Curtis Curtis-Smith

Best known for pioneering the 'bowed piano' technique, where performers use rosined materials to draw sound from the piano's strings while playing the keyboard. His harmonic language blends spectral shimmer with jazz-inflected chords, creating music that feels both ancient and utterly modern. He had an uncanny ability to make extended techniques sound inevitable rather than gimmicky.

Studied with Kenneth Gaburo and Bülent Arel, absorbing both electronic music thinking and experimental performance practice. His work exists in conversation with George Crumb's timbral explorations and the American experimentalist tradition of Cowell and Cage. He mentored generations of composers at Western Michigan University, where he taught for over four decades.

His early works explored serial techniques and electronic music, but the 1970s discovery of the bowed piano became his signature. Later works increasingly integrated traditional and extended techniques, creating hybrid instruments that honored both classical virtuosity and experimental innovation. His final decades saw him refining a deeply personal harmonic vocabulary that made the strange sound familiar.

Curtis-Smith discovered the bowed piano technique somewhat by accident while experimenting with preparations—he grabbed a bass bow and began drawing it across the piano strings, immediately recognizing the orchestral possibilities. He would go on to compose dozens of works featuring the technique, even designing special implements for achieving specific timbres.

Curtis-Smith was also an accomplished pianist who performed the standard repertoire at a high level—his understanding of traditional piano technique made his extended techniques all the more effective because he knew exactly what the instrument could and couldn't do.

Curtis-Smith remains a specialist interest, rarely programmed outside new music circles, but pianists seeking to expand their expressive palette increasingly turn to his works. His music requires special preparation and sometimes custom implements, which has limited its spread, though recordings have sparked renewed interest since his passing.