A native Oregonian, I was born in Salem, Oregon in 1942 and lived in the small town of Grants Pass in that state through the age of eighteen.  My full name, Frederick Edward Broer III, consists of the initials FEB, which comprise a musical motive of the three pitches F-E-B that I use in many of my composition as an embedded musical signature.​

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Living in Oregon was followed by college in the Midwest attaining a Bachelor's  Degree in piano performance and composition studies with Jack Goode.  Next  came two years of graduate study at Indiana University and a Master's Degree in Musicology including composition studies with Bernard Heiden.  While teaching music full time in several US colleges in the following years, I completed a Doctorate Degree in Music Composition at Boston University, Boston MA,  where I studied composition with Joyce McKeel.  Now retired from full time teaching, I continue writing music at a somewhat accelerated pace afforded by retirement.  My compositional output consists of over sixty works encompassing a variety of mediums as illustrated in the following partial list of pieces.

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CHAMBER MUSIC

Two Trios for Violin, Cello and Piano

Two Sonatas for Violin and Piano

Sonata for Viola and Piano

Trio for Viola, Clarinet and Piano

Eight String Quartets

Wind Quartet for Flute, Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Bass Clar.

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PIANO MUSIC

Three Piano Sonatas

13 individual single movement pieces for piano

Four Excursions for Piano (Suite)

Seven Piano Preludes

Dramatic Rhapsody (piano solo)

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VOCAL MUSIC

Six Songs for Voice and Piano

Four Sacred Songs for Soprano and Piano

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CHORAL MUSIC

Psalm for Chorus and Concert Band

Two SATB Choral Anthems with Organ

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ORCHESTRA MUSIC

Symphony for String Orchestra (in 3 movements)

Three Essays for Orchestra  (13 min. each)

Videre in Somnis, Orchestral Poem  (15 min. duration)

Tragic Symphony (Symphony in one movement)

        for full orchestra, 30 min.

Serenade for String Orchestra

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OPERA

"The Really Great (and Wonderful) All-American Opera"

for vocal soloists, chorus, and electronic music

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MISCELLANEOUS

Nine Fugues on the motive FEB for various instruments

Sonic Wandering, six pieces of electronic music

Music Video No. 1 (animated digital art & electronic music)

Music Video No. 2 (animated digital art & electronic music)

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Because both my paternal and maternal ancestors were talented musicians and  had interesting involvements in music, I acknowledge them here:

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Everyone in my father's family (Broer) studied and played music instruments.  By 1938, when he and his three siblings were teenagers, the family performed  music solo and ensemble pieces  on a weekly radio program on a local radio station (KSLM) that continued for two years in Salem, Oregon.   The ensemble included my fathers' siblings on trombone, flute, violin, and parents on euphonium and piano as seen in the photo.

 

 

 

 

My mother's grandfather (Scott Clark) formed a traveling tent show company in southern Illinois around 1885 that featured musicians and actors performing theatrical shows and music concerts.  The Clark Tent Show traveled with horses and wagons from town to town during the summer months  presenting programs over a period of seventeen years.  The 1898 photo here shows some of the troupe’s company members standing before the tent.  My grandfather is the nine year old boy on the left with a euphonium horn.  His father is  with the snare drum on the right.