Composition

E-Mail: kyle.vanderburg@ndsu.edu
Website: http://kylevanderburg.com/
Office: 115C Music Education Building
Phone: (701) 831-8234

Degrees

• D.M.A., University of Oklahoma
• M.M., University of Oklahoma
• B.A., Drury University

Kyle Vanderburg (b. 1986) is a composer and sound artist whose music lurks somewhere in the Venn diagram between “this sounds familiar” and “what was that!?” Raised in southeast Missouri, where the Mississippi River valley meets the Ozark foothills, Kyle grew up listening to an eclectic mix of American hymnody, bluegrass, high school band music (he’s a recovering bassoonist), and power tools. You might say his work explores nostalgia, memory, and place, if you were a nerd. 

Kyle’s music has been played on five continents, and listened to on at least three. Some of those performances were at places like the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (NYCEMF), Sonorities (UK), Festival Futura (France), MUSLAB (Mexico), ClarinetFest®, the Diffrazioni Festival (Italy), and the College Music Society (assorted). A surprising number of his stories start out “I was on my way to a music conference when…” 

He has written over 70 pieces, which vary widely in instrumentation, subject matter, quality, and font size. Some recent favorites include Press Any Key to Continue (bassoon and electronics; technology troubleshooting; pretty okay; 12pt), Letters to the Poetry Editor (tenor, clarinet, and piano; mail; quite good; 8.2pt), and One Sows for the Benefit of Another Age (orchestra; trying to be Aaron Copland and failing; nice; 7pt). His political trio Earmarks includes a movement named “filibuster” which lasts as long as the pianist wants. His Tape Piece is a fixed media work (or “tape piece”) that uses processed sounds of adhesive tape. He’s a serial finalist and occasional honorable mentionee for The American Prize in various composition categories. His music can be heard alongside much better pieces on releases by Ablaze, Ravello, Zorno, and Cero Records. 

Having a multitude of interests and no real regard for proper time management, Kyle also creatively procrastinates by presenting on musical creativity and composition pedagogy. His own compositional process is equal parts delusions of grandeur, discouragement, and maniacal laughter, which he’s trying not to pass on to his students. In addition to composition, he has worked as an acquisitions editor with the North Dakota State University Press; he’s developed web apps that help run schools of music; he’s built his own furniture, and he dabbles in letterpress printing. He is unqualified to do most of these things and is frankly surprised that no one has stopped him.  

Kyle studied composition at Drury University (AB) and the University of Oklahoma (MM, DMA), where he studied under (and sometimes copied the music of) Carlyle Sharpe, Marvin Lamb, Konstantinos Karathanasis, and Roland Barrett. He has bored hundreds of students at Rose State College (OK), Randall University (OK), Valley City State University (ND), Concordia College (MN), and The University of Oklahoma. He currently serves as Composer in Residence at North Dakota State University, a title he earned because nobody proofread his business cards and it’s too late to change them.  

He’d be delighted if you visited KyleVanderburg.com.