Compose Like a Girl

Alex Shapiro: Being Heartfelt and Being Taken Seriously (But Not Too Seriously)

In this episode, Jocelyn talks with Alex Shapiro about writing from your gut and your heart, the compositional process behind her pieces Spark and Tight Squeeze, and how to prevent the gerbils in your mind from taking over your creative process. 
 
Companion playlists: Youtube, Spotify
 
Follow us: @composelikeagirl on Instagram and Facebook
Learn more: Compose Like a Girl
 
Transcript PDF
 
Relevant Links:
 
Tight Squeeze commissioned through Composers and Schools in Concert consortium 
Spark written in honor of Dale Mara Bershad
Lights Out
Paper Cut
Bioplasm 
Proximity to Europe Theory, Pages 18-19
San Juan Islands
American Composers Forum 
Libby Larsen
Mary Ellen Childs 
Alex’s Photography and Her Studio
Ursula Mamlok
Arnold Schoenberg
Anton Webern  
Serialism, Twelve-Tone
Columbia College Chicago Music Department 
Cocktails With Creatives: Episode 1
Cocktails With Creatives: Episode 2 

Gabriela Lena Frank: Self-Knowledge, Storytelling, and Not Sleepwalking Through Life

In this episode, Jocelyn talks with Gabriela Lena Frank about the multitudes of her music, which spans intimate explorations of love and loss to the multi-generational effects of colonialism. They also discuss responsibly engaging with trauma, mentoring the next generation of composers, and writing music for a universe where there’s no oppression. 
 
Companion playlists: Youtube, Spotify
 
Follow us: @composelikeagirl on Instagram and Facebook
Learn more: Compose Like a Girl
 
Transcript
 
Relevant Links:
 
Gabriela Lena Frank’s website
Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music and their Eco-Citizenship program
A Psalm of Disquiet, written for the Fry Street Quartet
Conquest Requiem, premiered by The Houston Symphony 
El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego), libretto by Nilo Cruz, premiered by the San Diego Opera
LA Opera Digital Shorts: The Five Moons of Lorca by Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz 
La Llorona: Tone Poem for Viola and Orchestra
Meyer Sound 
Anna and the Tropics by Nilo Cruz 
Frida by Robert Rodriguez
Dead Man Walking by Jake Hegge 

Shara Nova: Humanity and Belonging in an Eclectic Creative Life

Shara Nova joins Jocelyn to talk about her many and multi-faceted musical endeavors. They discuss music's role in love, loss, family, and why everyone should try to make a joyful musical noise together.  
 
Episode transcript
 
Companion playlists: Youtube, Spotify
 
Follow us: @composelikeagirl on Instagram and Facebook
Learn more: Compose Like a Girl
 
Relevant Links:
 
AwRY
My Brightest Diamond
Bring Me the Workhorse - Golden Star
This is My Hand
All Things Will Unwind
Titration 
“III. Resolve” from Carols After a Plague - The Crossing
Death Speaks by David Lang
 
Earl Harvin - drummer 
Chris Bruce - bass
Eighth Blackbird
Philip Glass 
Nina Simone
Nico Muhly
Owen Palette
Brooklyn Youth Chorus
yMusic
Zac Rae
Bryce Dessner 
Aaron Dessner
Laurie Anderson 
 
Homeland, Joe's Pub Vanguard Artist & Residency 
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry at BAM
Texas Conspirare 2022-2023 Hear Me Out Program 
MusiCares Article: Client Spotlight: How Shara Nova Amplified Her Career By Keeping A "Wild Belief" In Herself & Other Women
 
ProTools
Sibelius

Mari Esabel Valverde: Unlearning Shame and a Reverence for Language

Mari Esabel Valverde joins Jocelyn to talk language, unlearning shame, gender, and pathways to excellence for the under-resourced. 
 
