Showdown! is complete! My newest work for string orchestra is ready for the Western Kansas Orchestra Festival!
It's my take on the classic Western gunfight: good guy/bad guy face off in the center of main street. But when it seems that the "good guy" wins, did he really? And just what is "good," anyway? Hmmm....
Hope you enjoy it!
Best,
Jeffrey
Monday, June 20, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Chicago, Chicago....My Kind of Town!
Actually, Lake Forest, IL. Deerpath Middle School to be exact!
The Deerpath Middle School Orchestras premiered "Erebus" on Monday, May 16. I had the opportunity to rehearse the orchestras Monday morning and then conduct the premiere at their concert that evening. The kids were a hoot - lots of middle school energy and excitement. Their teacher, Ms. Sarah Truding, along with her colleagues and family, was amazing. She's a great teacher and her family were kind enough to run me all over town during my stay.
It's always fun to be able to bring a new work to life. It's even MORE fun to bring it to life with a group of people who care!
Thanks, DPMS! YOU ROCK!
Jef
The Deerpath Middle School Orchestras premiered "Erebus" on Monday, May 16. I had the opportunity to rehearse the orchestras Monday morning and then conduct the premiere at their concert that evening. The kids were a hoot - lots of middle school energy and excitement. Their teacher, Ms. Sarah Truding, along with her colleagues and family, was amazing. She's a great teacher and her family were kind enough to run me all over town during my stay.
It's always fun to be able to bring a new work to life. It's even MORE fun to bring it to life with a group of people who care!
Thanks, DPMS! YOU ROCK!
Jef
Saturday, March 26, 2011
New Choral Work
Lots of big doin's around the Bishop Studio of late. Lots of not-so-pleasant personal stuff that has led to a small outpouring of really good, emotional music! When life gives you lemons, write a piece about lemonade, right?
This new choral piece will be submitted to another choral composition contest so keep your fingers, toes and noses crossed for me.
Not much else to say until I'm able to say it, so until then, stay safe out there!
Trying harder to be a little better every day,
Jeffrey
This new choral piece will be submitted to another choral composition contest so keep your fingers, toes and noses crossed for me.
Not much else to say until I'm able to say it, so until then, stay safe out there!
Trying harder to be a little better every day,
Jeffrey
Sunday, March 6, 2011
New Piece over at YouTube
I have a new piece up on the Jeffrey S. Bishop YouTube Channel. It's an SATB a cappella work based on an original poem. I want to thank the Shawnee Mission Northwest High School Chamber Singers for their work in preparing this work. And it turned out to be a bigger undertaking than we originally planned....
I wrote the original version of this work around a poem by former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins. But, after several attempts to contact Mr. Collins via his agents, his publisher, and a PR firm, I gave up and wrote a poem that had a similar rhyme scheme (or at least similar syllabic form).
So, although I'm no poet laureate, the music is still very much fitting for the melancholy of the piece itself. I'm writing more and more choral work lately. And I'm loving it more and more, too! In fact, I'm enjoying it so much I've decided to audition for a local choir. I've not sung since college (well, at least outside of the shower, sitting in traffic, or under duress), so I'm taking lessons to get ready for my audition at the end of the month.
So, wish me luck! And surf on over to YouTube and check out the new piece.
Peace,
Jef
I wrote the original version of this work around a poem by former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins. But, after several attempts to contact Mr. Collins via his agents, his publisher, and a PR firm, I gave up and wrote a poem that had a similar rhyme scheme (or at least similar syllabic form).
So, although I'm no poet laureate, the music is still very much fitting for the melancholy of the piece itself. I'm writing more and more choral work lately. And I'm loving it more and more, too! In fact, I'm enjoying it so much I've decided to audition for a local choir. I've not sung since college (well, at least outside of the shower, sitting in traffic, or under duress), so I'm taking lessons to get ready for my audition at the end of the month.
So, wish me luck! And surf on over to YouTube and check out the new piece.
Peace,
Jef
Monday, February 21, 2011
New Work on Its Way
Finished up my newest choral work, an SSAA a cappella work, this evening. It was written for the Joe Shepley Composition Contest sponsored by the Namaste Women's Choir in Los Angeles. The lyrics are from a Susan B. Anthony quote that I've come to love:
"Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation....."
