The November issue featured the comments of several composers whose works are scheduled for performance at the Midwest Clinic this December. Because we received so many thoughtful responses, we are including additional composers in this second installment.
Chris Ozley
How did you get started composing?
I grew up the son of a music minister and trombonist in the rural southeastern United States. I was always interested in music from early childhood, and my father, John Ozley Jr., helped me develop an eclectic taste in music. I remember listening to vinyl recordings of everything from the Beatles to Shostakovich on our old record player. I knew that I was infatuated with the sound of music and that I wanted to create my own. Before I ever studied music formally in school, I was writing pieces. I would come up with simple melodies and harmonies, and my father would dictate them onto manuscript. Then, he made suggestions about how I could improve upon them while also teaching me what I was actually doing. Later, during my senior year of high school, I took an AP music theory course with my band director, David Arvold. He gave me great encouragement to pursue music in college, and he saw that I had a talent for arranging and composing.
What is the best composing lesson you learned?
The best lesson that I ever learned about composing is that music must communicate something. Early in my development as a composer I wrote music simply as an exercise, but learning to write music that elicits a meaningful response from an audience is part of what I now strive for as a composer.
What was the inspiration and development of the piece of yours being performed at Midwest?
The piece that I wrote for Midwest is entitled Beyond the Ridge. I wanted to write about entering a new phase in life. The work references the name of the school for which it was commissioned, Canyon Ridge Middle School in Austin, Texas. The title also speaks to the fact that this is the first time that this school has played at the Midwest Clinic. I wanted the title to have special significance for the students; it is meant to symbolize their journey as young musicians to a new place.
Do you have a set routine as you compose?
I normally begin composing a new work at the piano by finding simple ideas that interest me. I improvise short motives until I find one that I want to work with in the piece. Then, I begin writing the work, often from the beginning. I tend to write intuitively without a lot of written preplanning although I do often have a shape and an approximate length of the piece in mind from the beginning. Since music is a temporal art form, I always conceive one sound leading to the next, and trust my intuition to help navigate through the process. After I have composed around a minute of music, the forms of my works tend to materialize based on the ideas I have chosen and their implications.
Who are your favorite composers?
I am drawn to composers whose works have deep emotional agency and also have an exceptional level of craft. Bach and Beethoven are two of my favorites, but in terms of more current examples, John Corigliano and Christopher Rouse are two who I truly admire. Both composers are masters of communication, and I love their attention to compositional details. John Corigliano’s Second Symphony, for example, is full of subtle musical metaphors while also being exquisitely crafted.
What is a work of someone else’s that you think is underplayed?
I love Barber’s First Symphony, although I have never heard it played live. I think it is an incredible piece in terms of its form and the meaning it communicates. The symphony is in one continuous movement which can be divided into four seamless parts and illustrates numerous compositional devices such as the passacaglia in the final portion of the work. There is a lot of strife in the piece and a conflict that comes to full fruition in the final moments when one hopes that the darkness will turn to light. You must listen to find out how it ends.
What is your approach to writer’s block?
I exercise. Running a few miles or going to the gym helps me gain perspective when I get stuck. The most futile action for me is to sit and mull over the details over and over again.
What is the most embarrassing music that you love on your iPod?
Dave Matthews Band would be my choice here, but I do not think liking his music is embarrassing. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for 90s jam bands.
Chris Ozley is a native of Augusta, Georgia. He earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Jacksonville State University in Alabama, where he studied percussion with Clint Gillespie and composition with Michael D’Ambrosio. Currently, he is pursuing a Master of Music Composition degree from the University of Texas where he has studied with Donald Grantham, Dan Welcher, and Russell Pinkston. Chris has written and arranged numerous works across a broad spectrum of media. He currently resides in Austin, Texas.
Gary P. Gilroy
How did you get started composing?
In the mid-1970s, I was lucky enough to attend a Catholic high school that offered three years of music theory. My high school band director Joe McCaskey taught the small classes, and he gave us a wonderful diet of theory, sight-singing, and ear-training. I completed my first orchestration project in his class, and I’ve been learning to write better with each and every project since.
What is the best composing lesson you learned?
I have learned the great value of score study over many years of composing, arranging, and conducting. As a conductor, I am constantly studying and trying to learn the scores of other composers. Composers learn from studying the works of their colleagues, much like engineers and doctors, because music is collaborative. My compositions are a product of the eclectic catalog of ideas and concepts I have studied in other composers’ scores.
What was the inspiration and development of the piece of yours being performed at Midwest?
