Born
in 1949, Thomas Clark earned a doctor of musical arts degree in 1976
from the University of Michigan, studying composition with Leslie
Bassett and Eugene Kurtz; electroacoustic music with George Balch
Wilson; conducting with Sydney Hodkinson; and music theory with Wallace
Berry and Richmond Browne. He was trombonist for Contemporary
Directions, Michigan's Rockefeller Foundation supported new music
repertory ensemble, and has also studied trombone with contemporary
virtuoso trombonist Stuart Dempster.After teaching at the University of Michigan, the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Indiana University and Pacific Lutheran University, Dr. Clark joined the composition and music theory faculties of the University of North Texas (then named North Texas State University), in 1976. There he developed the New Music Performance Lab and served as chair of the doctor of musical arts program and director of CEMI, the Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia. Clark, formerly associate dean for academic affairs, currently serves as interim dean of the College.
Active in music societies, he has served as president of the Texas Society for Music Theory; regional chair and national council member of the American Society of University Composers (now S.C.I.); and South Central Chapter president of the College Music Society.
Clark's compositions have been performed at festivals throughout the United States, Canada and Japan; three times at the Brno International Music Festival in the Czech Republic; and at the Festival Internacional Alfonso Reyes in Monterrey, Mexico. His works, affiliated with B.M.I., are published by Borik Press and American Composer Editions and recorded on Centaur Records. His writing has appeared in Perspectives of New Music, In Theory Only, Computer Music Journal, and Contemporary Composers (published by St. James Press of London). Co-author with Larry Austin of the text Learning To Compose, Clark also authored Arrays: A Worktext of Musical Patterns for Aural Development, published in 1992.