Companion playlists: YouTube, Spotify
 
Episode Transcript 
 
Follow us: @composelikeagirl on Instagram and Facebook
Learn more: Compose Like a Girl
 
Relevant Links:
 
Before Spring
To digte af Tove Ditlevsen | Performed by Matthew Valverde, tenor
Darest, O Soul | Performed by Cantus
Earth, Mother | Performed by the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club
Moonlight Quartet | Performed by Her Ensemble 
Border Lines | Text by Yesenia Montilla | Composed for and Performed by Adams State University Chamber Choir
 
St. Olaf College
European American Music Alliance 
Amir Rabiyah, poet 
International Orange Chorale of San Francisco
 
Influences and inspiration: 
Claude Debussy
King David, Part III: “The Death of David” by Arthur Honegger
Les Six
Wilhelm Stenhammar
Jean Sibelius
Wilhelm Peterson-Berger
Edvard Grieg
Siete Canciones Populares Españolas, V. Nana by Manuel de Falla
 
Resources on Gender Identity:
Video by Chase Ross: “Trans 101: Ep 1 - What is Transgender?” 
Graphic by the Trans Student Education Resource: The Gender Unicorn 
Graphic by Sam Killerman: The Genderbread Person 

Season 2 of Compose Like a Girl Launching Soon!

Season 2 of Compose Like a Girl will launch later this week!
 
Follow us: @composelikeagirl on Instagram and Facebook
Learn more: Compose Like a Girl

Choral Series Bonus: Conversation with Emily Drum

Emily Drum joins Jocelyn for a conversation on today’s bonus episode! 
 
Emily (she/her) is a singer, arranger, composer, vocal producer, songwriter, and educator living in Phoenix, AZ. During her time at the University of Arizona, she became the driving force behind the award-winning a cappella group Amplified, serving as director, arranger, and producer. In addition to leading the group to historic success in the Varsity Vocals ICCA competition, she received four ‘Outstanding Arrangement’ awards for her work. Today, Emily is in high demand as a professional vocal arranger and composer. She is commissioned by high school groups, top-ranked collegiate a cappella groups, and semi-professional choirs all over the country, and her self-published arrangements have been sung all over the world, in over 15 countries spread across 5 continents. In addition to arranging and composing, Emily is also a vocal coach, producer, and member of the award-winning treble vocal quartet, Red Letter Daze. Over time, her contributions to countless vocal projects have landed her 27 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (CARA) nominations and awards. She is excited to continue making strides in the world of vocal music and is grateful to be featured in Graphite Publishing.
 
Support us: Subscribe on Patreon
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Learn more: Compose Like a Girl
 
Transcript PDF
 
Relevant Links:
 
Emily Drum 
Womankind, available through Graphite Publishing
Star Light, Star Bright, available through Graphite Publishing
GALA Choruses
Phoenix Women’s Chorus 
International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella
Red Letter Daze
Boston A Cappella Festival 
DAW
 

Choral Series Bonus: Conversation with Sherry Blevins

Sherry Blevins joins Jocelyn for a conversation on today’s bonus episode! 
 
Sherry is an award-winning composer/lyricist, conductor/clinician, and an award-winning music educator. Her first piece was published in 2018. Since then, more than 17 of her pieces have been published, and she is now with four publishing houses including Hinshaw, Fred Bock, BriLee, and JH Music. Since then, she has enjoyed composing for and with a variety of singers and ensembles across North America. Sherry has a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a master’s degree in music education from Appalachian State University. Her hope is that whether through composing or teaching, that the music she shares will bring hope, life, and light to others. 
 
Support us: Subscribe on Patreon
Follow us: @composelikeagirl on Instagram and Facebook
Learn more: Compose Like a Girl
 
Transcript PDF
 
Relevant Links:
 
Sherry Blevins
When I Become An Old Woman, available through Graphite Publishing
Looking for Light, available through Graphite Publishing 
If I Call To You, My Love, available through Graphite Publishing 
Jenny Joseph’s poem “When I Become an Old Woman”
Dr. Iris S. Levine, Vox Femina 

Choral Series Bonus: Conversation with Ritika Bhattacharjee

Ritika Bhattacharjee joins Jocelyn for a conversation on today’s bonus episode! 
Ritika is a composer, pianist, and vocalist who performs in jazz combos and big bands, plays for contemporary dance productions with Ventana Ballet, and underscores fully improvised musicals at Merlin Works, The Hideout, The Fallout, and ColdTowne Theatre. Her multi-media composition portfolio includes the scores for three short films, a video game, an iOS app, a string quartet, a musical, and a symphony commission from Austin Balcones Orchestra. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2022, where she founded and served as the president and conductor of Ingeniare, the A&M Student Engineering Chorus, and served as the band leader and pianist for Binomial Rhapsody, an engineering instrumental ensemble that composed music from math equations. During her undergraduate study, she was the lead jazz vocalist for the Corps of Cadets Aggieland Orchestra, performing scores from the big-band era on tour. She currently works as a business consultant in Austin, TX, and will receive her graduate diploma in composition from the European Academy of Film Scoring in 2024.
 
