About Randall Shinn.com
I started this website in 2005 when I decided to retire early from the composition faculty at Arizona State University. This site provides information about my later compositions.
In my 30s I plotted a new stylistic course for my work, and the aesthetic preferences that generated that course have guided my work ever since. I soon lost interest in most of my early works, and this site lists only a few works composed prior to 1979 when I turned 35.
My writings on this site discuss some of the stylistic preferences that characterize my later works.
My shift in stylistic course coincided with a change of attitude. During my upbringing and education numerous serious-minded people dutifully warned me to be wary of the seductive power of the pleasures of the world. They feared that surface beauty and other worldly pleasures might cause me to lose sight of my inner self and the true underlying nature of the world (whatever these well-intentioned individuals variously believed that to be).
I decided to ignore such faint-hearted advice, and I purposely charted a playful, role-playing course toward borderlands said to be inhabited by pleasure-hungry Sirens and Muses.
Happily, I’ve found them to be fun-loving creatures full of helpful ideas, but I’ll admit they can be demanding. They are constantly urging me to create something refreshing and new to entertain them, and they are challenging to please.
Information Links:
- Reviews Excerpts of reviews of some of his works
- News of recent activities and press photos
- Biography A brief biography