Another Colour Biographies

Paul Dell Aquila is currently a doctoral student at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. From 2003 to 2013, Dell Aquila was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Louisville where he taught courses in the music theory division at both graduate and undergraduate levels including Sixteenth Century Counterpoint, Eighteenth Century Counterpoint, Music Theory III and IV, Music Analysis, and Graduate Music Theory Review. He also taught courses in the Jazz Studies Program at the University of Louisville, including Audio Production and a special topics course of his own design called The Art of Popular Song. Dell Aquila was regularly nominated as a “Faculty Favorite” by his students and was invited to attend award and dinner celebrations held by the provost each year.

Dell Aquila is a certified audio engineer, receiving certification in 2010 after successfully completing audio training programs at the Lexington School for Recording Arts. He is also a certified Avid Pro Tools music software operator. In addition to his education and certifications from the Lexington recording school and Avid Technologies, Dell Aquila has over 25 years of hands-on experience in the field of audio recording and production. For ten years, he was a studio session guitarist for the Audio Recording Technology Institute of New York, and he has been recording on Avid’s state-of-the-art Pro Tools platform in his own studio since the 1990s.

Dell Aquila also has extensive knowledge and experience in electronic music and MIDI sound production. He studied in New York at Hofstra University with Professor Herbert Deutsch (co-inventor of the music synthesizer with Robert Moog and author of the popular textbook Synthesis: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Electronic Music).

Born on Long Island, Dell Aquila began his musical studies at the age of ten in his hometown of Farmingdale under the direction of esteemed music retailer and educator Al LiCausi. After graduating high school, he entered Nassau Community College where he studied classical guitar with composer and author Stanley Solow (Mel Bay Publishing) and renowned New York classical guitarist and professor William Zito (Dorian Recordings and Sono Luminus recording artist). Dell Aquila remained at Nassau Community College for two semesters, was named to the dean’s list both terms, and was subsequently elected to the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society for Community Colleges.

Dell Aquila transferred to Hofstra University of Hempstead, New York, in 1986 where he continued his studies in the fields of music composition and music theory. While working on a music composition and theory degree at Hofstra, Dell Aquila pursued private studies in jazz guitar and music arranging with New York session musician and author Howard Morgen. Morgen was a regular contributor to Guitar Player magazine and is the author of the widely used Fingerstyle Jazz method book series for guitar. In 1988, Dell Aquila earned a Bachelor of Science degree in music composition from Hofstra University and was named to the dean’s list in 1986 and 1987.

While in New York actively studying music both privately and academically, Dell Aquila regularly composed music. As a participating member of the Long Island Composers Alliance, he wrote numerous works for various classical ensembles. In addition to traditional classical music composition, Dell Aquila was active in pop songwriting and radio jingle production. Some of his jingles are still aired regularly on New York radio stations. Those familiar with WBAB (102.3 FM) on Long Island (Long Island’s largest rock radio station) are often intrigued to learn that Dell Aquila composed the “Friday Morning Crank Call” jingle used by legendary New York disc jockey Bob Buchmann.

In 1991, one of Dell Aquila’s music compositions took first place in the Mid-Atlantic Songwriter Competition, and he accepted the award at a ceremony at the Hard Rock Cafe in Washington, D.C. That same year, another of Dell Aquila’s songs won first prize in the Virginia Organization of Composers, Authors, and Lyricists (VOCAL) song competition. Dell Aquila also had four songs place in the top ten percent in the Billboard Magazine Worldwide Song Search contest in 1992. In the mid nineties, Dell Aquila and his wife Grace relocated to Louisville, Kentucky, where another of his songs won first prize in the Louisville Area Songwriters’ Cooperative Song Competition (1994). The next year, Dell Aquila was elected president of the Louisville Area Songwriters’ Cooperative.

While composing music and performing with his wife under the name Another Colour, Dell Aquila began working on a Master of Music degree in music theory at the University of Louisville. After earning his degree in 2003 with an all-A transcript, Dell Aquila was elected to the Phi Kappa Phi National All-University Honor Society.

Dell Aquila has been a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) since 1985. While living in the Cherokee Park area of Louisville, Kentucky, Dell Aquila composed the song “Cherokee Park,” which has gained recognition in the city. In 2001, this song was added to the Encyclopedia of Louisville (published by University Press of Kentucky) in an article about Louisville songs and songwriters by author Robert B. French.

In 2006, Dell Aquila was commissioned by the Abbey Road on the River Festival to transcribe and arrange music of the Beatles that was performed by a full orchestra and rock band at the Beatles festival on the Ohio River.

Currently, Dell Aquila is enjoying his continued service as guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and audio engineer/producer for Another Colour, Inc., a music ensemble that he co-founded with his wife in 1985. Through the years, Another Colour has shared the stage with numerous national touring acts including Pat Benatar, REO Speedwagon, Arlo Guthrie, Warren Zevon, Marshall Tucker Band, Grand Funk Railroad, and John Cafferty, among others. The duo has performed multiple times for the Derby Festival of Louisville, at Churchill Downs Racetrack and around the city of Louisville during the annual Kentucky Derby celebration.

When not performing or recording with Another Colour, or working with university students, Dell Aquila provides private guitar lessons using a personal guitar instruction method that he developed. Dell Aquila also continues his scholastic research in areas where he finds joy and passion: music theory, music composition, audio production/engineering, songwriting, guitar pedagogy, and poetry.