Chappell Kingsland (b. 1980) is a composer,
multi-faceted musician, and teacher. His compositional interests extend
from avant-garde chamber music to church music, from Brazilian samba to
rock music, from Balinese gamelan to Japanese koto. His works have won
first prize in contests sponsored by the Percussive Arts Society, International Tuba-Euphonium Association, Indiana University, National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, and the Atlanta Clarinet Association. His music has been performed in the United States, Austria, and Australia.
His works have been premiered by conductors Brad Lubman, Jeffrey
Gershman, and Marla Wasson. He has written pieces for Eastman's Musica Nova, the Indiana University Symphonic Ensemble, Gamelan Lila Muni, Denver's Experimental Playground Ensemble, Safonia Women's Chorus, First Unitarian Society of Denver, First Universalist Church of Rochester, Jubilee! Summer Orchestra, Gannon University Flute Choir, and FUGU. Other works have been performed by the Indiana University Percussion Ensemble,
violinist Chris Otto, percussionist Mathias Reumert, koto player Ryuko
Mizutani, flutist Antares Boyle, pianist Rory Cowal, and soprano
Tiffany Blake.
Chappell has a bachelors degree in Composition and Organ from the Eastman School of Music (2002) and a masters degree in Composition from Indiana University (2010).
He is currently pursuing a doctorate at Indiana University.
Chappell spent a year in Vienna, Austria studying privately with Chaya
Czernowin, now head of Harvard's composition department. Other teachers
have included Augusta Read Thomas, Don Freund, P. Q. Phan, Christopher
Rouse, David
Liptak, and Daniel Godfrey. He has studied organ with Hans Davidsson,
Katie Pardee, and Michael Farris.
Chappell's works are published through HoneyRock Publishing, Tuba-Euphonium Press, and at this website.
~ my philosophy
Music is my favorite form of
art, for the totality of its
embrace. It is surely the most mysterious form of human
communication, for it is an abstract language of sounds, yet it can
convey such specific feelings and thoughts. The most personal
feelings can be understood by the widest audience. Performers and
listeners can share an immediate experience guided by dots on
paper written by composers long since
dead. People in the same culture might have similar reactions
to a piece, but someone from another culture will find it completely
the opposite. Music is so often used to enhance other arts
(theatre, dance, film, poetry, etc.), but it is also satisfying on its
own. In today's interconnected world,
people are listening to a wider diversity of music than ever
before. My highest goal is that in my life's work, I can
contribute something of lasting value to this art and in doing so,
contribute to the lives of many people.
~ composing
Sometimes people ask me, “What
kind of music do you compose?” It’s a good question—and it’s hard
to come up with a satisfactory answer. I try to write music which
blends passion and intellect, innovation and tradition, but that
doesn’t really answer the question. I write modern classical
music, but so do hundreds (thousands?) of people in the world today,
and I don’t like that label anyway. I’m influenced by all kinds
of musicians, so it is possible to hear echoes of rock, jazz, gamelan,
and various folk musics alongside Western classical and modernist
influences. I think that the best answer I can give is that I
write music which involves my whole self – music for my senses, for my
mind, for my spirit – and that each piece is a unique adventure.
~ arranging
The best arrangers are able to transform music from one
form into another, adding a new perspective to the piece. The
greatest arranger I know of is Gil Evans, who became famous for albums
he arranged for Miles Davis and large jazz ensembles: "Miles Ahead",
"Porgy & Bess", and "Sketches of Spain". These albums take what are
already fantastic songs and pieces and expand them into a richly
colorful mixture of instruments, adding the element of improvisation. Certain composers were also
masters at this art, like Ferrucio Busoni (whose "Fantasia
Contrappuntistica" is an expansion of Bach's "The Art of the Fugue")
and Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (whose pastiche on Rimsky-Korsakov's
"Hindu Merchant's Song" is the single most gorgeous piece I've ever encountered).
Good arranging takes just as much technique and imagination as
composing,
I have written/created over three hundred arrangements of rock
songs. This has always been a large part of my work as a church
musician, arranging songs for solo piano or pipe organ. I have
arranged dozens of Joni Mitchell songs, for large and small
ensembles. I have arranged pop songs for female a capella groups and jazz standards for Japanese instruments.