Clare Fischer

Clare Fischer (b. Durand, Michigan, October 22, 1928) is an American composer, arranger, and pianist. His parents were of German, French, Irish-Scot, and English backgrounds. In grade school he started hi

Clare Fischer (b. Durand, Michigan, October 22, 1928) is an American composer, arranger, and pianist. His parents were of German, French, Irish-Scot, and English backgrounds. In grade school he started his general music study with violin and tuba as his first instruments. At the age of 7 he began to pick out four-part harmony on the piano. After two years of piano lessons the family moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where 12-year-old Clare began composing classical music and making instrumental arrangements for dance bands.

At South High School he took up cello, clarinet and saxophone. His high school instructor, Glenn Litton, took an interest in the boy and, because the family could not afford it, gave him free lessons in music theory, harmony, and orchestration. Clare returned the favor by orchestrating and copying music for him. Whenever the concert band needed an instrument, Clare would be supplied with it and the fingering chart to play it in concert. This gave him a personal training in orchestration that was invaluable.