Charles Spinney
Biography
Charles Richard Spinney (15 January 1934, Bedford, Ohio – 19 June 2005, Fremont, Calif.) was an American composer and music teacher.
He began the study of trumpet as a youth and studied with Clifford P. Barnes in Cleveland, Ohio. He later studied at Arizona State University, earning Bachelor and Master of Arts in Music Education degrees. He studied composition and arranging with Albert Oliver Davis and George P. Zepp in Phoenix, Arizona.
Spinney played baritone horn and trombone professionally in jazz bands, symphonic bands, and the Phoenix Orchestra, and was also a band director in the Phoenix area until moving later to the San Francisco (California) area.
In addition to teaching music in the San Francisco Bay area, Spinney, in conjunction with the Fremont Unified School District and the Fremont Symphony Orchestra, created and was the arranger for the Young Composers Competition, in which elementary school students’ musical compositions are featured in a spring childrens’ concert by the Fremont Symphony. He has arranged well over 300 pieces of music for these events.
After a 39-year career as a music educator, he retired in 1994 to devote full time to composing and arranging.
Works for Winds
- The Battle of Jericho (1977)
- An Irish Suite for Band (1974)
- A Legend of Kings (1975)
- The Morning Commuter (1975)
- Of Festive Bells and Ancient Kings (1965)
- River Impressions (1967)
- Rock ‘n Rye (1978)
- Salut d’Amour (1971)
- Shop Class (1978)
- Space Rock (1974)
Resources
- Charles Richard Spinney, Dutch Wikipedia Accessed 26 November 2016
- "Charles Richard Spinney" (obituary). East Bay Times. 26 June 2005.
- Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "Charles Richard Spinney." Accessed 26 November 2016