Maggi Payne (born 1945)
Maggi Payne was born in Temple, Texas, and grew up in Amarillo. She first heard a flute when she was 9 years old and plunged into learning how to play it. She was particularly interested in exploring different flute effects, often in combination with a tape recorder that she acquired at the age of 10.
She studied flute at Northwestern University and worked with electronic music in graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana. She taught recording engineering, composition, and electronic music at Mills College from 1972 to 2018.
Maggi Payne’s website describes her as “a composer of electronic and electroacoustic music, video artist, installation artist, flutist, recording engineer/editor, and historical remastering engineer.” She has composed a number of works for video, film, and dance. Some of her electronic compositions have been released on commercial recordings and are available on YouTube. Here’s System Test (fire and ice) from 2001:
Maggi Payne has also written music for conventional instruments. At least once every decade, she aims to write a composition for solo flute. One of her most popular works is Reflections composed in 2003 for the National Flute Association’s 2004 High School Competition. It is often performed with balletic movements by the flutist or other dancers.