A Texas native, John Osburn was enthralled by the sound of drums back when he watched his father play in a country-rock band as a child in numerous venues around Austin, Texas. After going through his secondary school training in percussion, he studied music at Texas Woman’s University in the small town of Denton. He was eventually lured into the TWU Department of Dance, where he became a musician for dance technique classes and improvisation jams. While at TWU, he established many creative relationships with local visual artists both inside and outside of the University.

 

After playing for the American Dance Festival in 2010, Osburn took a brief hiatus from dance accompaniment to conduct his graduate studies in Belfast, Northern Ireland at the Sonic Arts Research Centre, housed by Queen’s University. While at SARC, his focus steered away from percussion and more into electronic music composition, sound design, interaction design for new musical instruments and art installations, and spatial audio research.

 

Upon returning to the States, Osburn was asked by members of the TWU faculty to return as one of three facilitators for the Dance Department’s weekly contact improvisation jams.

 

As a composer/sound designer, his works have been performed in various venues around Texas, Northern Ireland, and in South Korea.

 

Currently, Osburn acts as the Resident Musician for Denison University’s Department of Dance and focuses his time researching and practicing new and innovative ways to accompany dance classes and jams with both acoustic and electronic instruments.