Scott A. Shoemaker, Ph.D
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Scott A. Shoemaker earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He also holds the Master of Music degree from the University of Nebraska and was awarded the Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Iowa. He has studied composition with Jerry Owen, Randall Snyder, Lawrence Fritts, and David Gompper. He was a conducting student of Tyler White. Shoemaker is an award winning composer. In 2001, he was the recipient of the Outstanding Composition by a Student prize awarded by Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity. He was the recipient of the prestigious Ida M. Vreeland award for outstanding musical achievement awarded by the Hixon-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Nebraska in 2003. His works have been included in festivals and concerts sponsored by The Society of Composers, Inc, The College Music Society, and The Iowa Composers Forum in addition to performances throughout the United States, Europe, Africa, and Australia. They are published by Cimarron Music Press. Shoemaker joined the University of Dubuque Faculty in the fall of 2008 where he teaches courses in music theory. He has also taught a variety of music courses at Kirkwood Community College, The University of Iowa, and the University of Nebraska. Also an active conductor, Shoemaker has conducted operatic, choral, orchestral, and chamber music performances throughout the Midwest. He is a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Pi Kappa Lambda. He is interested in working closely with performers and ensembles to produce meaningful works for soloists and chamber ensembles as well as interdisciplinary works with dancers, actors, and for the screen. |
| Recent Performances: "Waters of Oblivion" for Tenor Saxophone and Piano - April 20, 2009 The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa "Three Lenten Introits" for SAB Chorus - April, 2009 Christ Church Presbyterian, Cedar Rapids, Iowa "Sevenfild Amen on a Familliar Hymn" - March, 2009 Westminster Presbyterian Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa | |
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Compositions | |||
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In a Yellow Wood |
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| In a Yellow Wood.pdf - complete | |||
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In a Yellow Wood refers to the first line of Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” in which the poet is forced to choose between to alternative routes. The division suggested by the poem is reflected in this music. The piece is primarily built upon a recurring pattern of four six-note sonorities. Each hexachord contains a “tonal” or triadic element and an “atonal” or cluster element. To create the harmonic vocabulary for the piece, the two elements of each sonority are freely transposed in relationship to each other, taking care to maintain a six-note sonority in each case. The piece unfolds in a three-part form, with sparse, metrically free music forming the first and last sections and faster, metrically regular music occupying the middle section of the work. | |||
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Waters of Oblivion |
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| Waters of Oblivion.pdf - complete | |||
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In the middle of the month June in 2008, unprecedented flood waters inundated the metropolitan areas of eastern Iowa. As I watched these floodwaters rise and cause unfathomable damage to the campus of the University of Iowa and to my hometown of Cedar Rapids, I couldn’t help but be reminded of two epic mythological references to water. The first of these, the destruction of Valhalla depicted in the finale of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, informs this composition less than the second and less well-known reference. The second reference is drawn from Greek mythology and is touched on obliquely by several members of the Florentine Camerata in their settings of the Orphic myth. In this religious order, believers were instructed that, upon crossing the river Styx and arriving in the underworld, they would have the choice of drinking from two rivers. The first river, Lethe, in which flowed the waters of oblivion, would cause the soul to forget his past life and prepare for reincarnation. In order to enter the eternal rest of Elysium, the soul would need to pass by this river and drink of the second river, Mnemosyne. The harmonies of this work are based on numbers significant to ancient Orphic orders. Pitches based on intervals and proportions suggested by these numbers were collected into five-pitch collections. Each of these collections was then systematically manipulated to create the work’s surface harmonic variety. These harmonic units, along with other musical parameters, were arranged to create a series of nested rounded binary structures. | |||
©2009 by Scott A. Shoemaker
All Rights Reserved
Scott A. Shoemaker is a member of Society of Composers, Inc. SCI is dedicated to the promotion of composition, performance, understanding and dissemination of new and contemporary music.