Indian Springs Middle School will be performing my Lament and Jig For Mickey as part of their program. I wrote the work in memory of my father, Michael R. Gilroy, who passed away in June of 2007. The composition pays tribute to my father’s Irish heritage in both a sorrowful and celebratory manner. My father was a strict man who had a no-nonsense attitude. I was one of eight children in my family, and we learned early on in life to respect our elders and do as we were told. I think I developed an instinct very similar to my dad’s in everything I did as a high school band director.
Do you have a set routine as you compose?
While I don’t have a precise routine, I always spend time at the piano. Sometimes the ideas come so quickly I can work in a Sibelius file right away. Most often I sketch some things in a notebook before I start the process of specific orchestration. Anyone who knows my work understands the significance of the percussion section to me. I integrate the percussion section as I compose, but even after the majority of the work is complete, I go back and add interesting colors and challenges from the incredible pallette of percussion timbres and effects to give the entire section of players plenty of opportunities to play instruments and enhance the overall work.
Who are your favorite composers?
In high school, I was fortunate to play percussion in the Lancaster (Pennsylvania) County Youth Symphony under the wonderful baton of Otis Kitchen, who exposed us to Igor Stravinsky and The Firebird Suite, among other great composers and their repertoire. Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky were the first composers I fell in love with as a result. Years as a bandsman and band conductor have endeared the works of James Barnes, Mark Camphouse, David R. Gillingham, and Timothy Mahr to me. All of these composers offer fresh ideas that keep the listener and performer completely engaged. Their music is unpredictable, interesting, and contemporary without being so far out there that the common audience member cannot relate. I find their music to be emotionally charged and quite captivating to listen to and study. The living composers of this group have also been very friendly and supportive to me as a conductor and composer.
What is a work of someone else’s that you think is underplayed?
I am not sure how popular it is in other parts of the world, but in my regional circles, I have only heard The Sussex Mummers’ Christmas Carol by Percy Aldridge Grainger performed once at the Midwest Clinic quite a few years back. This wonderful work is sublime. We are going to perform it on our next concert here at Fresno State with the wind orchestra, and my students are loving it.
What is your approach to writer’s block?
I constantly deal with deadlines for various commissions from band directors, organizations, and publishers. When I feel like I am out of ideas for the moment, I take a break from my studio to go out and do other things. Sometimes it is yard work or errands to run, but I never seem to stop singing through things in my head, constantly updating and editing these ideas. There have been times when I then have rushed back to my home office to write more things down. This time away from the keyboard and computer never fails to yield a nice development of ideas and plans with my compositions.
What is the most embarrassing music that you love on your iPod?
I love the music of Ricky Skaggs. Bluegrass music in general is really a kick, full of energy and life. Although I am not a string player, the playing I hear on bluegrass tracks often sounds quite virtuosic, and I respect the fantastic sounds they make together. My son turned me on to the Punch Brothers, who are in the category of Newgrass. Their music is fresh and interesting, and extremely heartfelt.
If you have had compositions premiered at the Midwest before, what is your most memorable premiere?
George Hayden and RoAnn Romines of the Maryville (Tennessee) Intermediate School used some of my music for their Midwest Clinic audition recording, and they flew me in to work with their group as they prepared it. We became great friends, and when their band was accepted to perform as part of the 2007 Midwest Clinic, they commissioned me to compose Three Stars of Tennessee. Although I have had a good number of works performed at Midwest over the years, this was my only experience with a commission specifically for this fantastic convention. I’ll never forget the incredible sounds those little sixth graders made as they earned three standing ovations during the program. Throughout the process, George pushed me to challenge his students. The result was a three-movement, grade 4 work for concert band published by Wingert-Jones. I was a little embarrassed when I saw the published grade-level, worried that people might think ill of me for writing such a challenging work for sixth graders, but, if you were at the performance that year in Chicago, you know that they did a great job with everything they played that day. I was proud to be a small part of it.
Gary P. Gilroy is Director of Bands and Director of the Bulldog Marching Band & Colorguard at Fresno State, where he has taught since 1993. Prior to this appointment he served for a decade as Director of Bands at Fred C. Beyer High School in Modesto, California where his band was awarded several national honors. Gilroy also was on the faculty at CSU-Stanislaus and a graduate assistant at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon where he completed his doctorate in 1995. As an adjudicator for Drum Corps International, Music in the Parks, Youth in the Arts, and Bands of America he has served in 39 states and throughout Canada. He has been involved as a performer or instructor/arranger for many Drum and Bugle Corps, including the Santa Clara Vanguard, Valley Fever, and the Concord Blue Devils. He is also in demand as a guest conductor for many honor bands throughout California. He is president of Gary P. Gilroy Publications.
