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Alex Shapiro loves to write! And, speak. And, shoot nature photographs. And, of course, compose... and all of these activities are quite interconnected! Take a scroll down through some of her published thoughts... ...and to read the thought of the moment, visit her pixel-sonic blog, Notes from the Kelp, and join Alex, and a lot of wildlife, on their rural island.
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Alex is the featured artist in Kyle Gann's wonderful American Composer series that appears in the May/June 2008 issue of Chamber Music magazine. Read what Gann has to say about Alex's unusual background and appoach to her work.
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Greg Sandow is the author of an insightful blog on the future of classical music, and invited Alex to be a guest blogger in March 2013. Click here to see what she has to say on the subject of artists and the significance of social media. Read E-ing There here |
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Alex openly discusses a broad range of topics in her ten-page autobiographical lead article, Compose, Communicate and Connect for the Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music, Spring 2005 issue. The article was reprinted with permission in two parts for the Autumn 2005 and Winter 2006 issues of the American Composers Forum magazine, Sounding Board. Alex shares her ideas about...• numerous ways to conquer writer's block |
The IAWM issue: Click here for a .zip file of the .pdf
Click here for a .sit file of the .pdf
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The Sounding Board issues: Click below for the two .pdf files of the article as it appeared in Sounding Board, December 2005 and February 2006: Part 1: Part 2:
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Musician and librarian Tom Moore interviewed Alex for an in-depth view of her life and work, in the October 2010 issue of 21st Century Music. Click below to read her thoughts on passion, motivation and how hitting the wrong notes while playing Beethoven might turn a kid into a composer.
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On Molly Sheridan's creative blog Mind the Gap, Alex Shapiro was one a few invited new music web denizen to weigh in on the premises in the book The Whuffie Factor, by Tara Hunt. Alex opened the conversation with a post that codifies her thoughts on artists and the professional relationships they create with new social network technology: Selling Everything, 2.0--The Jig Goes Public, published July 2009. |
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Alex has a lot to say about the connection between living an emotional life and composing emotional music in her March 2008 interview for the online magazine Tokafi
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Alex's direct opinions on life and music can be enjoyed in an August 2006 interview for Tokafi |
You can read the October 2011 interview Alex gave to the terrific organization, Composers & Schools in Concert, to get a sense of her enthusiasm about professional musicians working with young students. |
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In 2012, CSIC commissioned Alex to embark on a new electroacoustic work for high school band: TIGHT SQUEEZE. You can click here to read the March 2013 interview CSIC did with Alex and conductor Miller Asbill |
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Alex's challenging thoughts on the new digital paradigm, the internet, free speech and the meaning of net neutrality to all artists, have been published in three January 2010 essays for the online magazine NewMusicBox. Read The Economy of Exposure: Publicity as Payment? here Read What I Learned About My Tiny Business From Paramount Pictures here Read As Important as the Printing Press: Net Neutrality and Artists' Freedom here |
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Additionally for NewMusicBox: When NewMusicBox editor Frank J. Oteri asked Alex to write an article about artists and website promotion techniques, Alex was happy to do so. But beginning work on the essay, she realized that there are three distinctly nonmusical concepts behind anyone's ability to promote their work: a sense of self worth, an abundant attitude, and a connection to the joy of what they do. Thus, a larger article was borne. Here is the first part: All the Things You Are: Five Suggestions for Composing Your Happiness, was published November 2007. |
Here is the second part of Alex's writing about the significance of the internet for composers, and how they can use their web presence to create income. Making an Asset Out of Your eSelf, appears in the April 2008 issue. |
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Upon her return from Denver, Alex summarizes her observations about the enormous National Performing Arts Convention in her June 2008 article, The Impact of NPAC. |
Alex was asked to contribute her thoughts to the September 2003 issue, addressing the topic of musical monikers such as neo-romanticism. Read what she had to say about today's concert music, the meaningless terms that attempt to categorize it, and why there's never been a better time to be a composer. |
How do you take a relatively dull subject and make it bearable as well as informative? Find out when you read Alex's explanation of DBAs for composers in her October 2005 article, DBA: Three Good Notes, Three Necessary Initials. |
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Blogging: How to Build an Audience Without Leaving Home Alex Shapiro, Jerry Bowles, editor of the new music blog Sequenza 21, and Drew McManus, author of Adaptistration.com, gave a panel presentation about blogging at the January 2006 National Chamber Music America Conference in New York City. Here's the handout guide they created, to assist anyone launching a blog. |
Orchestra consultant Drew McManus invited several colleagues to share their ideas about bringing pals to the symphony for Take A Friend To Orchestra month. In Alex's April 2006 essay for McManus' well trodden blog, Adaptistration, absolutely nothing is sacred! Enjoy her unorthodox take on the subject, along with the subsequent comments and return volley she offered... fasten your seat belt. Alex's and many other TAFTO essays are available in physical, bound form in the 2006 book, Take a Friend to the Orchestra. |
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Alex's feature article about composing a wind band piece for the U.S. Army is the cover of the July 2008 issue of Sounding Board, the magazine of the American Composers Forum. The twist to the story: the Commander found Alex on... MySpace!
