An Interview with Dennis Alexander

Dennis Alexander is an Albuquerque-based pianist, composer, and educator whose catalog of educational piano music spans collections, sheet solos, arrangements, and the Premier Piano Course. Raised in the tiny town of Copeland, Kansas, and trained at the University of Kansas, he has been publishing with Alfred Music for more than 40 years — a career that began, almost by accident, with a set of duet books in 1986. Even now, teaching remains his first love.

Q: How did you first discover your passion for composing?

I discovered my passion for composing in 1986 when Morty Manus invited me to serve as a clinician for Alfred Music and wanted me to write the duet books to correlate with Alfred’s Basic Piano Library.

Q: Who has shaped how you think about music?

My composing career has been shaped and influenced by the vast amount of repertoire that I have performed over the years as a soloist, accompanist, and chamber musician. In addition, the training that I received from wonderful teachers at every level contributed greatly to how I analyze and approach both performing and composing.

Q: What was the first piece you wrote that made you think, “I might actually be onto something here”?

It was a simple piece from the Duet 1B book that correlates with Alfred’s Basic Piano Library. I seemed to have a natural gift for writing interesting and beautiful melodies. My improvisational abilities also contributed to my confidence in writing music for all levels.

Q: How has your compositional voice changed over the years? Is there anything you used to believe about writing music that you’ve since changed your mind on?

I’ve always been a composer who is drawn to beautiful melodies, first and foremost. Part of this is most likely due to the fact that I accompanied many, many singers during my time in college and loved that repertoire. However, depending on the style of the piece that I’m writing, I find that rhythm tends to be more of a primary factor than melody — contemporary works often tend to be more rhythmically inspired, so that element permeates my creative side more these days than it did in the beginning.

Q: Do you have a favorite piece on Alfred.com? What was the spark behind it?

I have so many favorite pieces that I’ve written over the years, given the fact that my library is so expansive between all of the collections, sheet solos, arrangements, and pieces that have been written for our Premier Piano Course. But certainly, a couple of very favorite pieces of mine are “The Promise of Spring” (from Especially in Romantic Style, Bk. 3) and “Topaz Nocturne” (from With These Hands).

Q: If there was a soundtrack for your own life right now, what piece would it be?

“Only Time Will Tell.”

Q: Where are you based, and how does your environment influence your work — or does it?

I live in Albuquerque, NM, “The Land of Enchantment.” The natural beauty of this state, the beautiful Sandia Mountains, and the colors in the sky often serve as inspiration for a number of my compositions.

Q: How do you spend most of your working hours: composing, teaching, performing, or some mix of all three?

My first love has always been teaching, and today most of my time is comprised of teaching my 18 adult students — comprising all levels from beginning through advanced repertoire. There was a period in my life after I retired from university teaching where composing took up the vast majority of my time, but I have always had students to teach, and I find that to be the most rewarding for me.

Q: Where did you study, and how much of what you do today traces back to your formal training versus what you figured out on your own?

I grew up in a very small town in southwest Kansas called Copeland — population 200! I was fortunate to have excellent beginning teachers, in addition to superb training in high school and throughout my college days at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Richard Reber was my primary teacher at KU — an excellent teacher who really focused on creating a beautiful sound at the instrument, in addition to encouraging me to really analyze the score in detail. I’m sure that this played an important role in my composition work years later when that opportunity presented itself. I never studied composition per se during my years in college, but I’m convinced that my improvisational abilities combined with my good background in analysis paved the road for my success as an educational composer.

Q: Did you grow up in a musical household, or did music find you some other way?

My parents loved music, and there was always music being played on recordings — primarily big band and popular vocal repertoire. My father played piano as a child, so both parents were always very supportive of my own interests in music!

Q: How long have you been publishing with Alfred, and how did that relationship start?

I have now been publishing with Alfred for just over 40 years! It all began back in 1986 when Amanda Vick Lethco invited me to join Willard Palmer and her as a clinician to market Alfred’s Basic Piano Library. I flew out to Burbank to meet with Morty Manus at the Sherman Oaks offices (at the time), and we immediately hit it off — he hired me to be a clinician. The first summer of clinics, he and his wife Iris came to observe a workshop, and over lunch that day he asked if I would consider writing the duet books for the series, as Willard Palmer didn’t have time to do them. I accepted the challenge, and this was the beginning of a long and happy (and totally unexpected!) career as a composer of educational music for students of all ages.

Q: Outside of composing, is there another role in music — educator, clinician, performer — that’s been just as central to who you are?

I was trained as a performer, so I’ve had the privilege of teaching piano performance at the university level for many years. Even after all these years, performing is very central to who I am today, and I feel that my performing experience has contributed greatly to the success I have enjoyed as a composer and clinician.

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