Randall Standridge
How did you get started composing?
I taught myself to play piano at an early age. My brother received an electronic keyboard for Christmas one year; he was interested in it for a while, but he eventually tired of it. I started picking out simple songs by ear and eventually added chords and accompaniment over the next few years. Eventually, I had that moment that I like to think most composers have. I thought, “I can write my own music instead of just playing someone else’s.” So, I began writing.
They were simple songs at first and eventually grew more complex. I was lucky to have two teachers in high school, Ron McHone and Michael Ferguson, who were very supportive of my interest. Upon entering college at Arkansas State University, I began taking composition lessons with Tom O’Connor and eventually earned a master’s degree from the same institution while studying with Tim Crist. The rest, as they say, is history.
What is the best composing lesson you learned?
The best lesson I have ever learned about composition actually came out of the book On Writing by Stephen King. He discusses the practices and discipline that he uses to be a successful novelist. I absorbed it all. The best lesson is the need for self-discipline. He wrote every day because he wanted to be a serious novelist. So, I write music every day. Some days it is hard to find time, but I make it. This is my dream, my passion, and my ambition. If you’re going to be successful, you must make time for it.
What was the inspiration and development of the piece of yours being performed at Midwest?
Ruckus, being performed by Indian Springs Middle School from Keller, Texas and their conductor, David Puckett, was inspired by my love of loud, bombastic music. I have always loved asymmetric meters as well. There are sections where I use the wind ensemble as a giant drumset, experimenting with rhythmic layering. I hope it comes across as a fun, raucous work that still has musical substance and integrity. The commissioning organization, the Central Cass High School Band of Casselton, North Dakota, and their director, Darcy Brandenberg, also asked that it be loud and boisterous as it was commissioned in honor of Steve Lorentzen, their principal.
Do you have a set routine as you compose?
The only routine I follow is to make sure that I compose every day. Other than that it varies. Sometimes I start at the piano, sometimes I start at the score, and sometimes I start with GarageBand. Some of my best ideas come to me when I am driving; in such a case, I usually activate my iPhone and start singing the ideas into it so I’m sure not to forget them. Every piece is unique, and you have to let it develop in its own way. I also spend a lot of time listening to the piece upon completion, and then I go back for edits, usually trying to cut out any extraneous material or unneeded ideas.
Who are your favorite composers?
My favorite band composers currently are Eric Whitacre and John Mackey, both for similar reasons. When I listen to their music, it doesn’t sound like anything I have heard before, and that excites me. I love Whitacre’s use of harmony, and I think Mackey is a master at orchestration. In addition to these gentlemen, I am a big fan of Elliot Goldenthal, Philip Glass, David Maslanka, Bruno Coulais, and Danny Elfman. I enjoy cinematic, romantic music that transports me to another place. I think that movie music is one of the most underappreciated art forms in the academic circles of music. There is a definitive language and expressive quality to this music that appeals to me. All of the composers mentioned above make me think of and consider new colors and textures every time I hear their work.
What is a work of someone else’s that you think is underplayed?
I think April by Aaron Perrine is extremely underplayed. It is one of the finest works written for young bands in the last 20 years. It is an amazing example of up-tempo lyricism and does not follow the stereotypical ABA format of most music composed for young musicians. While providing real substance, it also can be played by younger and smaller ensembles. I program it at every opportunity.
What is your approach to writer’s block?
I just keep writing. If that does not work, I study scores or listen to music to help ignite the creative spark. I don’t get writer’s block very often; I think it has to do with my approach to composition in general. I think that most writer’s block comes from the fear of writing bad music. There is a certain level of expectation by most composers, I think, that everything they write needs to be a masterpiece. While that is a nice ambition, I readily accept the fact that not everything I write will be good. I have written some really bad music in my time. However, my goal is to not let you hear any of it. For every piece I have had published, I have at least two more that will never leave my computer. You just keep writing and develop a sense of aesthetic for what is good and what is not.
The worst case of writer’s block I ever had occurred in 2012 when my grandmother passed away. I found myself unable to write at all. I avoided my work station for months afterwards. Slowly, I began working on a piece in honor of her and my other grandparents, an arrangement of the hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. It took me almost a whole year to write, and it slowly brought me back to the creative process.
What is the most embarrassing music that you love on your iPod?
That would be a difficult one to answer, as I don’t find any music embarrassing. However, a few that some of my friends have told me I should be embarrassed about include Lady Gaga, Josh Grobin, polka music, They Might Be Giants, and several heavy metal bands. My tastes are very eclectic, and I find worth and value in anything I listen to.
