Original sentence: ), the Eastman School of Music (M., 1950), and the University of Rochester (Ph.At Hollins, his work was often performed by Professor Oscar James McCullough, baritone.Diercks served as the chair of the music department of Hollins University in Virginia.He holds degrees from Oberlin College (B.He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii with his wife Thelma, who is also an accomplished pianist.His composition teachers included Bernard Rogers (1949-50), Howard Hanson (1958-59), and Alan Hovhaness (1956-58 and 1975).His music is influenced by Asian musics and microtonality.John Diercks (b.New Jersey, 1927) is an American composer.Over the years, Professor McCullough worked diligently to promote Diercks' compositions.They performed together, for example, at The Phillips Art Gallery in Washington, D.in November 1964
Edited sentence: Among many grants and awards he has received are those from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon and Danforth foundations, and ASCAP.An early work, Cave Music for vocalise and three players on prepared piano, accompanied a dance performed in Virginia’s Dixie Caverns and broadcast on NBC-TV’s Today Show.As a composer he has enjoyed residence at the MacDowell Colony, Wolf Trap Farm, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.Diercks taught piano at the College of Wooster (1950-54), then began a long tenure at Hollins University, teaching theory and composition.For Asian music and dance he studied with Dorothy Kahananui and Halla Huhm.He holds degrees in composition from Oberlin, the Eastman School, and the University of Rochester (PhD).He served as department chair from 1962 until 1990.His Twelve Sonatinas performed by pianist Marthanne Verbit are in the catalog of Albany Records.His composition teachers include Howard Hanson and Alan Hovhaness.In 2009 the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America published his Fugue in C (for Elizabeth Graves Vitu) and Fantasia (commissioned by the University of Iowa-Ames).John Diercks was born in Montclair, New Jersey, in 1927.Much of Diercks’ music is influenced by exoticism, including microtonality and “unconventional” musical sounds.Now living in Honolulu, Diercks served as president of the Hawaii Music Teachers Association from 1992-94