ives spent four years at yale university. his teacher horatio parker was very good and taught him important basic techniques of composing, but he could not understand some of things that ives was writing in his music. ives got annoyed when his teacher told him he could not finish a section of music on a dissonant chord, but ives liked it like that. the choirmaster at the centre church where ives played the organ was john griggs. he had more understanding of what ives was trying to do. it was a terrible blow to charles when his father died on 4 november 1894. he always had a huge admiration for his father who had encouraged him in his musical experiments. charles kept busy composing. he did not do any sport at yale because his father had forbidden him to take part in sport so that he would spend his time on studying. by the time charles graduated he had composed more than 40 songs, several marches, overtures, anthems and organ pieces, a string quartet and a symphony. however, most people thought of him as the composer of a simple waltz tune called "the bells of yale".