Boston
Singers' Resource News Bulletin October
29, 2003
MEMBER
HIGHLIGHT: Composer (and recording engineer), Rob Bradshaw premieres his
new piece, "Sonata" for Trumpet and Strings across the USA plus
Britain and South America this month. "The list on his website of
trumpeters already involved with this project is impressive and contains
many names of well-known ITG members." - INTERNATIONAL TRUMPET GUILD.
A brilliant talent, Rob also talks about his vocal compositions and gives
advice to singers on making a recording.
www.robertjbradshaw.com
FROM PRESS RELEASE: More Than Fifty Accomplished Trumpet Soloists to Premiere
Sonata for Trumpet and Strings, By Robert J. Bradshaw*, Across the USA,
Britain and SouthAmerica.November 2003: State premieres of "Sonata"
will be held throughout the month of November with the World Premiere
on November 16, 2003 in Menomonie, Wisconsin by the Eau Claire Chamber
Orchestra. A list of performers and states is located at www.beauportpress.com
The Boston area premiere of "Sonata" will be this coming Sunday, November 2, 2003, at 7:30 PM in the Phillips Recital Hall at Gordon College, Wenham, MA. Seelan Manickam, trumpet Karen Gahagan*, piano.
ABOUT THE COMPOSER:
Robert J. Bradshaw (1970) is a freelance composer and Composer in Residence
with the Northshore Youth Symphony Orchestra. Over the course of his residency,
NYSO has premiered Robert’s works each season since 1998. The recipient
of commissions and grants, his library includes compositions for orchestra,
wind ensemble, chorus, opera, ballet, chamber ensembles and solo vocal
and instrumental music. These works are available through Beauport Press
Music Publications, www.beauportpress.com.
Robert attended the University of South Carolina where he earned degrees
in Composition (M.M.), Theory/Composition (B.M.) and a Performance Certificate
in Trumpet. Robert is an experienced teacher of private lessons, workshops
and seminars. He has brought his talents as a composer/performer to educators
and students from Elementary Schools to Universities. Working in public
and private institutions, he has provided curricula in Music Composition,
Applied Lessons, Music Technology and currently teaches trumpet at Gordon
College in Wenham, Massachusetts.
Robert is a member of the American Composers Forum, Broadcast Music Inc.
(BMI), Society of Composers Inc., National Association of Composers (NACUSA),
American Music Center, Boston Singers Resource and is listed by Meet the
Composer. Recent awards include: commissions from the Massachusetts Chapter
of the American String Teachers Association with the National School Orchestra
Association, Cape Ann Symphony and Peabody Essex Museum; recognition of
the brass quintet Beauport Flourish by the American Composers Forum; and
an American Music Center Grant Recipient. He studied with professors Dr.
Gordon R. Goodwin, Dr. Samuel Douglas, Dr. Fred W. Teuber and Dr. Reginald
Bain. Through a USC residency program, he also had the pleasure of taking
lessons with John Harbison, Karel Husa, and Ellen Taffe Zwilich.
Robert Bradshaw
mail@robertbradshaw.com
(978) 281-9616
PO Box 2051
Gloucester, MA 01931-2051
www.robertjbradshaw.com
BSR INTERVIEW:
LS: When did you start composing?
RB: I have been fascinated by music my entire life and have been composing
as long as I can remember. I began by writing songs with my brother, which
I still do. Later when I was in middle and high school, I started writing
"jazz" and "classical" music (although I'm not big
on terms like these).
LS: Having sung a few of your pieces and worked with you on their premiere,
I love to witness your joy in composing. Your eyes light up and you talk
excitedly about the patterns and ideas you've meticulously written for
us..
RB: There is little question that I have a passion for what I do. I hope
I didn't bore you too much during rehearsals. I try not to ramble on but
sometimes I just can't help myself.
LS: Not at all. Do you ever play in your performances of your compositions?
RB: I try not to. People tend to focus on my performance and I want them
to focus on the music.
LS: Your pieces are incredibly complicated, atonal and detailed, yet,
they come across as very melodic and "easy" to the listener.
Incredible, really. Are there some patterns that signify the "Bradshaw
style" would you say?
RB: Maybe there will be a "Bradshaw Style" someday. Right now,
I'm still learning - and hope to for the rest of my life. The non- tonal
style you are referring to has its roots in "set theory." However,
I never use vectoring. I won't put everyone to sleep with the details,
but if you want to drop me an email I would love to chat about it! No
secrets here!(mail@robertjbradshaw.com)
I am fascinated with the manipulation of people's preconceptions of what
modern classical composition is and what it should sound like. There is
a vast tonal landscape out there! So you are right, sometimes I purposefully
compose works that will be accepted as tonal but when you look at them
they clearly are not. Here is a quote from a recent interview by Gilbert
Cline about this same topic. He is premiering Sonata in California. "This
piece [Sonata] is really fun to play. It is fresh, contemporary, vivacious
and full of life," Cline said. "It's also very modern. It's
full of rhythmic complexity, but it's easy to listen to and the audience
won't necessarily know how difficult it is to play." OFFICE OF COMMUNITY
RELATIONS, HUMBOLDT UNIVERSITY.
LS: Ah-ha. So, I am not alone in my perceptions of your writing - "difficult to play, yet, easy to listen to-"
RB: Yes. Certainly, I never strive to make a piece difficult. The difficulty is in the pitch sets that I employ, which are not based on triads. Therefore, they do not follow patterns that most musicians rehearse daily. The detail tends to come at the end of the compositional process. I like to compose the work in its entirety before writing anything down. Once I fix it to paper, I take a step back and rework the entire piece. A little like working on a students composition - only much more severely. I love the process and can't imagine not deconstructing my own work, how would I ever get better?
