A Brief History of Daniel Koppelman
I live in Greenville, SC with my wife Ruth Neville. I teach Technology, Theory, and Piano in the Music Department at Furman University. I like to stay abreast of domestic political news, and follow the San Diego Padres (but not as closely as my brother Dave).
I was born in New York City in 1957 and moved with my family (Mom and Dad [Doris and Walter], and brothers [Dave and Rob]) to San Diego in 1965. I graduated from Patrick Henry High School ("hail to the green and gold") in 1975. I should try harder to stay in touch with my two close basketball-playing friends from my JCC days ("on our city's Jaystern border"), Barry Goldbarg and Chuck Gottschalk.
My undergraduate travels began at UC Berkeley (with cousin Jeff Dichter and roommate Dan Smith), passed through UC San Diego and Berklee College of Music, and ended at San Francisco State University where I graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1981. The progression of professional interests was: pre-med -> jazz piano -> classical piano -> new music. My teacher and mentor at SFSU was Wayne Peterson. My father passed away shortly after I graduated. I still miss him.
After teaching and free-lancing in the Bay Area for 3 years, I enrolled at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. I studied piano with James Tocco and did a lot of playing for the New Music Ensemble under the baton of Harvey Sollberger. I received my Masters in 1987. My closest friend from the IU days is Bill Kleinsasser. I "blame" Bill for my current fascination with music technology.
Returning to my home town, I began work on my Doctorate in 1988 at UC San Diego. Shortly thereafter, I met Ruth Neville and pretty soon we were duo runedako. I combined my interests in rhythm and computers, developing E.HaR [Extra Help at Rhythm] with the help of Ed Harkins, for whom the software is named. Chris Dobrian, Max Patcher Extraordinaire, was a great help to me during this endeavor. Ruth and I received our Ph.D.'s together in 1992; we used to say we were a "paradox." (get it? pair-o'-docs? hee hee) After a year of 83% teaching at UCSD, I got my first full-time job: 'Temporary Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Music Synthesis' at Central Michigan University. We moved to Mt. Pleasant, MI in the summer of 1993. It was sad to leave San Diego yet again, especially after being able to spend so much wonderful time with my mom. And who could forget those Neville Brothers?
I taught at Central for 3 years, during which time I really got to know my Grosse Pointe Neville relatives. Take one part Irish, add one part Italian, mix well, and serve with gusto. A lot of folks at CMU were very good to us, including Forrest Robinson, Roger Rehm, and David Gillingham (who wrote us a four-hand concerto which we premiered and recorded with the Czech Radio Orchestra in Prague during the summer of 1996).
I accepted my current job at Furman in the Spring of 1996. Much of my early time here was spent planning and implementing the Nan Trammel Herring Music Pavilion, which opened for classes in the Fall of 1997. Greenville has turned out to be a very nice place to live, and reminds me somewhat of San Diego in the 70's -- complete with growing pains. Ruth and I bought a nice house and are trying to keep our wanderlust at bay.
Someday soon I'll update this page with my latest research activities, travels, etc.