Bill Klemm has an abiding passion for composing classical music. He also has a family, a job in information technology, and another position as a trombone teacher. He grew up near South Bend, but he is currently based in Anchorage, Alaska. His unique set of circumstances might make dedicatedly pursuing his composing seem like an implausible idea, but it actually makes him a perfect fit for the new Low-Residency Master of Music modality at IU South Bend. Klemm will be able to continue his life in Alaska with only minimal interruption, while working towards his master’s degree under the direction of Dr. Jorge Muñiz. Composing music is a largely solitary pursuit in the first place, and Klemm will be responsible for putting in as many hours of writing and editing his pieces as he can manage. He will be in continuous communication with Muñiz throughout the process.
For about a week each semester, Klemm will come to South Bend for a more intensive experience. In November, Klemm was on campus to consult with Muñiz in person and to prepare and conduct a performance of one of his original compositions, played by the IU South Bend Philharmonic. In Spring 2025, Klemm will return to work out the final performance details of another composition, this time to be played by a professional group, Ensemble CONCEPT/21.
Born in 1968, Klemm grew up in Dowagiac, Michigan.
“When I was in kindergarten, I remember a small orchestra visiting our school for an assembly, and one of the kids was put on the podium with the baton and conducted the orchestra,” Klemm says. “That magic moment with the stick was burned into my core memories.”
Conducting and composing would have to wait, though. Klemm settled for reveries provided by radio favorites and movie soundtracks.
“Instruments and music lessons were luxuries beyond our means,” he says.
His family ended up moving to several different cities, and Klemm’s interest in music continued to blossom. Eventually, he joined school bands and had his first crack at playing real instruments. He gravitated towards brass in particular. He also took tentative steps as a budding composer.
“I began to experiment with writing my own musical ideas down, but without any sort of knowledge about music theory, it was a frustrating experience trying to write the sounds I could hear in my head,” Klemm says.
“After high school, I enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps as a trombonist. I wanted to write more music, but my limited knowledge of the craft kept me in the lane as a performer,” he says. “My skills as a trombonist opened many doors for me after my enlistment ended in 1991.”
Klemm finally got to study music formally at the University of Houston. That experience was gratifying, but he found steady work in the field of information technology, albeit at the cost of slowing down his musical activities to the point where he only completed two pieces over the span of two decades. When his IT career took him to Anchorage in 2017, it looked like he might retire from composing altogether, but he ended up teaching trombone as an adjunct professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
He currently performs as a trombonist with the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra and Anchorage Concert Chorus and serves as low-brass coach for the Alaska Youth Orchestras. The new affiliation with IU South Bend completes this complicated schedule.
“The flexibility of low residency allows people in my situation to learn and earn an advanced degree. The in-residence time gives me some facetime with the faculty and other students and the hired musicians who are preparing music I’ve written,” Klemm says. “My daughter Hannah is also a college music student, a coloratura soprano, and she’s hoping to perform the song cycle that we just premiered at IUSB. I’m finally doing what I’ve postponed for a quarter century.”