See Also: shrike(2)(dictionary)
shrike(medicine)
shrike(encyclopedia)
shrike(dictionary)
shrike(1)(dictionary)
tower(2)(dictionary)
tower(1)(dictionary)
tower(encyclopedia)
Tower Air Inc(tourism)
Tower(dictionary)

Tower, Joan (sh) and shrike (sh)


Tower, Joan (sh)




born Sept. 6, 1938, New Rochelle, N.Y., U.S.

U.S. composer.

She studied piano as a child, attended Bennington College, and completed her Music studies at Columbia University. In 1969 she formed the Da Capo Chamber Players, for which she played piano and wrote many pieces; she left the group in 1984. She is chiefly known for her colourful and often whimsical orchestral compositions, including Sequoia (1981), Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman (1987), and Silver Ladder (1987). Since 1972 she has taught at Bard College.


shrike (sh)




Any of about 64 species of solitary, predatory songbirds (family Laniidae), especially any of the 25 species of the genus Lanius.

Shrikes kill insects, lizards, mice, and birds with their bill or may impale their prey on a thorn (earning them the name butcher bird). Most species are gray or brownish and have a harsh call; several Eurasian species have reddish or brown markings. The great gray shrike (L. excubitor), called northern shrike in Canada and the U.S., is about 10 in. (25 cm) long and has a black mask. The only Other New World species is the similar but smaller loggerhead shrike (L. ludovicianus) of North America.