruments possible. Kirby has created tunings based upon the harmonic series of the Earth’s magnetic resonance, the table of the elements, as well as the ratios pi and phi.

In 1999, Dr. Kirby developed the Kirby Method of Auditory Integration Training, a therapy used principally by children with autism. This technique is delivered using the Kirby Auditory Modulation System (KAMS), which is a computer-based auditory delivery system developed for classroom, clinical, home and research applications. Kirby has given numerous presentations concerning the use of Auditory Integration Training with children and adults diagnosed with autism and learning disorders. He has trained physicians, psychologists, occupational therapists, audiologists and other professionals in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Egypt, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

In 2006, he was invited to present the results of his study, The Effects of Auditory Integration Training on Children Diagnosed With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, at The 10th International Otolaryngology Conference in association with Suez Canal University, Port Said, Egypt. He also served as panelist for Auditory Integration Training (AIT): A New Frontier for Rehabilitative Audiology with Iman Sadek, MD; Mona Hegazy, MD; Manal Omar, MD, and Aladin Abou-Setta, MD.

In October 2007, Dr. Kirby presented the keynote address at the “Tratamiento de Integración Auditiva” conference hosted by the Instituto Educativo para Niños con Lesión Cerebral, in Zacatecas, Mexico.

Dr. Wayne Kirby, developer of the Kirby Method of Auditory Integration Training, at a 1999 international conference on AIT in Antwerp, Belgium with one of the early pioneers in the field of auditory training, Guy Berard, MD.

Beginning in the fall of 2009, Dr. Kirby will teach a course in Taekwon-Do at UNCA!

This class is designed for beginner and intermediate students interested in the Korean martial art of Taekwon-Do. Study includes the techniques, philosophy and historical context of traditional Chang Hun style of Taekwon-Do as established by General Choi Hong Hi. Students will learn traditional Taekwon-Do forms, kicking, blocking, striking and self-defense techniques. Dr. Kirby has been involved in the martial arts for most of his life. In 1962 he began study of Goju Ryu Karate (under Anthony Tony Zalewski). He became a student of Tai Chi Chuan Grandmaster William C. C. Chen (student of Great-Grandmaster Cheng Man-Ching) in New York City in 1967. In 1973 he began training in Matsumura Orthodox Shorin-ryu Karate-do under Grandmaster Gene Briscoe (student of Great-Grandmaster Hohan Soken) in Nevada. In 1991 Dr. Kirby began the study of Taekwon-Do under Grandmaster R. Yun Ju Ahn (student of Gen. Choi Hong Hi) at Ahn's Taekwon-Do Institute, where he attained the rank of 3rd degree black belt. After a few years hiatus from martial arts (part of that time because of a fall off of a 40-foot cliff that caused severe leg injuries), he resumed his Taekwon-Do practice--this time under Master Tony Morris, whose school is a member of the Jun Tong Federation (Grandmaster Robert Dunn, Founder). You can find out more information about the class by visiting www.unca.edu/taekwondo

A Few Articles:

Compositional Chaos and Musical Pleasure

Brain Disorder, Auditory Hyperacusis and the Promise of Music Technology

Design for a Microtone/Brainwave Generator

kirby@unca.edu

828-251-6489