Price, Paul (1921-1986) | University of Illinois Archives

Paul William Price (1910- 1986) was a percussionist, composer, conductor, publisher of percussion music, and music educator. He was born in Fitchburg, Massachusettes on July 31, 1910. Price studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory under George Carey and Fred Noak. In his teaching career he held faculty positions at the University of Illinois from 1949 to 1956; Boston University; Ithaca College; Newark State College and, after 1957, the Manhattan School of Music. Price also conducted the Manhattan Percussion Ensemble and began independently publishing percussion music under the titles "Music for Percussion" and "Paul Price Publications," beginning in the mid-1960s. He was also a composer of percussion music and a writer of books on percussion methodology.

Through these activities he was influential in promoting the growth of the percussion ensemble movement in the United States and in stimulating interest in composing for percussion in the latter half of the 20th century. Price died in New York in 1986.