If you have had compositions premiered at the Midwest before, what is your most memorable premiere?
It was not a premiere, but one of the most memorable performances of my work occurred at the 2013 Midwest Clinic. The VanderCook Symphonic Band performed my work When the Spring Rain Begins to Fall. Shortly before the performance, I had an opportunity to speak with Charles Menghini, conductor of the ensemble. He said, “I hope you won’t be mad with what we have done to it.” This, of course, aroused my curiosity. The work in question used the trumpet for the primary melodic instrument for much of the piece. They stationed their trumpets around the performance hall and created an immersive, 3D effect with the melodic line being passed all around the space. It was absolutely magical.
Randall Standridge received his Bachelor’s of Music Education from Arkansas State University. During this time, he studied composition with Tom O’Connor, before returning to Arkansas State University to earn his Master’s in Music Composition, studying with Tom O’Connor and Tim Crist. In 2001, he began his tenure as Director of Bands at Harrisburg High School in Harrisburg, Arkansas. He left this post in 2013 to pursue a career as a full-time composer and marching band editor for Grand Mesa Music Publishers.
Vince Oliver
How did you get started composing?
I fell in love with film scores when I was in middle school with music by John Williams, Michael Kamen, Jerry Goldsmith, and James Horner. I would sit at the piano and listen to their scores and try to pick out as many melodies and harmonies as I could. Eventually I began composing my own music, emulating styles that I liked, or that I found exciting to explore.
What is the best composing lesson you learned?
My sophomore year at the University of Southern California I studied composition with Erica Muhl; she was one of the last students of Nadia Boulanger’s and was trained with the Paris Conservatory’s notorious discipline when it comes to the craft of composition. In one of our composition classes, she handed out a piece of paper with four measures of an obscure impressionistic piano piece and told us to finish the piece. It needed to be thirty measures long and continue and develop material based off of the original four measures. My colleagues and I returned to the next class – each with a completely different version of the piece. Muhl then took our pieces and completely destroyed nearly all of them:
- “You changed the motivic rhythm here – why? You have to develop a single idea for more than four or eight measures, especially if it’s rhythmic.”
- “You used chromaticism here – there’s nothing harmonically in the four bars that would warrant this decision.”
- “You used a tritone in the melody – there’s nothing with the pitch relationships given that would suggest this is okay.”
It was then that I realized that there were actually rules to composition. Some people consider composition an art, while others would consider it more of a craft, but either way there are definitely considerations to be respected, and to merely improvise your way through the writing process won’t always and consistently lead to the most sophisticated or coherent outcome.
What was the inspiration and development of the piece of yours being performed at Midwest?
I have recently had some amazing opportunities and commissions for pieces or projects that juxtapose electronics with acoustic instruments. Michael Boitz requested a closing piece for the Saratoga String Symphony, so I tried to write a piece, titled Press, that would conceptually turn the string orchestra into a rock band.
Do you have a set routine as you compose?
No, I usually have a sense of the feel or form of the piece before I start writing, but the actual writing process is different for different pieces. Sometimes I start at the piano, figuring out some harmonic and melodic cells that I would like to explore. Sometimes I hop on my computer and sequence some ideas. For Press I stepped away from the studio altogether and started with manuscript paper and pencil for several hours figuring out my system. My fear in developing a routine is that my pieces may all start to sound similar. Additionally, I get bored pretty quickly, and a standard composition routine would either make me sleepy or frustrated – neither of which for me is conducive to creativity.
Who are your favorite composers?
Ravel was a master of orchestration, a revolutionary with his use of harmonies (which I still find interesting today), and he composed one of the most beautiful moments in the history of Western music. I’ve probably listened to the second movement of his Piano Concerto in G Major no fewer than 300 times, but it still elicits an emotional response from me every time I hear it. There have been many pieces throughout my life that I have felt emotional or intellectual connections with, but this particular piece, and this particular composer, have stuck with me throughout the years. Stravinsky is another favorite. There are few works by him that I do not love or find masterful in their construction and execution.
I am completely in awe and enamored by many contemporary composers, but I have to acknowledge John Adams for changing my life. I heard The Chairman Dances live as a freshman in college and was exposed to sounds I hadn’t heard before. Over the years I continue to study and listen to most of his works. I have immense appreciation for his creative honesty, complexity, and sophistication.
What is your approach to writer’s block?
I take a nap. Usually when I know things aren’t going well with a piece I will get really tired.
Taking a nap or going for a walk usually gets me out of this space, and I am usually able to come back to the piece with a new perspective.
