Spindrift Music Company
38 Dexter Road, Lexington, MA 02420
Press Release January 9, 2012
Contact: Pamela Marshall pmarshall [ at ] spindrift.com
Spindrift Commissioning Guild supports new music for local performance
Composer Pamela Marshall believes in creating for her community. She has written music for many local ensembles, including several pieces for Esprit de Cor, an ensemble of horns; Enchanted for oboe and orchestra for the Concord Ensemble, performed on the First Parish noon concert series in 2006; and Shepherds and Angels, American and Appalachian Christmas tunes set for chorus, violin and harp, and tamborine, premiered this season by the Master Singers.
She started the Spindrift Commissioning Guild in 2005 to enable friends and fans to support new music creation, recordings and concerts. She started with a commission from organist Carson Cooman, which they plan to record this summer. In 2009 she got fiscal sponsorship from Fractured Atlas, an artist service organization, making everyone's donations to the Guild tax-deductible.
For her 2012 Commissioning Guild project, she is planning two pieces: music for flute & cello for the Addington/Arnold Duo, and a trio for Lexington pianist Shaylor Lindsay, percussionist Alan Yost, and flutist Sarah Tomasek. Fractured Atlas has partnered with the crowdfunding web site RocketHub to help artists do fundraisers. This January, she is raising money for these commissions and recordings. You can donate to support Spindrift Commissioning Guild 2012: Duo & Trio, Chamber Music With Flute online at http://www.rockethub.com/4144 through January 27. You can learn more about Pamela Marshall's music at www.spindrift.com.
Marshall says, "It's hard for musicians to fund their work. We love our work; it's our calling and we must do it, funding or not, to keep hold of our artistic voice and our technique. So we keep at it until we can't pay the bills. And there are plenty of bills. Concert halls, performers, and publicity cost money, and many record labels want composers to come up with the money to produce recordings. Many people, who love new music and live music and local music, can combine their support, through efforts like my Guild, to keep the music flowing."
Supporters of the Commissioning Guild are eligible for rewards based on their contributions. There's mp3 downloads of existing recordings and the new pieces, when those recordings get made. You can get downloads of the sheet music or autographed copies of the printed score or CD. For larger donations, you can have Pamela lead an improv workshop for you and your friends, or you can have a private concert in your home. There are T-shirts too!
Pamela says, "I like the idea of crowdfunding. The old concept of the single rich patron is definitely passe. The Internet has made publicity more accessible, but takes time and social-networking savvy to reach the people who might care. A crowdfunding web site like RocketHub or Kickstarter, the best known, helps create awareness and enthusiasm."
Pamela really appreciates the support she's had over the years from Lexington-area musicians and concert goers. She says, "I love seeing the smiles after a good performance. I'm pretty irrepressible, with my own big grin."
On January 29, you can hear the second performance of her new piece Zoa for flute and harp at the Lexington Music Club concert, First Parish Unitarian, 7 Harrington Road, Lexington, MA. The performers are the duo "2", Peter Bloom, flute, and Mary Jane Rupert, harp.
END
Published in the Lexington (MA) Minuteman newspaper, January 2012
