Arranging candy-themed tunes and country standards for Hersheypark

Recently, I was hired by Windish Music and Productions to arrange charts for two of Mike Windish’s Hersheypark bands: The Chocolate Covered Band and Frontier Frenzy. The Chocolate Covered Band strolls around Hersheypark playing candy-themed tunes, while Frontier Frenzy performs covers of country singles 4 shows a day.

Go to Hersheypark in Hershey, PA all summer to hear these awesome, entertaining musicians (except Mondays)!

Wolf Talk at Tisch Dance

On April 15th (tax day), Andy Teirstein, professor of music at NYU’s Tisch Dance Program, invited me to talk to his MFA student choreographers about my music. I decided to talk about the composer’s side of collaborating with a choreographer. Since the class was a music composition course for choreographers, I brought scores of Who Speaks for Wolf, as well as a few pages of my notes with Hee Ra Yoo as we were forming the entire work. After we talked about the process of writing some of the movements, I played those excerpts to demonstrate how Hee Ra and I realized our ideas.

I had a great time and everyone seemed to appreciate how Hee Ra and I worked together.

What people are saying about ‘Wolf’

“Who Speaks For Wolf is an inspired collaborative work, created by choreographer Hee Ra yoo and composer Jonathan Manness. What is striking in their synergy is the cohesive and dynamic range of the work, embracing a compelling breadth of movement and stylistic musical diversity. While the piece stems from an American Indian sensibility, the musical and choreographic explorations create a seamless flow of variations. A testament to the effectiveness of this work, midway through, a single dancer is presented in an arresting moment, highlighted through the marvelous combination of very clever lighting design in tandem with a focused expose of music and movement.”
-Ronald H. Sadoff, Ph.D., Director of Film Scoring, New York University

“Hee Ra Yoo and Jonathan Manness have created a piece which invites the audience into a circle of Native American lore, richly expressed in new dance and music. What is exciting here is the meeting of cultures. The score, at times lyrical, jazzy and restless, throws shadows and light across the movement, supporting the emotional breadth of this dance, in which figures inhabit a landscape of shifting time and ancient tradition.”
-Andy Teirstein, Composer

“Who Speaks for Wolf combines vivid theatricality with poetic movement images. Hee Ra Yoo is a fresh choreographic voice.”
-Linda Tarnay, Dancer/Choreographer

“Jonathan Manness’s music for the dance piece, Who Speaks for Wolf is a sensitive, intelligent score that enhances and deepens the experience of the choreography. It is expertly written, deeply felt, and beautifully structured.”
-Richard Einhorn, Composer (Voices of Light, Red Angels)

“[Who Speaks for Wolf] heralded the emergence of a strong, new choreographic voice [in Hee Ra Yoo].”
-Gus Solomons jr, Dancer/Choreographer

Wolf Clip on YouTube

Here’s “Chaos” from Who Speaks for Wolf.

DnB premiere this Thursday at The Collective

Come check out Tobias premiere our new DnB piece at the Collective (541 6th Ave @14th St, above the McDonalds) this Thursday at 6:00PM. The piece features Tobias as he plays DnB grooves over odd-meters, Indian instrumentation, electronics, and a classical string orchestra. The event is also a clinic on how to make a drum set sound like a DnB machine. Free admission!

“Centerpiece” with Grace Testani’s Singin’ & Swingin’ Band

I was asked by jazz vocalist Grace Testani to help arrange a chart for her Singin’ & Swingin’ Band project.  The band is a jazz octet plus vocalists from NYU and around the New York area.  The piece I’m arranging is “Centerpiece,” which is a blues written by Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.  It has been a couple years since I’ve written anything for jazz, so I was excited when Grace invited me to write for her group.  The tentative concert date is scheduled for April 20th and I’ll be sure post more about it when the event gets closer.

Punxsutawney Phil Sees His Shadow

According to groundhog.org, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Groundhog’s Day, which means six more weeks of winter. In 2007, I wrote a brass quintet that celebrates the tradition called “Punxsutawney Fails To See His Shadow!” Here are the program notes of the piece:

Punxsutawney Fails to See His Shadow! is a programmatic piece for brass quintet that celebrates the prediction that Spring is near. The title pays homage to Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring and the work is dedicated to my late grandmother, Janet Lamelza, who was born on Groundhog’s Day.

Hear excerpts of the piece read by the American Brass Quintet: 

Excerpt 1

Excerpt 2

Still Frames from Who Speaks for Wolf DVD

 

17, originally uploaded by Jonathan Manness.

Go to my flickr to view still frames from the Who Speaks for Wolf DVD. All photos by Ruth Du.

Audio Clips from Who Speaks for Wolf Posted

Today I uploaded two audio clips from Who Speaks for Wolf.  If you are interested in the project, please contact me at jonathan@jonathanmanness.com for a press kit, which includes a DVD of the premiere.

Returning Chaos

 
Reflective Paths

Returning to my Alma Mater

Today I was invited to talk to music students at Council Rock High School South in Holland, PA, which is my alma mater. For three classes, I spent some time talking about composition, my music, and film scoring. It was nice to be welcomed back by my former teachers and to have everyone respond so positively about what I’m doing. Hopefully, it won’t be last time I’m invited back and it was great to see the department continue to thrive!