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

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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 joins Jocelyn to talk language, unlearning shame, gender, and pathways to excellence for the under-resourced.

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Episode Transcript

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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 will launch later this week!

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Learn more: Compose Like a Girl

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.

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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

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.

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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

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.

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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

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.

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Learn more: Compose Like a Girl

Transcript PDF

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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

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.

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Learn more: Compose Like a Girl

Transcript PDF

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Grace Becker: Instagram - @grace.becker73 Facebook - @GraceBecker

Known, available through Graphite Publishing

Performance of Known by Voces Solis, conducted by Ryan Keeling

Wartburg College, Dr. Lee Nelson