New Music USA Online Library

Formal Degrees: Mus. D., 1972, Indiana University (Music Composition); M.M., 1965, Eastman (Music Theory); B.S., 1960, SUNY, Potsdam (Music Education).

Composition Teachers/Mentors: Henry Cowell (1963-5), Ianis Xenakis (1969-71)

Teaching: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak Visiting Professor (1996), Co-Director, I EAR STUDIOS, Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute, Teacher, Computer Music (1987-89); Director, Electronic Music Center, Univ. of Texas-Austin (also theory, orchestration, composition), 1976-83; Indidna University-South Bend (Music Theory, Composition), 1969-76; Indiana University, Bloomington, (Music Theory) 1966-69; SUNY, Potsdam, (Music Theory, Ed., Piano, D. Bass (1960-66).

Administrative: New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Advisory Board (2007-2010). Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI), Independent Composer Representative (1995-9), Co-director, I-EAR Computer Music Studios, R.P.I (1987-9); Director, Electronic Music Center, Univ. of Texas-Austin (1976-83); Head, Theory-Composition, Director, Electronic Music Center, Indiana University-South Bend (1969-76); Executive Committee, Head, Radio Series, Submissions, Society of Composers, Inc. (1974-79).

Grants: 2010: NYFA Fellows/Innova Award for complete CD production 2004:  American Music Center Composer Award; 2003:  Patricia and Jerry Mangione Fellow for MacDowell Colony Residency. 2000: Virgil Thompson Foundation for CRI Recording "Forgotten Shadows."1997: Asian Cultural Council (Residency with Asian Composers League in Manila, Philippines), 1996: Virgil Thompson Fdn. (for CRI Recording), Universiti Malaysia Research Grant. 1994,1990: NYSCA Decentralization Grants for multimedia installations. 1986: N.Y. Foundation for the Arts Composer Fellowship; 1985; MacDowell Colony Fellowship (also 1983, '81, '79); 1986: Leighton Colony Banff Centre for the Arts Fellowship; 1982: Nat. Endowment for the Arts Composer Fellowship (also 1976); 1983: The ELECTRIC SINFONIA awarded prize at Int. Bourges Electroacoustic Music Festival; 1981: DIMENSIONS III chosen as the American representative of the UNESCO-IMC-Rostrum International Festival. 1981: Martha Baird Rockefeller grant to attend and perform in the Zagreb Muzicki Biennale. 1976: Nat. Endowment for the Arts Media Arts Grant. 1975-95, 55 Meet the Composer Grants from MTC New York, New England, Midwest, Mid-America, Texas, West, and California.

Having been taught and mentored by Henry Cowell and having developed his electronic music techniques  in the studios under the direction of Ianis Xenakis,  Barton McLean has experienced both the academic and the professional worlds of the composer, having had a 20-year teaching career in which, as director of the electronic music/music technology programs at Indiana University-South bend and the University of Texas-Austin he and his colleagues pioneered the first large-scale commercially-available digital sequencer (Synthi 100) and sampler (Fairlight CMI), and with his wife Priscilla produced 14  LP recordings and seven CDs, some of which have become staples in electronic music courses, the latest of which (2007) has an elegant 24-page booklet with photos in a release from EM Records (Japan) entitled "Electronic Landscapes." In 1983 he and Priscilla left academia to develop their electroacoustic duo The McLean Mix, which has proven itself in hundreds of concerts and installations throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the Pacific Rim, and which has developed into a full-time career.  His major interests have been the integration of natural sounds into the web of traditional and non-traditional structures, the use of technology to articulate ideas based on environmental and cultural concerns, and the development of new instruments such as this recent development of performances systems in MAX/MSP such as the "Composers Playpen" and the recent sound/light project the "Sparkling Light Console.”  A signature McLean Mix collaboration, "Rainforest Images", has been released on compact disc by Capstone recordings (1993), and has been made into a video with Maylasian video artist Hasnul Saidon (1995). This 48-minute major work co-authored by Priscilla McLean uses resources on four continents, eleven organizations, seven live performers,  and five major studios and has taken five years to assemble. Also even more recently on the Capstone label appears "Gods, Demons and the Earth," and “The Electric Performer.” (1995 & 1997) Two recent CD releases have been his “Song of the Nahutal” and “Etunytude” on CRI (1997), and “Ritual of the Dawn,” “Forgotten Shadows,” and “Happy Days,” also on CRI (2000), both funded with grants from the Virgil Thompson Foundation.  His most recent CDs have been a special production by EM Records in Japan, featuring a reissue of the Folkways “Electronic Landscapes” LP, along with two new works (2006).  This album is lavishly appointed, with 24 pages of liner notes in Japanese and English and many elegant photographs.  And in 2011, Innova Records, wiht support from NYSCA and NYFA, granted him a CD of his most important work called "Soundworlds." He has also recently collaborated with Priscilla McLean on a grand multimedia installation commissioned by a consortium of universities and museums, called “The Ultimate Symphonius 2000,” premiered in 2/2000 at the Massachussets Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), and subsequently taken on tour.  In addition to over 100 recent residencies at universities, and an equal number at arts centers and museums in the USA and abroad, the McLeans have recently completed residencies as guest composers at the Asian Composers League in Manila,  the Universiti Malaysia - Sarawak, and  as composers in residence at the iEAR program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His most recent compositions, “Magic at Xanadu” and “Natural Energy” (with wife Priscilla McLean as co-composer/video artist) utilize his  sophisticated rendition of a MAX/MSP program called the “Composers’ Playpen,” and premiered in 2008.  Recently (2010) the

Mcleans have produced 3 DVDs. Also 2010 saw the launch of McLean's "Sequencer Playpen" written also in MAX/MSP. This is available from the McLean Mix web site.  McLean then wrote his "Jubilee" using this program (see YouTube video and AMC MP3 sound file).