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Alex's detailed description about composing a middle school electro-acoustic wind band piece for her BandQuest commission is the cover of the July/August 2010 issue of Sounding Board, the magazine of the American Composers Forum.
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Here's a short Q & A that The Vegetarian Times did with Alex for their July 2008 magazine. No animals were harmed in the making of this interview. |
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See what Alex divulges in her biographical interview for the August 2002 issue of New Music Forum magazine about musical passion, musical business, and musical codependency. |
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Read what Alex had to say about attracting audiences to new music, in her September 2008 essay for the Orcas Island newspaper Islands Sounder. |
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Read Alex's chat on the networking website forum, My Auditions where she was the August 2006 featured guest. |
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SoundNotion.tv is a weekly online video podcast series for, and by, music-makers, and Alex was the guest for their April 14, 2013 episode. Click here to stream or download Alex's concepts of how all composers can use the 21st Century tools available to them no matter where they live, as well as her thoughts on issues of self worth that artists of all genders face, on this podcast titled Out There |
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For many more video interviews, visit Alex's YouTube channel! |
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On July 9, 2012, Swedish Radio began streaming an interview hour that Alex shared with composer and conductor Victoria Bond, hosted by Birgitta Tollan. The interviews took place in New York City, and feature a balance of audio excerpts and conversation. Click at right, to enjoy Alex's portion of the show (and to practice your Swedish!). |
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February 2012 Alex was the in-studio guest on Marvin Rosen's radio show broadcast from Princeton University, Classical Discoveries. Want some backgorund sound while you're doing other things? Click at right, and hear the entire MP3 stream of their exceptionally wide-spanning, lively two-and-a-half hour conversation, including seven of Alex's diverse works. Here's what Marvin has to say about it on his blog, Marvin the Cat. |
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January 2008 Alex taped an animated interview in New York City with violinist and host John Clare, for his WITF-FM radio show Composing Thoughts which aired April 27, 2008. Enjoy the results from the combination of great questions, laughter and single malt scotch. |
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| Tune in to 25 minutes of fun! | |
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February 2008 Tired of your first life? Well, the virtual world is a reality for musicians, and Music Academy Online is a big part of the growing trend. Alex discussed her musical life on the Second Life Cable Network television show, which you can watch here. It's worth having a look, just to see the dress Alex's avatar, Asha, is wearing! |
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October 2007 On Martin Perlich's radio show The Audition Booth, Alex talks about the making of her CD, Notes from the Kelp. The live in-studio interview offers insights on many issues, including what's involved with producing an album this diverse in today's market. |
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December 2007 Hear Alex Shapiro's comments on several tracks from Notes from the Kelp, in response to questions from the producer of Behind the Beat, Steven Rosenfeld. The interview is featured on the ASCAP Audio Portraits series. |
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| About the CD (2:52) | |
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| The Making of Slipping (3:04) | |
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| The Making of Bioplasm (3:11)> | |
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| The Making of Deep (2:57) | |
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February 2006 Alex's life and music were the subject of a one-hour radio show for a series called American MusicMakers with Theme and Variations host Will Everett. Airing on public radio stations all across the U.S., Alex's show kicked off the monthly series and featured excerpts of five of her recent chamber works and one in its entirety, along with a lengthy interview Will recorded during his walk with her on the beach at her Malibu home.
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The conversation covers a wide range of topics from the personal to the global, and wraps up in Alex's project studio with a spontaneous guitar performance, and one of her cats improvising on vocals at the end. |
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August 2006
Hear Alex Shapiro's live interview about composers and modern society, in Philip Blackburn's new podcast series for the American Composers Forum, Measure for Measure. |
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July 2004 Alex had a great time as the guest composer on Kalvos & Damian's New Music Bazaar radio show, broadcast live from beautiful Vermont, with local composer pal Laura Koplewitz along for the ride as a co-interviewer. It's always dangerous when someone who's known you since you were 16 has the mic. The two-hour show featured complete recordings of five of Alex's works, along with a lot of laughter and conversation covering everything from suggested composer hygiene to chocolate covered cricket clusters. Oh, and they talked about music, too!
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The hosts call it one of their funniest shows ever, and you can either stream the whole thing, or enjoy it in a condensed form (the five music selections are truncated here, thus shamelessly encouraging CD sales if you like what you hear). |
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| Part 1: Thelma and Louise do Vermont, jingles, biology and music | |
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| Part 2: Composer trade secrets and chocolate covered cricket clusters | |
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| Part 3: Self-publishing and the battle of the brain hemispheres | |
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To hear the entire, fun-filled Kalvos & Damian show, click here!
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Want to read more of Alex's musings? Click for essays on: |
Want the latest essays? Along with photos and music?
Since 2006, Alex has published a personal, pixelsonic blog called Notes from the Kelp, that has developed a following of thousands of readers each month. She pairs snapshots from her daily life by the sea with audio clips of fitting pieces of her music, and welcomes comments. It's Alex's contribution to virtual tourism! Join her in Kelpville, and see where her music really comes from. Enter another world, here |
Interact! Become one of Alex's online friends
and share your ideas with her. |
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Alex
Shapiro
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© 2000-2013 by Alex Shapiro. All nature photos by Alex Shapiro (like 'em?). All rights reserved to design and content.