What is the most embarrassing music that you love on your iPod?
I’m pretty proud of my eclectic taste in music, so it is tough for me to be embarrassed by anything on my iPod. I love bluegrass music (Nickel Creek, Chris Thile in particular), I like some country music (old and new), and I really like a lot of contemporary pop-artists and bands.
Vince Oliver is the percussion director and composer-in-residence at Saratoga High School in California and endorsed by Innovative Percussion. While in high school, Oliver was introduced to percussion and immediately fell in love. He participated in drum corps – Santa Clara Vanguard, and Concord Blue Devils – and went on to major in Percussion Performance and Music Composition at University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. Oliver toured with the show, Blast! for two years throughout the U.S., Canada, and Japan. As a composer/arranger, Oliver has written for various ensembles throughout the world. He arranges for several marching bands across the United States and is the music arranger for the Yokohama Inspires Drum and Bugle Corps the electronics designer for the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps.
Brian Beck
How did you get started composing?
At age 7 my parents bought my older sister a piano that she never used, so it sat there for years. I loved playing with it, not on it because it was simply a toy to me. I was infatuated with how the black keys sounded, which I later discovered was the pentatonic scale. I played along with the tv shows of the time and picked up most songs by ear. Later, I found out that the piano seat had a secret door where my sister kept her piano music. I began studying notation and began writing my own melodies. Looking back, they were hilariously terrible: no barlines, stems and note heads not making any sense, handcrafted staves, etc.
What is the best composing lesson you learned?
I am also a band director, which is my main impetus for composing. I try to engage every instrument, even euphonium. I have learned that every instrument has a tonal purpose – a color that makes it important to the ensemble. I look at the ensemble, think why that instrument is here, and try to create a significant part for each.
What was the inspiration and development of the piece of yours being performed at Midwest?
Sometimes it’s good simply to have fun and Fireball is just that. There is no moving backstory or sincere dedication. It is the musical equivalent of an ice cream sandwich, and who doesn’t love that? It’s loud, fast, and aggressive but still has many stylistic markings, dynamics, and moments of contrast to make it interesting for the performers and audience.
Do you have a set routine as you compose?
It starts with a Dr. Pepper, a bowl of Doritos, and something good on tv. I sit with my laptop and start with a melody. If it sounds good, I keep it. If it doesn’t, I erase it. I think about what the performer would like to see on the page and write that.
Who are your favorite composers?
Grieg, Ravel, and Dvorák. Grieg rarely wrote for large venues. He specialized in getting the most out of a small ensemble. No note was wasted. Ravel (as with most French composers) was the king of tone color. I love studying his scoring – especially keyboard, mallets, and percussion. Dvorák composed at his kitchen table and would often pause his creativity to play hide-and-seek with his children. Composing doesn’t need to be pretentious. It doesn’t require one to wear all black, strut around in leather pants during the summer, wear sunglasses indoors, have long flowing hair, and use big words. Write something that sounds cool, and people will play it.
What is a work of someone else’s that you think is underplayed?
There is a gorgeous arrangement of Pavane pour une infante defunte by Ravel arranged by Robert W. Smith for young band. It is on the Texas Prescribed Music List (grade 2), and I rarely hear it. I believe it to be the most beautiful piece for that level I’ve heard in a long time.
What is one work that you wish would be retired from the repertoire?
Pinnacle by Rob Grice (Gr. 2). I love most of Grice’s work, and that piece is really popular in Texas, but it is difficult to execute properly. The opening is engaging enough for directors to buy it and begin rehearsing, only to discover that the instrument ranges and tuning become much more difficult past the first page of the score. Having said that, any band that can play Pinnacle well is a great band.
What is your approach to writer’s block?
I sit at my keyboard and play, play, play, until something cool comes out. Most composers keep some sort of journal for their themes and ideas. I thumb through my old writings and see what develops in my mind.
What is the most embarrassing music that you love on your iPod?
It’s a tie between “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-A-Lot and the greatest hits of ABBA.
Brian Beck serves as Director of Bands at Faubion Middle School in McKinney, Texas. Formerly, he was the conductor of Byrd Middle School’s Symphonic I Band in Duncanville, Texas. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Texas A&M University-Commerce and a Master’s Degree in Music Education from the University of Houston. Beck is very active in composing and arranging for both instrumental and vocal ensembles, many featured in TMEA Honor Band concerts, Midwest performances, Western International Band clinics, UIL state marching contests, compact disc recordings, and choral concerts. His works have been published/recorded by Southern Music Publications, Anthem Publications, Alfred Publishing, Mark Custom Records, and DPB Audio.
