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Alex Shapiro, composer email

 

 

Webhearsals


Alex desk view
 

 

Bring Alex, her music, and the Salish Sea into your rehearsal room or lecture space, no matter where you are!


Alex really enjoys interacting with students and faculty during rehearsals and guest artist residencies. But when budgets and schedules and, oh, y'know, global pandemics don't allow for travel, Zoom, Skype, Webex, Google Meet or anything similar have become the next best thing.

 


Alex Shapiro. Photo by Paul Chepikian.
     

 

Shapiro studio


Alex's studio is right on the water,
and during her multi-camera online sessions
she often shares the stunning, inspiring view.

 


     

 

A composer's live feedback is valuable, and musicians get an unusual bonus when Alex turns her camera around to show them a source of her inspiration: the sea at her feet on Washington State's remote San Juan Island, with the occasional Bald Eagle or Orca whale gliding past.

Online sessions are terrific for:

• Rehearsals of anything from a
large wind band piece
to an intimate chamber work;


• Guided tours of Alex's state-of-the-art digital studio,
and production techniques;


• Discussions about the professional aspects
of the music business,
including copyright and publishing.

 
 

For well over a decade-- long before the COVID-19 crisis-- Alex has been engaging remotely with musicians and audiences around the world. Equipped with multiple cameras, microphones, lighting, and a 1-gigabyte fiberoptic cable running straight into her studio, Alex will make certain that you're as comfortable with the connection as she is.


The technology brings a unique dimension into the art of collaborative music-making, and connects students to the person-- and sometimes to the very funny stories-- behind the notes on their music stands.

 

     

 

Alex's studio at night.

Alex's San Juan Island studio, at night.

 


     
 

 

"Alex is not only a fabulous composer, but she is equally as fabulous with kids! She worked virtually with my MS band kids several years ago, and it was one of those experiences that cannot be recreated. Those kids are almost finished with college now and their experience with her, and the fact that she was "at" the concert, is something they almost always have on their "remember when" list when they come back to visit. Thank you Alex for your beautiful soul!"


-- Stephanie Sanders, band director,
February 2018
Berwick Academy, Berwick, Maine

 

Below are a few examples from the hundreds
of online rehearsals Alex has led:

 

 

Skypehearsal

A Jan. 2012 webhearsal with Alex in her studio
on San Juan Island, and guest conductor
Jerry Luckhardt on the podium
at Oregon State University,
rehearsing BENEATH.

 

Skypehearsal of KETTLE BREW.

A Dec. 2012 webhearsal with
composer and percussionist David Jarvis.

 

Skypehearsal of PAPER CUT.

A March 2013 webhearsal with Alex in her studio,
and band director Brad Schneider
with Middleton High School in Wisconsin,
rehearsing PAPER CUT.


 

 

Skypehearsal

A December 2012 webhearsal with Alex in her studio,
and band director Mary Bauer and
Mt. Mansfield Union High School
in Vermont, rehearsing PAPER CUT.

 

     

 

A full rainbow, photographed by Alex from her studio deck.


This amazing vision in front of Alex's studio
was captured through her lens
late December 2019,
while she was composing ASCENT.

 


     

 

Click the photo to see a video of what a webhearsal is like!
 

 

Watch a webhearsal!


Alex doing a webhearsal in her San Juan Island studio.

CLICK to watch what it's like!


     
 

 

 

 

Sessions are affordable and easy to arrange. To schedule a webhearsal with Alex, please send an email by CLICKING HERE.

Or, you can even send a fax (what's THAT?) to:
270-916-0093.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
     

 

Alex's desk view during a storm

 

 

An adult Bald Eagle in a tree next to the studio.


Sometimes dramatic weather
and unexpected wildlife visits
add to the sense of connection
with the composer!

 


Alex is highly interactive...
 
 

 

See Alex in the context of the world around her, and become one of her friends in the social networks.

 

 

 
Facebook
YouTube
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email Alex!
 

 

 

In January 2006, Alex began Notes from the Kelp, her personal commentary from the beach. For ten years, she regularly posted new insights to a large international following of "Kelphistos." Pairing her photos and her music in what she calls a "pixelsonic" experience, Alex invites readers to share the beauty of the environment which inspires her. The sound files may no longer work, but the photos and essays remain a memoir for a signficant period in Alex's life.

 

 

blog link
     

 

Orca whale swimming past studio.

 

 

 

Orca whales swimming past studio.


Orca whales regularly swim past the studio deck.

 

 


     

 

Alex Shapiro in her studio, February 2024. Photo by Dan Shelley.


Alex at work in her home studio
on the edge of San Juan Island, WA., February 2024.

 

     
 

 

One of Alex's most requested webhearsal sessions
is for PAPER CUT, her wind band piece that includes
a prerecorded track, and printer paper!

 

Watch Alex explain how to be a paper virtuoso
(clip length: 4:48):


Alex Shapiro. Photo by Dan Shelley.

 

 

Alex Shapiro, composer

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