Chance is believed to be a descendant of Robert Chance, a Mississippi gambler who settled in Southeast Texas in the late 1800s. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Floyd Chance, were natives of Southeast Texas. Chance's first musical experience started when he was 9 years old and began to take private piano lessons. In high school, Chance continued to perform in ensembles and met Arnold Whedbee, a band director, who would premiere the first movement of Chance's Symphony 1 at his graduation. At the University of Texas, from which he earned the degrees of bachelor of music and master of music, he studied composition with James Clifton Williams, Kent Kennan, and Paul Pick. In 1956–57 he was honored with the Carl Owens Award for student composition. After college he played timpani for the Austin Symphony Orchestra before becoming an arranger for the Eighth United States Army bands. While serving in Seoul, South Korea, as a member of the Eighth U.S. Army Band, Chance came across a pentatonic Korean folk song named "Arirang" that served as the inspiration for his 1965 composition Variations on a Korean Folk Song, which became his best-known work. The Northwestern University Band premiered the work in March 1966 at the American Bandmasters Association convention, where the composition won the Ostwald Award. Some of Chance's other important works include Incantation and Dance, Elegy, Blue Lake Overture, and Symphony No. 2. After leaving the army Chance was the composer-in-residence at the Ford Foundation Young Composers Project in Greensboro, North Carolina, from 1960 to 1962. He joined the faculty of the University of Kentucky in 1966 and taught there until his death on August 16, 1972. He was accidentally electrocuted while working in the backyard of his home in Lexington, Kentucky. In May 1973, the auditorium at Grimsley Senior High School in Greensboro—where Chance had served as composer-in-residence from 1960 to 1962—was named in his honor.
Contributions to music education
John Barnes Chance is considered an extremely important figure in the wind ensemble world. After being selected as one of 12 winners of the Ford Young Composers Project in 1960, Chance was able to work with the Greensboro, North Carolina School District, under the direct supervision of ABA member Herbert Hazelman. At Greensboro, Chance was able to understand the limitations of high school students and was then able to compose for them. One of his first major wind ensemble compositions, Incantation and Dance, was composed and performed during his residency with Greensboro Senior High School. Because of Chance's obligations of working with the entire district, he had to write music for many different grade levels. Chance composed thoughtful and involved music for percussion sections, which is something that most composers would not do at that time. Because of his contributions to writing more involved percussion music, more composers began to follow in his footsteps. One of the reasons that Chance made such an impression on the students he mentored, conducted, and composed for, was his ability to take an interest in what the students wanted to learn. After his tenure at Greensboro, Chance found that his prior thoughts on only being a composer had changed and that he was interested in becoming a music educator.
Works
Symphony No. 1, orchestra
Overture to a Fairy Tale, orchestra
Credo, trumpet and piano
Incantation and Dance, concert band
Fiesta!, orchestra ; transcribed for concert band by Herbert Hazelman
Satiric Suite, string orchestra
Blessed are They that Mourn, from Biblical text, chorus, horn, strings, and percussion
The Noiseless, Patient Spider, text from Walt Whitman, female choir and flutes
John Barnes Chance's music has been featured on many CDs. Many wind ensembles have featured Incantation and Dance and Variations on a Korean Folk Song on their CD projects.
