This past Friday, John Stafford’s musical composition “Wade In The Water,” premiered at the New York Treble Singers’ concert. Stafford was surprised when he found out that he placed second in the competition.
“I just wanted to write something new and fresh,” Stafford said. The contest was a national competition and Stafford received 100 dollars for placing second in the competition.
He wrote thepiece while studying with Dr. Burton Beerman at the University. It was sung by a professional ensemble of 12 women who specialize in original music written for treble voices. Stafford has a bachelor’s degree in music business from Millikin University, and is a second year graduate student at Bowling Green State University.
“My undergraduate teachers said Bowling Green State University was a good school to come to,” Stafford said. Not very many musical compositions are written for all women’s chorus, which made Stafford’s unique.
After “Wade In The Water,” was performed Stafford gave a brief speech explaining the musical to the audience. There were about 80 or so people in attendance, and they all seemed to enjoy the show.
Stafford has composed over 20 musicals and considers this one to be in his top ten. Every time Stafford creates a music composition he takes a different approach. “It’s not as hard as people think to compose a musical,” Stafford said. He just generates as many ideas as possible and then chooses which ones to keep.
Stafford started singing when he was five-years-old at a church and became more interested in music after going to a music camp. He also took piano lessons for a couple of years.
As an undergraduate, he studied jazz and classical music which had a large influence on his latest composition. Other influences for his composition included the late Moses Hogan (choral arranger), Barbershop Music and a band called Take 6. Stafford is currently in the Collegiate Coral, Accappella Choir and the Men’s Chorus at Bowling Green State University.
On April 24, Stafford’s composition “Turnaround,” for a brass quintet will premiere at the North American Festival at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. “A Session for Percussion,” will premiere at Otterbein College’s Contemporary Music Festival on May 5, in Westerville, Ohio.