Support us: Subscribe on Patreon
Follow us: @composelikeagirl on Instagram and Facebook
Learn more: Compose Like a Girl
 
Transcript PDF
 
Relevant Links:
 
Ritika Bhattacharjee
The Infinity of Space available through Graphite Publishing
 
Texas A&M University
Shayla Rivera (Ritika’s Professor at Texas A&M University)
Binomial Rhapsody
Python 
Pivot
Gutenberg! The musical!
Film Scoring Academy of Europe
 
Conspirare
Morten Lauridsen - Lux Aeterna
Orange County Philharmonic
Pepsi R&D
Lewis Carroll’s, “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”
 
SOUNDDRAW
String Theory
Wormhole Paradoxes
Dr. Michio Kaku

Choral Series Bonus: Conversation with Patti Arntz

Patti Arntz joins Jocelyn for a conversation on today’s bonus episode! 
 
Patti has been a music educator and church musician in the Twin Cities area for over 40 years. She has degrees in music from Hamline University, St. Paul, MN and Drake University, Des Moines, IA and a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN.
She recently retired from teaching elementary music with the Robbinsdale Area Schools in the Twin Cities area. During her 30 years of instructing young children to sing and make music, she also directed the Robbinsdale All-District Elementary Honors Choir for 15 years. Throughout her teaching career, she served as an organist and director of youth/adult choirs in local churches.
In 2003, Patti was contacted by St. Olaf College to see if she would take a student teacher. The answer was yes, of course. That student teacher was Jocelyn Hagen. The favor was returned when Jocelyn served as a mentor for Patti’s compositions and arrangements.
 
In 2010, Patti commissioned Jocelyn to compose a children’s choir piece in memory of Teresa Benjamin, Assistant Director of the Robbinsdale Elementary Honor Choir. Teresa passed away in the spring of 2003. This composition, “I Started Out Singing,” has become very popular in recent years.
 
Keeping in touch with her elementary music roots, she serves as an adjunct professor at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota, instructing elementary education majors on teaching and integrating music into their future classrooms.
 
Patti lives in the Twin Cities area with her husband, Rolland, where she enjoys outdoor activities, traveling and cooking. She sings with Singers in Accord and is a charter member of the choir. Her adult children, Kyle and Melani are both very involved in music in the Twin Cities area.
 
Support us: Subscribe on Patreon
Follow us: @composelikeagirl on Instagram and Facebook
Learn more: Compose Like a Girl
 
Transcript PDF
 
Relevant Links:
 
Patti Arntz on social media: Instagram @pmarntz, Facebook @Patti Arntz.
A Quilt of Snow (available through Graphite Publishing for 2-part treble, SATB, or SSA choir and C instrument)
A Quilt of Snow Introduction
Performance of A Quilt of Snow by Vox Nova Chorale, Vicki Peters, Artistic Director
Robbinsdale All District Choir, MN
Odd Nordstoga 

Choral Series Bonus: Conversation with Grace Becker

Grace Becker joins Jocelyn for a conversation on today’s bonus episode! 
 
Grace is an amateur composer who is excited to share her passion for spreading joy and writing music with the world. Grace grew up singing in choirs in her hometown Bloomington, MN and began composing in her second year of college. She quickly found purpose in the vulnerable, honest nature of this process. She has since composed a handful of songs, with her debut appearing in the Compose Like A Girl series. She has always had a love for poetry and storytelling, often choosing to make settings of her own poems. Choral music has left a profound mark on her life, and she is honored to be able to share her words with the public, hoping they will find those who need to hear them the most. Grace graduated with a bachelor’s in music education from Wartburg College and is currently teaching K-4th general music in Iowa.
 
Support us: Subscribe on Patreon
Follow us: @composelikeagirl on Instagram and Facebook
Learn more: Compose Like a Girl
 
Transcript PDF
 
Relevant Links:
 
Grace Becker:Instagram - @grace.becker73Facebook - @GraceBecker
Known, available through Graphite Publishing 
Performance of Known by Voces Solis, conducted by Ryan Keeling
Wartburg College, Dr. Lee Nelson