Biography for Dan Senn 

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Dan Senn is a sound artist who came to contemporary music by way of the 
visual arts. Trained since childhood as French horn player and vocalist, 
he began studying ceramics and raku pottery in 1972, an ancient ceramic 
method which fundamentally shifted his aesthetic. In 1977 he began 
building sculptural instruments and since 1978 has been developing a computer 
software program entitled the Raku Composition Program, a 
composing system which, like his instruments, exhibits the peculiar 
paradox of raku--that is, highly considerate, non-linear systems which 
exist to confound the will of the artist. Since 1974 he has kept personal 
journals, a practice which has crept into his performance and 
 installation work along with his improvisational video, or what he refers 
to as "percussive video". Over the last few years his instrument 
building has centered on the development of pendulum-based instruments 
which have varied in size from 18"x18"x18" to outdoor versions 
covering 600sf. These are often integrated with his interview and 
percussive videos, the latter closely linked to his improvisational and 
compositional methods. He has toured Europe, New Zealand, the U.S. 
and Canada exhibiting and performing at festivals and experimental 
venues. In 1995 he was awarded the McKnight Composer-in-Residence 
Award for the State of Minnesota where, among other projects, 
he produced the Catacombs of Yucatan Sound and Video Installation within 
a remote limestone cave located in the southeastern corner of 
that state. In 1997 he was awarded the Artist Trust 10th Anniversary 
President's Award (Seattle) for his influence on the arts throughout the 
Pacific Northwest, and in 1998 he was awarded the first Artist-in-Residence 
for 1998 at the University of Washington at Tacoma and first prize 
at the Papier Bienale at the Leopold Hoesch Museum, Düren, Germany. 
His scored music is published by Smith Publications, Sonic Arts Editions, 
and AM Percussion Publications. His recorded music is available from the 
NI Archive, Experimental Musical Instruments and Periplum Records.

Dan Senn has a doctorate in Music Compositon and Ceramic Sculpture (minor) 
from the University of Illinois where his principal instructors were 
Salvatore Martirano, Ben Johnston, and Herbert Brün. At the UW-LaCrosse 
he studied art with Leonard Stach and music composition with 
Dr. Truman Hayes. He has been a Lecturer in Electronic Music at the 
Canberra School of Music in Australia ('80-84), an Associate Professor of 
Composition at Ball State University in Indiana ('87-92), and a Visiting Professor 
at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana ('86). In 1993 he 
founded Newsense Intermedium, an non-profit presenting organization 
specializing in experimental performing arts for which he is the 
Artistic Director. NI has produced numerous concert series and 
ephemeral public art events including the 
Six Exquisites International Sound Art Festival ('85, '97 and '99) 
and The Munipal Dock Sound Installation ('93).

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