David A. Jaffe

David Aaron Jaffe (born April 29, 1955) is an American electronic music composer. His compositions include over 90 pieces for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles, and electronic ensembles. He composed the computer music piece Silicon Valley Breakdown and published research on physical modeling of plucked and bowed strings. He also worked with Julius O. Smith to develop the Music Kit for NeXT Computers. Biography Jaffe attended Ithaca College, where he studied violin performance and music composition, completing his composition studies with Karel Husa. He then attended Bennington College to study composition, orchestration, and counterpoint with Henry Brant and electronic music with Joel Chadabe. He received a B.A. in Music and Mathematics in 1979. Jaffe received a doctorate in Musical Arts from Stanford in 1984, where he was part of the computer music group at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab and, later, the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). In addition to his musical work, he researched physical modelling and ensemble timing. Composing career Jaffe has taught composition at Stanford, the University of California, San Diego, Princeton University,