I'm not going to delve into the greater historical significance nor the political ramifications of the quote, but suffice to say, as a composer, I feel that it can be read several different ways. As I age, I find myself saying to my audience: "What does this mean to you? How does it make you feel? What's your reaction to it?" Rather than, as I did in my youth, screaming "HEY, LISTEN TO THIS! I HAVE SOMETHING OPINIONATED TO SAY!" It's kind of like poetry, in which the poet always speaks in first person: "me, me, me" gets really old after awhile. I want to interpret, too!
So "Anything or Nothing" goes into the mail tomorrow. I haven't sent a work to a contest in a long time, having grown complacent with my publishing schedule, but since I've not done a lot of choral work, I'm excited to get my work out to a new audience.
And, who knows, maybe they'll let me know how they feel about it....
Namaste, indeed.
Jef
"Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation....."
I'm not going to delve into the greater historical significance nor the political ramifications of the quote, but suffice to say, as a composer, I feel that it can be read several different ways. As I age, I find myself saying to my audience: "What does this mean to you? How does it make you feel? What's your reaction to it?" Rather than, as I did in my youth, screaming "HEY, LISTEN TO THIS! I HAVE SOMETHING OPINIONATED TO SAY!" It's kind of like poetry, in which the poet always speaks in first person: "me, me, me" gets really old after awhile. I want to interpret, too!
So "Anything or Nothing" goes into the mail tomorrow. I haven't sent a work to a contest in a long time, having grown complacent with my publishing schedule, but since I've not done a lot of choral work, I'm excited to get my work out to a new audience.
And, who knows, maybe they'll let me know how they feel about it....
Namaste, indeed.
Jef
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Off to Work....
Heading over to the coffee shop with my notebook and pencils to get a little work done. I downloaded a new piano app for my iPhone so I think I'll be able to get a lot more ideas down than I normally do.
I don't have "perfect pitch." In fact, I don't even have not-so-perfect pitch, so it can be very frustrating at times when I have ideas that I can't quite get down on paper exactly as I heard them in my head. Unfortunately, the creative part of my brain, the one that comes up with these amazing ideas doesn't seem to get along with the analytical part of my brain that needs to write it down. Makes for some amazingly funny scenes, I'm sure: "Look at the crazy man in the corner talking to himself, punching his phone like that! Stay away from him, kids!"
But artists are supposed to be a little bit crazy, right? Right?
Oh well, off to work.
Jef
I don't have "perfect pitch." In fact, I don't even have not-so-perfect pitch, so it can be very frustrating at times when I have ideas that I can't quite get down on paper exactly as I heard them in my head. Unfortunately, the creative part of my brain, the one that comes up with these amazing ideas doesn't seem to get along with the analytical part of my brain that needs to write it down. Makes for some amazingly funny scenes, I'm sure: "Look at the crazy man in the corner talking to himself, punching his phone like that! Stay away from him, kids!"
But artists are supposed to be a little bit crazy, right? Right?
Oh well, off to work.
Jef
Monday, February 14, 2011
Great Work Indeed
My high school orchestras will join our choirs in presenting our annual "Great Works" concert tomorrow evening, Tuesday, February 15th. In addition to a mass by DeLibes and Bach's Cantata No. 4, the choir will be premiering my newest choral work.
Tonight was the dress rehearsal, and I have to say that I was just blown away by the choir's performance. Normally I don't get too awfully worked up, but I shed a few tears tonight. THAT is why I write music: to reach that special place, deep down inside a person, that says "this music is here to make your life, however brief it may last, a little bit better, a little more hopeful."
Every now and then I have to be reminded how humbling it is to be a composer, to be a purveyor of time, emotion, and sound. I am the luckiest man alive, right now, right here.
Namaste,
Jef
Tonight was the dress rehearsal, and I have to say that I was just blown away by the choir's performance. Normally I don't get too awfully worked up, but I shed a few tears tonight. THAT is why I write music: to reach that special place, deep down inside a person, that says "this music is here to make your life, however brief it may last, a little bit better, a little more hopeful."
Every now and then I have to be reminded how humbling it is to be a composer, to be a purveyor of time, emotion, and sound. I am the luckiest man alive, right now, right here.
Namaste,
Jef
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