Tinman Too
A Life Explored
by
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The first car I remember my father driving was a black Model T Ford. He'd bought it used and spent most of his driving going back and forth between Goodyear, Arizona, where we lived for awhile, and Phoenix, about thirty miles east. I don't actually remember being driven anywhere in this old jalopy, but it's likely I did.
One day in 1948, my father left for work early in the morning as was his usual custom. According to him, he stopped to fill up with gas in Goodyear since there were no other stations from there until Phoenix. About a third of the way to work he realized that the station attendant had forgotten to replace the gas tank cap. Before he could stop, a passing car's passenger flipped a lighted match out the window and into the open tank. He quickly pulled off road and escaped before the old Model T exploded.
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About the Book
Continuing the insights into the creative processes of contemporary composer David Cope, Tinman Too presents another 150 vignettes from the author's life begun in his previous book Tinman. Some of the notable individuals discussed in this innovative autobiography are Alfred Hitchcock, Buckminster Fuller, Benoit Mandelbrot, Vincent Price, Jerry Lewis, and Philip José Farmer. Tinman Too offers a fond music journey including encounters with William Schuman, Max Mathews, Lejaren Hiller, John Adams, Donald Erb, Mort Subotnick, Walter Piston, Karel Husa, and Witold Lutosławski.
The title, borrowed from L. Frank Baum's book The Wizard of Oz, is an aphorism affectionately attached to Cope in the late 1990s. The reference reflects the many attitudes about his work with his computer music program, Experiments in Musical Intelligence; critics felt the results of this program lack heart.
Though Tinman Too covers many other aspects of Cope's life-from his love of the cello, to his days as a graduate student at the University of Southern California, and to his work as a composer, author, and teacher—the main theme centers on his search for self-identity.
About the Author
David Cope is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of California at Santa Cruz. His previous books include New Directions in Music (seventh edition), Techniques of the Contemporary Composer, Computers and Musical Style, Experiments in Musical Intelligence, The Algorithmic Composer, Virtual Music, and Computer Models of Musical Creativity. He's also published four novels (Death of Karlin Mulrey, Not by Death Alone, Death by Proxy, and Mind Over Death), two books of short stories (Of Blood and Tears and My Gun is Loaded), and a book of 2,000 Haiku called Comes the Fiery Night. He currently lives with his wife in Santa Cruz, California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.