Edward J. Hines Biography

ASCAP award winning composer, publisher, performer and teacher Edward J. Hines was born in 1951 in North Bellmore, New York. He received his first music lessons on the clarinet at the age of eight, conducted for the first time at the age of ten and taught himself guitar at the age of twelve. During the folk music revival of the 1960's, Hines was an active performer and made his radio debut as a fifteen year-old on a local folk music show at Hofstra University on Long Island. During his high school years Hines excelled at music and theater and was voted Most Talented by the members of his high school senior class at W.C. Mepham High School, Bellmore, New York.

Hines attended the Hartt School of Music, Hartford, Connecticut, where he studied music composition with Edward Diemente. Hines later graduated from Bennington College in Vermont where he earned both the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine Arts Degrees. His composition teachers included Vivian Fine, Marta Ptaszynska, Jeffrey Levine and Louis Calabro. Hines also studied bassoon with Maurice Pachman, Charles McCracken and voice with Frank Baker.

Hines was the Director of the Bennington July Program of Bennington College, Vermont, from 1981-1984.

In 1984 Hines was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to the Turkish Republic where he spent the next year studying composition and ethnomusicology with Ahmet Adnan Saygun. Since then Edward J. Hines has composed works based on the ancient, microtonal modes and rhythms of Turkish and Arabic music. His chamber music publications include: Villa d' Este (1976, 1982), Dear Ann Landers (Can a Dog Get Drunk on Wine?) (1982), Boxcars (1980, 1989), Yeni Makam 1 (1990), Yeni Makam 2 (1992), Yeni Makam 3 (1995), Yeni Makam 4 (1995), Yeni Makam 5 (2012). An American in Istanbul, Hines' CD of original chamber works of the first Yeni Makam Series was released in the fall of 1999.

Hines' children's music publications include: Turkish Songs for Children's Chorus and Orchestra (1992, 1997), The Animals of the Zodiac (Operetta for Children (1997) and Jammin' Pam (Raperetta for Children (2002). He composes and publishes his music from his Wendell, Massachusetts home and studio.

Edward J Hines has contributed articles to professional journals including: Yeni Makam 1: New Sounds for Solo Bassoon using Ancient Turkish Modes, in the Journal of the International Double Reed Society, summer, 1992. He also contributed an article Yeni Makam 3 for Solo Cello to the ICS, Internet Cello Society.

Hines is founder and director of the folk music group ANATOLIA performing Middle Eastern folk, classical and dance music. ANATOLIA's debut recording Folk Songs and Dance Music of Turkey and the Arab World was released in 1996. A second CD, Lost Songs of Palestine was released in March of 2001 and received worldwide media attention including interviews on National Public Radio, BBC World Routes, WBUR's Here and Now, and WFCR's Valley Folk .Middle Eastern Songs and Dances for Children, was released in the fall of 2005. In 2006, the Teacher's Guide to Middle Eastern Songs and Dances for Children , edited and arranged by Edward J Hines, was released by Edward Hines Music.

Edward J Hines' long career in research, composition, performance and theory of Middle Eastern music has brought him numerous invitations from colleges, universities, libraries and educators interested in learning more about Middle Eastern folk and classical music traditions. His international experience includes a 2000 tour of Singapore where ANATOLIA performed in the World Music Concert and then toured schools leading workshops in Middle Eastern music and dance. His Teaching Middle Eastern Music and Dance clinic has been a feature at state teacher conventions including those in New York (NYSSMA), Texas, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, the 2007 MENC Eastern Division Biennial In-Service Conference, Hartford, Connecticut, and the 2007 Massachusetts Teacher's Association Summer Conference. In 2009, Edward J. Hines was a visiting professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he led a summer workshop in world music. Since 1988 Edward J Hines has taught classroom music in Franklin County, Massachusetts. He is a member of ASCAP (2002, 2003 award winner), MENC, MMEA, the Recording Academy, is listed in Marquis Who's Who In the East and Who's Who in Entertainment.