Sheila F. Gagen

Sheila F. Gagen (born in 1956, in Mooresville, Indiana), graduated Magna Cum Laude from Ball State University with a degree in music education.  She received her Masters of Music degree from Butler University in Indian-
apolis where she was inspired by Hoosier clinicians/song-
writers, Mary Goetze, Sonja Poorman and Ruth Artman. 

Sheila has taught music in both public and private schools with students ranging from grades K-8.  Having worked with young voices for two decades, she recognizes the challenges inherent in finding intriguing, quality music for students.  From the viewpoint of a musiceducator/director, she asks the question, “What are some of the students needs for which we can help provide through music?”  Some answers that have shaped her own classroom choral atmostphere and writings are—enrichment, discovery, self-expression, affirmation and moral substance. 

Sheila Gagen’s music has been recorded and distributed nationally and her songs have been performed by local and international choirs.  She is also a published poet and is active in the Fort Wayne, Indiana music circles, residing in nearby Leo, IN, with her husband, Dan,sand two children.


Choral Works by Sheila Gagen from API

Child of the Arts  AP-1531 2 part/piano
Flag of Freedom  AP-1532  2-part/piano
Touch the Breeze  AP-1530  2-part/piano

Currently he is a professor of music at UW-Oshkosh where he teaches clarinet, saxophone and is Director of the Music Merchandising Program. Kay served as Director of Bands at UW-Oshkosh for ten years.

Previous to his positions in teaching, Dr. Gainacopulus performed as Principal Clarinetist of the Honolulu Symphony, the Chicago Civic Orchestra and the 5th and 7th Army Bands.

His primary applied teachers include saxophonist Eugene Rousseau and clarinetists Clark Brody, Ignatius Gennusa, Bernard Portnoy and Searl Pickett. Dr. Gainacopulus remains active as a performer and clinician on both clarinet and saxophone and has been a clinician for the Yamaha and Leblanc Music Companies. His interest in transcribing compositions for the saxophone choir is an outgrowth of his research in the area of saxophone study and performance during his recent sabbatical leave from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

OCTET IN Eb - Mvt 1 (J. N. Hummel) - transcribed for Saxophone Choir AP-203 $20.

Since becoming the double bass professor at the Alois Kriz Music Conservatory in Kromeriz, Czech Republic, in 1973, he has developed a unique teaching method which helps students become virtuoso masters of the instrument. Much of his approach to the instrument is derived from his years as a violinist and his desire to develop a violinistic approach to playing the bass—one that is dextrous, easy ("If it is not comfortable, it is not right."), and brilliant. In his numerous pedagogical books, Gajdos has designed exercises which address all technical areas of playing the instrument.

Gajdos is a prolific composer and arranger of music for double bass and has transcribed over 70 works. His original compositions combine Czech lyricism and melody with brilliant technical demands and include works for solo bass, bass and piano, bass and orchestra and many bass duets, trios, quartets and quintets to help his students become sensitive chamber music players. These works are technically demanding and are beautifully lyrical. He is the leading authority on the music of Frantisek Gregora.

AWAY IN A MANGER (Trad.) - Unis/Pno AP-1063 .95

GLORIA DEO - SA/Pno AP-1061 $1.10

I HEARD A BIRD SING - SA/Pno AP-1060 High, AP-1060 Low $1.10

IL EST NE (Trad. French Carol) - SA/Pno (French and English vs) AP-1062 .95

THE BULLFROG'S SONG SA/Pno AP-1066 $1.25

Gooch's music has been recognized through numerous grants, commissions, awards and significant performances via organizations such as the National Federation of Music Clubs, Minnesota Orchestra, American Choral Directors Association, Music Teachers National Association, Percussive Arts Society, International Trumpet Guild, Music Educators National Conference, College Music Society, Composers and Songwriters International, the Composers Guild and a number of regional arts agencies.

The Slovak Radio Orchestra, under the direction of the late Robert Black, recorded one of his orchestral works, and his music has been performed at music festivals across the country and in Europe. Publishers include Kjos, Flammer, Spectrum, Plymouth, Walton, Eagle's Wing, Augsburg and Alliance Publications.

His work as music theorist has been acknowledged by the College Music Society, and Gooch has authored a manual in the Benward Music in Theory and Practice textbook series (Brown & Benchmark).

Professional memberships include BMI, Society of Composers, American Music Center, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, College Music Society, Macro Analysis Creative Research Organization, Music Educators National Conference, Music Teachers National Association, Minnesota Composers Forum, and others.

Gooch is currently coordinator of the Theory/Composition Area at Northeast Missouri/Truman State University, where he has been a finalist for the university "Educator of the Year" award. Prior to this position, he served as Composer-in-Residence for a Wisconsin school district and as secondary school music educator in Minnesota. He is also active in church music.

Dragon Music is intended to be teaching music that will expose students to some stylistic elements of contemporary music while at the same time addressing certain performance problems. The three short pieces are "atmospheric," and have been supplied with "evocative" titles in an attempt to capture the interest and fancy of the piano student. None of the pieces are difficult, but they do require concentration and attention to detail. As is true of much contemporary music, the pieces are unified by motivic (as opposed to thematic) interplay.

Composed in 1984, Dragon Music was awarded a Prize in the Composers Guild, Inc. International Composition Contest of that year. The piece has been performed on recitals by both student and professional pianists.

DRAGON MUSIC - intermed pno solos AP-530 $4.95

Out of the Primordial Ocean is a work scored for eight percussionists which involves the manipulation of a set of rhythmic and pitch motives that gradually evolve as the piece progresses. The work begins quietly and eventually builds into a sustained isorhythmic section which leads to an extended solo for timpani. The piece closes with a brief coda recalling earlier motivic material. The influence of gamelan music is evident throughout the work.

Out of the Primordial Ocean was composed for W. Michael Hooley and the Northeast Missouri State University Percussion Ensemble who premiered the work in the spring of 1982 at a Percussive Arts Society conference.

OUT OF THE PRIMORDIAL OCEAN - Percuss Ens (8) AP-702 Set $25. Sc $4.95

THE PIPER - TBB a cap AP-1051 $1.10

THREE REFLECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS - SATB a cap AP-1058 $3. (9:00)

Graham says of his own music that it "grows as does timber in a forest" without predetermined plans and goals. He is interested in creating music for itself and not for drawing interest to himself. "I am what I do," he says.

Several of his works have met with success at performances in Great Britain, Germany, Poland, Austria, Italy, Romania, Holland, Sweeden, Great Britain, and the USA. In 1993, his chamber cantata, Der Erst, gained him third prize in the Musica judaica festival’s internatlional competition in Prague for works on texts by Franz Kafka.

Jaroslav "Peter Graham" Stastny Osvobozeni 27 679 04 Adamov I Czech Republic