Miami University

Miami music professor wins ASCAP award

10/22/1998

OXFORD, Ohio -- C. James Sheppard, professor of music at Miami

University, is a recipient of an American Society of Composers, Authors and

Publishers (ASCAP) Award for 1998-99.

The cash awards are designed to assist and encourage writers of serious

music. They are granted by an independent panel and are based upon the value

of each writer's catalog or original compositions as well as recent

performances of those works.

Sheppard is a recognized performer and composer specializing in music for

the electronic valve instrument, a kind of trumpet synthesizer designed for

performers with a background in valved, brass instruments.

He has been the recipient of two past Individual Artist Fellowships from

the Ohio Arts Council (1983, 1989) for his creative work, and has four recorded

compositions including the latest "Snowfall" performed by clarinetist Michele

Gingras, associate professor of music at Miami, on "Old World Meets New World,"

SNE-631-CD, from Societe Nouvelle D'Enregistrement.

The current ASCAP 1998 award is based primarily on the writing and

performances of "Sea Changes," composed for and premiered last year by the

Miami University Wind Ensemble, Gary Speck, director.

Sheppard, an Oxford resident, joined the music faculty in 1978.