The Professor
Jon Appleton's vita includes Fulbrihgt and Guggenheim fellowships, 11 reviews, 13 papers, 26 scholarly articles, 109 principal compositions, and 8 record albums. In addition, Appleton designs educational software. Two of his programs, Appletones and Mozart, teach students the basic building blocks of composition. An Appleton score accompanies the Ralph Steiner film Glory, Glory.
Jazz critic Nat Hentoff wrote on the jacket of Appleton's album "Appleton Syntonic Menagerie" that the record "revealed the open-minded scope and resourcefulness of the new music as well as Appleton's inventive singularity." In 1983 the American Library Association added Appleton's recording "Two Melodramas for the Synclavier" to its list of notable children's recordings.
His pupils also give high marks, according to the student course guide. One former protege wrote, "You come out of his course wondering how 'Your Cheatin' Heart' sounds on bagpipes."
Appleton, 48, is not in it for the money. Since he left New England! Digital (NED) in 1976 after helping the company develop the Synclavier, the privately held firm has grown by 40 percent annually.
Appleton has no qualms about choosing academia over corporate America. "I am often asked if I do not regret my decision. I love teaching. I love composing. I knew if I stayed [at NED] I'd have no time to do either," the soft-spoken, bespectacled professor maintains. He has no financial stake in the company; he says his interest in the Synclavier is purely creative: "I continue to perform and compose on the Synclavier because it is the instrument of my dreams."
