Spindrift Commissioning Guild

About the Guild

Spindrift Commissioning Guild is a community of supporters who believe in new art music and want to help me create it.

A commission is expensive for a single performer or a small performing group. There aren’t many royal patrons as there were in Handel’s and Mozart’s lifetimes. The idea behind the Guild is to bring commissioning within reach of everyone. The Guild gives you the opportunity to band together with others and support the creation of a new piece of music, and it helps me make a modest income creating that music.

Contributions to the Guild also help me produce recordings. In the world of contemporary classical, the major expense of recording and album production usually falls to the composer, or her sponsors -- grants, university support, or shared with a Guild of supporters!

When you join the Guild, you pay an amount of your choice to support a project, which might be a new composition, concerts, or recording sessions. New projects will be added to the list as they get planned and scheduled. I welcome your suggestions and requests.

Your contribution is tax-deductible too! Fractured Atlas is my fiscal sponsor.

How to Donate - see below

So what kind of music will come out of this? I usually describe my music as contemporary classical, sometimes neo-Romantic. My music is often energetically rhythmic, with complex harmonies---sometimes dissonant and sometimes tonal. One reviewer described my percussion and piano duo “Traveling to Magic” as “Bartok meets the Blues.” Each piece is different, and I often don’t know what it will be until I start out. That’s part of the adventure!

You can hear some MP3 samples of my work on many of the Music Catalog pages. Keep in mind though, every new piece explores something new!

Guild membership If you've ever supported a Guild project, I consider you a member for life! You don't have to renew, although if you read about new projects and you want to give additional support, that's wonderful! I am full of gratitude to all of you who have been interested and supportive of my music.

I'll send out Guild news about current projects in my newsletter, and you can unsubscribe at any time. If you don't want your name on this Spindrift website, or in concert programs or CD booklets, please let me know.

Current Projects

Guild 2015: Through the Mist CD on Ravello Records

In early 2015, my chamber music CD Through the Mist is being released. The fundraiser replenishes my funds for recordingmore chamber music.

RocketHub fundraising campaign - completed,

but you can still donate at Fractured Atlas and support my efforts to get this music out into the world!

Benefits for Guild members Expand Text

Music isn't a tangible object, so what do you get besides the good feeling of participating in the cultural life of our society?

Guild members receive:

Your name listed in the group of commissioners: in the printed score; in concert programs when space allows; and on the Spindrift web site when the music is publicized there.
If you prefer, you can be associated with the famous patron Anonymous
Occasional progress reports and concert announcements
Invitation to a local premiere
Downloaded PDF score of the music for a commission project
A demo CD or MP3 recording of a concert or recording project

For projects with a RocketHub crowd funding campaign, there are specific perks. Read more at the RocketHub campaign page.

How to Donate

Fractured Atlas is a fiscal sponsor for artists, enabling me to accept donations that are tax-deductible. They take a small administrative fee.

Online

Use the Fractured Atlas web site to donate to Spindrift Commissioning Guild with various credit cards

By check

Write a check payable to "Fractured Atlas" with the memo "in behalf of Spindrift Commissioning Guild".

Send the check to Pamela Marshall, 38 Dexter Road, Lexington, MA 02420.

Direct contribution

If you aren't concerned about tax-deductibility, you can write a check directly to Spindrift Music Company and avoid Fractured Atlas fees.

Thank you!

To keep up to date on Guild projects, please sign up for my Spindrift Commissioning Guild email list. Click the button below.

Spindrift Commissioning Guild Mailing List

Join the Spindrift Commissioning Guild Mailing List

Guild Members and Previous Projects

Guild members

2015 Through the Mist album on Ravello Records supporters - Thank you for guiding my album of chamber music on a gentle path out into the world!

Grant and Betsy Anderson
Carolyn Bruse
Nancy Burdine
Canary Burton
Susan Caplan
John Clark
Cynthia Clay
Carson Cooman
Liane Curtis
Barbara Jones
Veronica Kenney
Chris Kollgaard
Erik Lindgren
Toni Lipton Temple
Marilyn & Don Malpass
Barbara Marden

Ed Marshall
Charles I. McCauley
Bill Ossmann
Haris Papamichael
Carmen R Peralta
Nancy Robbins
Karen Sauer
Lucy Shevenell
Bill Smith
David Snow
Ellen Sturtevant
Michael Tsuk
Marsha Turin
Dean & Benita Wallraff
Sirarpi Heghinian Walzer
Lois Whitney

