Daniel Melnick was born in Los Angeles. There was a great love of music in his family as he grew up, and several music teachers who taught members of the family influenced him greatly, including the violinist Jerome Kasin and various piano teachers.
When he began attending UC Berkeley, he studied piano briefly with Egon Petri and then, after Petri's death, for several years with Julian White. After his studies at Berkeley, he taught for three decades at the State University in Cleveland, where he and his wife (a painting of hers is on the novel's cover) raised their three children.
He has published essays, stories, and a book on modern fiction and music, Fullness of Dissonance.
You can contact the author here.