LS: The National and State Premieres of SONATA FOR TRUMPET AND STRINGS
in all Fifty States will be happening in November. Where did you ever
get this neat idea? How have you gone about organizing it?
RB: In January 2003,
nearly a decade after first being asked to compose a work for trumpet,
I began to revisit the idea of writing for my own instrument. I called
four friends and enlisted their help in writing a grant to fund the composition.
All was moving along smoothly until I found out there was a requirement,
not published in the guidelines that disqualified my project. At this
point I had spent a great deal of time composing as inspiration does not
wait for grants - without securing any compensation. What was I to do?
I was determined not to let the project collapse and decided to attempt
something truly unique. I would introduce the composition to the trumpet
community by premiering it in all fifty states. My first emails were to
two of my trumpet teachers, Dr. Amstutz in South Carolina and Gary Ross
in New Jersey. I explained my situation and both were on board immediately.
This gave me the courage to start contacting people I didn't know. I have
spent countless hours researching trumpet players on University web sites
and writing letters. This search reached a high point when I had the opportunity
to attend the International Trumpet Guild Conference in Fort Worth, Texas.
I spent each day seeking out people I had contacted through email and
introduced myself. It turned out to be more fun and interesting than I
could have imagined. At this point, the consortium of players had grown
to thirty-three performers and was growing day by day. Additionally, Professor
James Ackley (UCONN) had begun preparations to record Sonata and three
other trumpeters were also considering recording different versions of
the work. (see www.beauportpress.com
for the entire story)
LS: And now you've got premieres happening all across the USA, Britain
and South America this month - congratulations! What about your vocal
works? I notice that you use mainly sacred text in your vocal writings.
Are you committed to only this?
RB: Not at all! It is true that many of my most recently published pieces
are sacred (sacred texts are a source of great inspiration for me), but
I have written many secular works for solo voice, various vocal ensembles,
several operas and a couple music theatre works. I just haven't been able
to find anyone to stage the big works. "Too expensive to risk a new
work" is what I am always told. Plus, with children to support I
can't afford to spend huge amounts of time on large-scale works for which
I am not compensated.
LS: Well, the opera and oratorio organizations that promote new music
in this area should be so lucky as to premiere one of your works. I really
love singing your compositions.
RB: Thank you, Lynn, for that vote of confidence. I love working with
you, too!
LS: Along with Beauport Press, you also managed a recording studio for
awhile. Can you tell us about that experience?
RB: When I began composing professionally in MA, I quickly found jobs
righting commercial music to pay the bills. I noticed that all of the
commissions were for works I could record in my small MIDI studio. It
didn't take long for me to realize that building a full service studio
was in my best interest as a composer. Of course, I wasn't prepared for
how many people were looking for a studio in this area and quickly got
overwhelmed with clients. I only allowed that to last for two years. Now
I devote my time to classical composition and running Beauport Press Music
Publications. I still have the studio, and hope to reopen it sometime
in the future - but only as a partnership.
LS: Any advice for singers seeking to make a recording or demo and market
it?
RB: Prepare before you get to the studio. Wasting time in the studio,
with the clock ticking, is expensive and it takes your mind off your project.
Don't be afraid to leave when things aren't going well and come back when
the time is right. Also, don't prepare too many pieces for a short session.
Most people get frantic when they are not completing what they planned
and start to fly through pieces at the end of the session. Of course,
these are never good enough and that is wasted time and money.
Have excellent artwork - even if it is more expensive. People judge your
product on appearance first. If you don't make a great first impression
they won't pay attention to the music. Also, spend extra for full color
on your CD face (if you are using a color layout) and add extra pages
inside. Everyone makes CDs now, and it is painfully obvious when someone
tried to save money on CD production. You work hard preparing your performance-do
the same for the product. Don't forget to tie the artwork to a website
as well.
LS: Thank you so much for your time, Rob, and best wishes, again, on your
world and state premieres of "Sonata."
RB: Thanks to you too for this opportunity to share a little about my
music with everyone.
SONATA for trumpet and strings (or piano)
by Robert J. Bradshaw*
Sunday, November 2, 7:30PM
Philips Recital Hall, Gordon College, in Wenham, MA.
Seelan Manickam, trumpet; Karen Gahagan*, piano.
The program will also feature other works by Mr. Bradshaw and performances
by Chris Hawes (trumpet), Barbara Flocco (organ), and the Gordon College
Brass Ensembles
mail@robertbradshaw.com
(978) 281-9616
Admission is FREE
CHORAL WORKS BY ROBERT
BRADSHAW (selected):
GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE, THE
SATB, STRINGS (Vl1, Vl2, Va, Vc, Cb)
13:00
BLACKNESS OF NIGHT/A DREAM
SSAATB
4:00
OUR LORD AND OUR GOD
SATB/organ
5:00
MARY SAID (Christmas Carol)
SATB/Perc./brass quartet
3:00
WORKS FOR SOLO VOICE BY ROBERT BRADSHAW (selected):
AND HANNAH PRAYED
SOPRANO AND HARP
Level: ADVANCED
13:00
CYCLE ONE
SOPRANO AND FLUTE
Level: ADVANCED
6:30
SOFTLY CALLING
SOPRANO, FLUTE AND HARP
5:20
AWAKE LITTLE JESUS
S/piano
2:30
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
International Trumpet Guild:
http://www.trumpetguild.org/news/news03/fiftystates.htm
Meet the Composer
http://www.meetthecomposer.org/index.htm
Robert Bradshaw's published works:
www.beauportpress.com
"Sonata" Notes:
http://www.beauportpress.com/pages/12/index.htm
"Sonata" Performances:
http://www.beauportpress.com/pages/14/index.htm
ROBERT BRADSHAW:
mail@robertbradshaw.com
(978) 281-9616
www.robertjbradshaw.com