 |
“In 1991 my grandfather looked at me and said, ‘You could write your own
music,’ and I remember responding with, ‘No, I can’t do that.’”
Despite her skepticism, Jenny’s first composition, At The End of the Line, was completed and performed by her junior high school jazz ensemble just one year later. And, in the spring of 1993, at age 13, Jenny won her first composition
award for an orchestral piece titled Back On Track Again.
After writing one more orchestral piece in 1994, The Golden Dawn, Jenny turned
her compositional interests toward the wind band, writing two large works during her junior and senior years of high school: The Great Indian Wars (184-1890) and
“Quit Clownin’ Around!” Both wind band compositions received numerous
awards and recognitions, and were premiered by the El Dorado High School
Wind Ensemble (Placentia, California) at spring concerts in 1995 and 1996.
It was inevitable that Jenny would continue on in the field of music. “I didn’t
choose music,” she says, “…music chose me.”
After spending one invaluable year at the California Institute of the Arts,
learning 20th-century techniques and writing several small works for solo instruments, Jenny settled into the music composition program at Cal State University, Fullerton, where she completed four years of study and earned her Bachelor of Music Degree in Composition.During her time at CSUF, Jenny studied accordion performance with Nick Ariondo, and composition with Dr. Lloyd Rodgers.
Jenny has always been an active performer and composer. During her final
semester of college she not only put on a composition recital that was
described as being of “graduate-level quality,” but she also showcased her
skills as an accordionist in her own “special” performance recital.
Jenny began graduate degree programs in music at both CSUF and
UC Riverside, but left school in order to pursue freelance opportunities as a composer, arranger, copyist, and transcriber. She established her business,
Music On The Page, early in 2002. Putting “music on the page” is something
Jenny has been practicing and perfecting for many years. In 1991 she
notated her music on the computer, using the notation software
Encore (by Passport Designs). Because of her many achievements as a
young composer, and because of the professional quality and overall
“look” of her printed compositions, Passport Designs acquired Jenny
as an endorsee, and she appeared in their national ads, in several leading
industry magazines and publications, in the late 1990s. During her time with Passport Designs, Jenny also attended and gave demonstrations at the annual
NAMM conventions in Anaheim, CA. Working closely with Passport Designs on
the advancement of their musical notation software, Jenny developed a
love for the art of musical notation that is still very strong today.
Currently, Jenny is the Southern California Ambassador and Trainer for
Sibelius, USA, a company which she believes has the most intuitive and
advanced professional music notation program to date. As an ambassador,
Jenny proudly continues to affect the development of musical notation and,
most importantly, she is able to spread her love and knowledge of computer
music software programs to other musicians. She can still be found giving
clinics and demonstrations of music software at the NAMM conventions, as
well as at several other trade shows and conventions throughout the year.
She also makes herself available for private individual instruction whenever
possible.
In 2004, Jenny completed a MIDI and audio recording certificate program at
Riverside Community College. She was later asked to teach the beginning
course in MIDI and audio recording as an adjunct faculty member at RCC,
where she continues to teach today. She also teaches a short Sibelius
course twice a year at UCLA Extension. Jenny has recently been asked
to join the associate faculty at Mira Costa Community College and
Mt. San Jacinto Community College. She loves teaching and hopes to
become a full time teacher and composer some day.
In 2005, Jenny began a master’s degree program in commercial music at
Cal State Los Angeles, with an emphasis in film scoring and orchestration.
Her thesis project, Effective Composition and Orchestration Techniques for
High School Wind Band, was a huge success. With the help of Richard Watson
and the El Dorado High School wind bands, Jenny premiered five new works
for band on April 28, 2008, in Yorba Linda, CA. Recordings of the concert
can be heard on the music page of this website.
Jenny received her Master of Music degree in June of 2008. Shortly thereafter
she attended The Recording Arts Center in San Diego, CA, and has proudly
become a Certified Pro Tools HD Music & Post Production Operator.
She now teaches a variety of music technology courses at Riverside Community College, Mt. San Jacinto Community College, and UCLA Extension. She also offers private and group training.
Jenny met her husband, Alex, while working for Passport Designs at the 1995
NAMM Show. They were married in 2002. Their family consists of three dogs
(Liberty, Ninja and Dino) and three horses (Jack, Yeti, and Buddee). They
reside in the hills of Perris, CA, in Riverside County.
|
