Alexandra Pierce

Alexandra Pierce (February 21, 1934 – February 1, 2021) was an American composer, pianist, music theorist, movement educator, author, and Emerita Research Professor of Music and Movement at the University of Redlands. Early life and education Born and raised in Philadelphia, her family later moved to Washington, D.C., where she studied piano with contemporary music specialist, Margaret Tolson. She received a Bachelor of Music, Phi Beta Kappa (1955), from the University of Michigan, where she majored in piano performance and medieval history; a Master of Music in piano performance from the New England Conservatory of Music (1958); a Master of Arts in music history from Harvard University (1959); and a Ph.D. in music theory and composition from Brandeis University (1968), where her teachers included composers Irving Fine and Harold Shapero. Her dissertation, written at Brandeis, is entitled The Analysis of Rhythm in Tonal Music. Career Pierce taught from 1968 to 2001 at the University of Redlands, where she was Professor of Music and Movement, and where she integrated movement research with the teaching of music theory, piano, and with her own composing. Prior to her arrival in Redla