Mary McCarty Snow

Mary Helen Snow McCarty (26 August 1928 - 14 October 2012) was an American composer,[1] organist/pianist, and publisher who wrote The Waveform Music Book: Composing, Teaching, Performing Electronic Music with the ARP 2600 Synthesizer in 1977. She published most of her work under the names Mary Snow or Mary McCarty Snow.[2][3]

Life

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Snow was born in Brownsville, Texas,[4] to Carrie Beth Sewell and Harry Evans Snow. She married Darrell Keith McCarty in 1951. They had four children before divorcing in 1981. She and her husband formed the Lariken Press publishing company, which published her Waveform Music Book.[2]

Snow earned a B.A. at Indiana University and a M.M. at the University of Illinois.[5] Her teachers included Anis Fuleihan and Burrill Philips. She gave private piano lessons, taught at Texas Technological University, and served as an organist at several churches in Lubbock, Texas: the First Christian Church, First Covenant Presbyterian Church, Forrest Heights Methodist Church, and St. Christopher's Episcopal Church. She also established the Lubbock chapter of People Against Violent Crimes, and created a fundraiser for the organization called the “Bach-a-Thon.”[6]

Snow received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1977 and 1980, as well as a grant from Texas Technological University to compose a work based on desert land cultures.[6] She composed electronic music for university theatre productions (listed below). Her works were published by the American Music Center,[7] I. E. Clark,[8] and Lariken Press.[2] They include:

Band

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Book

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  • The Waveform Music Book: Composing, Teaching, Performing Electronic Music with the Arp 2600 Synthesizer[2]

Chamber

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  • Five Monodies (clarinet)[6]

Dance

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  • Ezekiel I (actor, dancer, and tape)[6]

Electronic

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  • Hieroglyphs (instruments and tape)[6]
  • Mandora (violin and tape)[6]
  • Voyages: Columbus/Apollo II [6]

Theatre

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References

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  1. ^ Anderson, Ruth (1976). Contemporary American composers : a biographical dictionary. Boston: G.K. Hall. ISBN 0-8161-1117-0. OCLC 2035024.
  2. ^ a b c d Office, Library of Congress Copyright (1979). Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1977: July-December. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
  3. ^ Snow, Mary (1977-01-01). The waveform music book: Composing, teaching, performing electronic music with the Arp 2600 synthesizer. Lariken Press.
  4. ^ Stern, Susan (1978). Women composers : a handbook. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-1138-3. OCLC 3844725.
  5. ^ campus), University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign (1951). Report of the Board of Trustees.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. Books & Music (USA). ISBN 978-0-9617485-1-7.
  7. ^ Stewart-Green, Miriam (1980). Women composers : a checklist of works for the solo voice. Boston, Mass.: G.K. Hall. ISBN 0-8161-8498-4. OCLC 6815939.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Ashby, Sylvia (1976). Shining Princess of the Slender Bamboo. I. E. Clark Publications. ISBN 978-0-88680-266-0.
  9. ^ My Bands and I: A Love Story, 45 Years of Concert and Marching Band History, Indiana, Cleveland Heights, Illinois, Air Force, Illinois by My Attentive and Perpetuative Press. M. Hindsley. 1984.
  10. ^ Composers, American Women (1979). AWC News. American Women Composers, Incorporated.