Barney Childs

He was a musical autodidact till his association in the 1950s with Leonard Ratner and Elliott Carter in New York and with Aaron Copland and Carlos Chavez at Tanglewood (Swift and Attinello 2001).

However, his influences are diverse and include jazz artists, John Cage, Charles Ives, and Paul Hindemith.

He then returned to the United States where he earned a Ph.D. in English from Stanford University (1961) and remained active as an editor and writer of poetry.

He taught English literature at the University of Arizona from 1956 to 1965 (Swift and Attinello 2001), where he was mentor to the young Joseph Byrd,[citation needed] then served as Dean at Deep Springs College from 1965 to 1969.

He also taught literature and creative writing at the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies, located on the University of Redlands campus.