Not wishing to pursue a career in academia, he instead began in 1978 a business, Ars Antiqua, selling classical LP records around the world, becoming the largest such dealer for several decades.
Canfield's music has won numerous accolades including first place in the Jill Sackler Composition Contest and the Dean's Prize from Indiana University.
His music formed the basis of a three-day festival given by faculty and students of the University of Central Oklahoma in 2001, and has been featured at the World Saxophone Congresses of 2003, 2006, 2009 & 2012.
In recent years, he has augmented the works he has written in his usual style of "free tonality" with a group of pieces he terms his "after" series.
Although this work draws upon some of Glière's music, subsequent works in the "after" series, including Quintet after Schumann (for saxophone quartet and piano), Trio after Brahms (for alto sax, violin and piano) and Rhapsody after Gershwin (for violin and orchestra) utilize no direct quotes from the composers in whose tribute they have been written.