copland was born on may 27, 1948 in philadelphia, pennsylvania. he began taking piano lessons at age seven, but stopped abruptly at the age of ten when his public school offered the option of saxophone training. beginning his career on alto sax, copland became part of a vibrant music scene in his hometown in the early 1960s, learning and playing with michael brecker, a close friend and fellow high school student. in 1965 he briefly studied harmony with romeo cascarino in philadelphia and also began training in composition with meyer kupferman and studied saxophone with joseph allard, both in new york.