 As a young man Kupferman played jazz in bars and clubs on Coney Island, and arranged for big bands.In 1951 he was hired as Professor of Composition and Chamber Music at Sarah Lawrence College, a position he held until 1994.In the 1950s he began to experiment with twelve-tone row techniques, and in 1961 devised his "Infinities Row," consisting of the group of notes of G–F–A–B–B–D–F–E–C–E–A–C, which would become the only tone row he used subsequently in his major works.