2012 Duo and Trio fundraiser supporters - I enthusiastically welcome these new and repeat members to the Guild:

Fern Abrams
Ashley Addington
Rachel Arnold
Carroll Ann Bottino
Frederic Boutaud & Sirarpi Heghinian Walzer
Todd Brunel
Nancy Burdine
Carolyn Bruse
Carson Cooman
Diana Golden
Patricia Lake
Elizabeth Landman

Barbara Marden
Evelyn Marshall
Richard Porter
Matt Samolis
John Tarrh
Sarah Tomasek
Charles Turner
Deanna Witkowski
Laura Yardumian
Alan Yost

The following friends and supporters have supported past Guild projects:

Anonymous - 14
Grant and Betsy Anderson
Green Mountain Youth Symphony, Robert Blais, Music Director
Frederic Boutaud of Art Without Borders
Charlie and Dorothea Bowen
Nancy Burdine
Cynthia Joyce Clay
Carson P. Cooman
Geoff Day
Green Mountain Horn Club, Alan Parshley, Director
Andrea Harrington, artist
Veronica Kenney
Charles Learoyd

Barbara Marden
Alfa Joy Radford
Guillermo Ramon
Sirarpi Heghinian Walzer, artist and founder of Art Without Borders

Members of the Indian Hill Clarinet Choir
Charles Learoyd
Joseph Pisano
Jessica Popik
Bernadette Stockwell
Paul Surapine, ensemble director

My thanks to everyone who has supported my projects!

Spindrift Commissioning Guild projects

2015: Through the Mist CD on Ravello Records - Spindrift project booklet, Ravello, Amazon CDs, Amazon downloads, iTunes

2012: Duo & Trio: Chamber Music with flute - two new pieces: for the Addington-Arnold Duo (flute and cello) and the Tomasek-Lindsay-Yost trio (flute, piano, percussion)

2010: Shepherds and Angels, American Christmas songs for SATB, violin, harp, tamborine

2010: Concert of Quinteto sobre los Poemas de Carlos Pintado in Lexington, MA

2007: Triptoe Suite for orchestra for the Green Mountain Youth Symphony - performance Spring 2007

2007: Art-Poem-Music: Body and Soul, Volume 1 for voice and string trio. A collaboration between artist Sirarpi Walzer, poet Elizabeth Kirschner and composer Pamela Marshall - performance February 2007

2006: Enchanted for oboe & chamber ensemble, for oboist Veronica Kenney with the Concord Ensemble chamber orchestra - performance August 2006

2006: Black Bear Dance for horns & drums concert photo gallery
update 2010: Black Bear Dance for the Indian Hill Clarinet Choir

2005: Meditations on natural phenomena, a set of organ pieces for Carson P. Cooman

Guild News

2006 Enchanted for oboe and chamber orchestra was completed in 2006 with two successful concerts.

2007 The music for Triptoe Suite for orchestra was completed in 2007 with concerts in Vermont in the spring.

May 2009 The collaboration Art-Poem-Music: Body and Soul has had several concerts, including a performance at the FTM10 conference in North Carolina in May 2009. Body and Soul Volume 2 won Honorable Mention for the Miriam Gideon Prize from the International Association of Women in Music.

Nov 2009 Spindrift Commissioning Guild became a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, making your support tax-deductible.

March 2010 A concert of my large piece for strings and piano Quinteto sobre los Poemas de Carlos Pintado in Lexington, Massachusetts paired with Piano Quintet No.2 of Louise Farrenc

January 2012 The RocketHub fundraiser for the 2012 Duo & Trio project ended January 27, 2012, raising ~$2500 online and offline for composing and recording a Duo for Ashley Addington, flute and Rachel Arnold, cello and a flute-piano-percussion piece for the Yost trio

February 2015 The RocketHub fundraiser for Through the Mist CD on Ravello Records ended February 10, 2015, raising $1230 online and ~$325 offline for recording and releasing the album.

Propose a New Project Expand Text

I welcome your input into this process. It gets my creativity going to write for particular musicians and performances. If you know performers or ensembles who might like to work with me on a new project, send me their contact information or have them contact me and I will work with you and them to develop a project plan.

In the spirit of communities supporting artistic creation, here are some ideas:

You are a member of an orchestra, band or chorus. You'd like a new piece and many of the members are ready and willing to contribute something to the cause. Perhaps audience members will also contribute. $30 times 100 sponsors produces a $3000 commission fee and a substantial piece.
A music class at your local elementary school would like to meet a composer and commission a piece. Parents and friends can support the project with their small donations.
A musician-friend is having a birthday or a musical couple is having an anniversary. Several friends are willing to join you to commission a birthday piece for them to play.

Take a look at my Poetry-Inspired Music project for more ideas for small-scale solo pieces.

If you are interested in proposing a future project, supporting a project, or being on the mailing list to find out when new projects are in the works, contact me.