Episode 92 - Randall Standridge

Dec 31, 2018

Works by composer Randall Standridge are consistently among the highest selling and most widely performed music each year. In this episode, he offers insight into his music and career as a composer.

Topics:

• A brief overview of Randall’s career from college student at Arkansas State through the success of his works Afterburn and Adrenaline Engines.
• Randall’s family influences and high school teachers who fostered his creativity, his first (and only) teaching job, and the story of his transition to becoming a full time composer.
• Thoughts about composition and Grand Mesa Marching.
• The story of how Percy Grainger and a guiro led to the creation of the huge Grade 1 consortium for his work Frogs.

Links:

• Randall Standridge
• Grand Mesa Music Marching Band
• Barnes: Fantasy Variations of a Theme of Nicholo Paganini
• Standridge: Frogs
• Standridge: The Nine

Biography:

Randall Standridge (b.1976) received his Bachelor's of Music Education from Arkansas State University.  During this time, he studied composition with Dr. Tom O'Connor, before returning to Arkansas State University to earn his Master's in Music Composition, studying with Dr. Tom O'Connor and Dr. Tim Crist. In 2001, he began his tenure as Director of Bands at Harrisburg High School in Harrisburg, Arkansas.  He left this post in 2013 to pursue a career as a full-time composer and marching band editor for Grand Mesa Music Publishers.

Mr. Standridge is currently published by Grand Mesa Music, Alfred Music, FJH Music, Wingert-Jones Music, Band Works Publications, Twin Towers Music, and Northeastern Music Publications.  Mr. Standridge's music is performed internationally.  He has had numerous works selected to the J.W. Pepper's editor's choice. His composition Snake Charmer,published by Grand Mesa Music, was included in Teaching Music through Performance in Band Vol. 8, and his work Gently Blows the Summer Wind is included in Teaching Music Through Performance in Middle School Band.  His works Steel, Gadget, Snake Charmer, The Rowan Tree, Still Still Still, That Old Hound Dog Rag, Danse Bohémien, Aggressivo, When the Spring Rain Begins to Fall, Danse Carnivale, Ruckus, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Angelic Celebrations, Extremis, Darklands Legends, DarkHeart, Companion of My Voice, Kinetic Dances, Brave Spirit, Frogs, Under the Cherry Blossoms, Dark Ride, Four: On a Remix of Beethoven, Imaginarium, and In the Court of the King have been performed at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois.  His work Art(isms) was premiered by the Arkansas State University Wind Ensemble at the 2010 CBDNA conference in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  Mr. Standridge is also a contributing composer for Alfred Music's Sound Innovations: Ensemble Development series.

In addition to his career as a composer, Mr. Standridge is active as a clinician.  He is also in demand as a drill designer, music arranger, and colorguard designer for the marching arts, as well as a freelance artist/photographer and writer.  He lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas with his family.