February 5, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Assistant Professor of Music William Price, D.M.A., has been named the 2008 Music Teachers National Association (MTNA)-Shepherd Distinguished Composer of the Year for his work, "Hardboiled (Red Harvest)."

The work was premiered at the Alabama Music Teachers Association State Conference in June 2008 and will be performed at the Music Teachers National Association Conference in Atlanta March 29. Price also was awarded a $3,000 prize.

The MTNA-Shepherd Distinguished Composer of the Year Award is given to the composer of the most outstanding composition submitted as a state-commissioned work.

"Hardboiled (Red Harvest)" is a single movement work scored for clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, percussion and piano. The composition premiered at the Alabama Music Teachers Association State Conference on June 12, 2008 at Birmingham-Southern College. The piece was inspired by the crime fiction of Dashiell Hammett and the iconic visual imagery associated with 1940s film noir, including the interplay of light and shadow, the use of distorted camera angles and disjunctive narrative techniques (flashbacks and flash-forwards), and of course, the obligatory car chase, Price said.

Price earned his bachelor's degree in music education from the University of North Alabama and his master of music and doctor of musical arts degrees from Louisiana State University.

MTNA is a nonprofit organization of nearly 24,000 independent and collegiate music teachers committed to furthering the art of music through teaching, performance, composition and scholarly research. Founded in 1876, MTNA is the oldest professional music teachers' association in the United States.