Erik Spangler (a.k.a. DJ Dubble8) biographical sketch
Originally from Iowa City, IA, Erik Spangler (b. 1976) began his composition studies with Param Vir at age 15. His first composition, "Four Little Piano Pieces", was performed at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1994. A year later, Erik was admitted to Oberlin on a scholarship, where he studied with Randolph Coleman. The end of the nineties, and first few years of the new Orwellian century, were years of graduate school and perspective-shifting experiences. While living in Boston, Erik began performing regularly with an Afro-Caribbean drumming group called the Jah Jah Drummers, discovered a love for underground hip-hop, began a continuing effort to incorporate activism into music-making, and began making use of sampling (found sounds via recorded media) as a means to document life in music.
In 2004, he received his Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he studied with Bernard Rands and Mario Davidovsky. Erik’s doctoral dissertation took the form of a ritual-cantata for 4 singers and 4 antiphonal ensembles, Mandala of the Four Directions, intended as the opening hour of an all-night vigil. This work, completed in 2004, synthesizes aspects of many smaller pieces written over the last five years with this overarching framework in mind. The vigil event is envisioned as a collaboration with a variety of artists and musicians, to break down the boundaries between concert music, dance music and folk culture, all uniting in a common purpose.
Since finishing his Ph.D., Erik has taught Introduction to Composition at Ithaca College of Music, as well as an independent class on creating groove-based music with software for the Ithaca community at large.
Areas of recent activity include chamber and orchestral concert works, ritual theater music, film scoring, DJ/turntablist performance, and works combining a solo instrument or ensemble with live electronic mixing.
As DJ Dubble8, Erik has endeavored to create new musical hybrids, blending samples from his pieces written for the concert hall with rhythmic frameworks that invite physical participation.
Erik’s music has been performed by ensembles including Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the yesaroun’ duo, the Atlantic Brass Quintet, International Contemporary Ensemble (I.C.E.), the Fromm Players, the Vance Quartet, and the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble. In addition to performances at Harvard and Oberlin, his music has been played at the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada), the I.C.E. Festival 2002 (Chicago), the Midwest Composers' Symposium 1996 (Indiana University), and ARTS Week '95 (Miami University).
Erik is a member of the I.C.E. Foundation, College Music Society, and BMI