Gary Schocker's date of birth is October 18, 1959. 
He lives in New York City and Easton, Pennsylvania.

Performance tips for Flutists:

Gary Schocker's 10 Etudes for Solo Flute, published by Theodore Presser
Etudes #1 and #10 were required literature 
for the 2003 NFA Convention performers

These etudes are designed for performance. They are essentially idiomatic flute music (they feel good when they work) and were written to help stretch the flutist's technique ("practice makes tolerable"). The piano etudes of Chopin and Liszt were my inspiration.

Clarification: The accidentals in these etudes do not cross the octaves. For example, in Etude #1, the E's on the second and fourth beats of the first measure are E-naturals. In the first measure of the coda, the low C on the second beat is still a C-sharp.

Etude #1
 In bar 2, avoid pushing down through the back to form the accented g. 
In bar 7 after the low E-flat, notice any pulling up at the base of the spine. 
Try again with a bit less pulling there. 
Bar 32-33, breathe on the bar line between these to get a brilliant trip up to the top.

Etude #10
Bar 8-How can you get to the high B-flat without 
compression in the low back or fronts of shoulders?
Last 32 note passage-leave the index and 2nd finger 
in the left hand down the whole time.

Please see the Errata page for corrections to Etudes 2, 3, 6 and 8.

Erev Shalom for flute and piano
Composed 2000
Premiered by Gary Schocker, flute with Linda Mark, piano at the National Flute Association Convention, Washington, D.C., August 2002
Dedicated to Ken and Wendy Kanter
Composer's notes: Regarding its origins, I was asked to write a piece which had some sort of hebraic theme for a concert at a prominent synagogue in Nashville. The rabbi there is a friend. His wife has been surviving cancer for many years. I think she was on my mind when I wrote it and dedicated it to them. The piece seems particularly appropriate now.

Fee Fie Faux Fum for flute and piano
Composer's notes: This piece was titled after it was finished. It reminded me of Jack and the Beanstalk, with a freespirited young-sounding tune with a confrontation in the middle.

Flute Forest for solo flute
Composed 2002
Premiered by Gary Schocker at Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York, March 9, 2002.

Flute Quartet No. 1 
Composer's Notes: This piece was commissioned by the L.A. Flute quartet. The first movement, "Bird inside these monastery walls," was inspired by a flute and bird duet at one of Mr. Schocker's summer master classes held in a beautiful monastery in upstate New York. Concerts are given in the chapel, which is acoustically wonderful for the flute. The ceilings are very high, and there are some windows many feet up which are open much of the time in the summer. During one of Mr. Schocker's concerts this particular week, a bird positioned itself in one of these open windows and appeared to be singing along for quite some time. It made for some lovely and humorous moments in an idyllic setting.

A Fond Farewell: Meditations on September 11 for flute and piano
Composed 2001
Premiered by Julie Martyn-Baker, flute and Maria Rivera White, piano, Fishkill, New York, September 11, 2002

The Further Adventures of Two Flutes
Premiered at the National Flute Association Convention, Washington, D.C. August 2002 with Gary Schocker and Brooks de Wetter-Smith, flutes and Linda Mark, piano
Composer's notes: The piece is revisiting my "Three Dances for Two Flutes" in spirit, although a bit darker in mood. The last movement is based on Godard's famous Flute Valse. The first movement has a movie circa 1930s jungle music feel. The slow movement is in a rocking rhythm I always come back to in my writing.

Green Places concerto for flute and orchestra.
Composed 1992
Premiered at Adare, Ireland by James Galway, Jahja Ling and the Irish Radio Orchestra July 1993. American Premier with James Galway, Jahja Ling and the New Jersey Symphony April 1, 1993. 
Commissioned by James Galway and dedicated to him.
Recorded by Gary Schocker on "Airborne"

Lovebirds duet for two flutes
Composer's notes: The title of the piece is simply an idea, not a program for the piece. But it could be interpreted as first movement is two happy lovebirds, the second movement is two lovebirds that fight and make up all the time, and the third movement is two lovebirds that end in a squabble. 

Musique Francaise for flute and piano
Composed 1997
Dedicated to Julius Baker
Recorded by Gary Schocker on "Airborne"
Musique Francaise is a favorite of flutist James Galway, who performed it throughout his United States recital tour in 2002.
Composer's notes: I wrote the first movement knowing I was writing a sonata but as it unfolded I found myself fighting a certain je ne sais quoi or shall I say, I thought:
"this is too french!" Then I realized it would be more fun to give in and let it be what it was. The piece wrote itself.
The humorous pleasantries of  Cafe Music contrast a torchy Chanson. The last
movement is a flippant excursion of say, naughty children on a schoolbus...

November Song for flute and piano
Composer's notes: November Song was written originally written for flute and harp -- although it's published in D Major, it can be read down into D-flat Major, a good harp key. The flute part starts out simple and songlike which is where the title comes from. Then the hypnotic syncopated harp accompaniment takes the music deeper. I wrote the piece for Julie Martyn-Baker.

Nymphs quartet for flutes
Composer's notes: I wrote Nymphs at the suggestion of the quartet Flute Force. The movements are suggestive of the invisible things that go bump, well more like wooosh in the forest.

Regrets and Resolutions for flute and orchestra 
Composed 1986 
Premiered 1988 with Gary Schocker and the and Pennsylvania Sinfonia, Alan Birney
conducting. 
Commissioned by Mimi Levitt to celebrate her husband's 80th birthday 
Dedicated to Mortimer Levitt (former chairman of Young Concert Artists)
Recorded by Gary Schocker on his CD of the same title
Composer's notes: Regrets & Resolutions was commissioned to celebrate the 80th birthday of Mortimer Levitt (the Custom Shirt King), a patron of the arts and
especially Young Concert Artists. I was a Young Concert
Artist at the time and Susan Wadsworth arranged what was my first
commission. The first movement is a look back, over the shoulder, and the theme is
always frustrated at the verge of completion; the flute keeps giving up. Movement 2 is all forward moving energy. When the regrets theme returns it finally expands as the imaginary (Mortimer Everyman) protagonist accepts and even celebrates himself.
If you are playing this with chamber orchestra, please put the harp up front.

Sonata for Flute and Piano, Op. 32
Published in 1993
Premiered by Sandra Church, associate principal of the New York Philharmonic, with
the composer at the piano at the National Flute Association Convention Kansas City, 1993.
Composer's notes: This piece is an extremely challenging work technically for the flutist, who has many notes per square inch -- it is a virtuosic sonata reminiscent of Lizst in his diabolical mode. The slow movement is more contrapuntal than the other three. There the flute is more part of a larger plan and not as dominant.

Syrinx for Flute and Piano
Composed 2001
Composer's notes: This piano part to accompany Debussy's Syrinx was written at the suggestion of my father and first flute teacher, Paul, who first taught me the piece when I was 12. Syrinx is my favorite flute piece and I have always been curious about what the underlying chords might be. While not trying to slavishly imitate Debussy, my accompaniment has, in my opinion, a Debussy-esque quality. I hope it will give flutists another view of this great work.

Three Dances for Two Flutes and Piano
Composed 1993
Premiered by Gary Schocker with Marco Granados, also recorded on Gary Schocker's CD "Airborne"
Composer's notes: These Latin dances are based on fragments from Til Eulenspiegel, Salome's Dance (both Strauss) and the Leonore Overture of Beethoven.
Winner of the National Flute Association Newly Published Music Award.

Three Mystery Pieces
Premiered at the National Flute Convention, Las Vegas, August 2003
I dedicated each movement to a different flutist. Phil Dikeman is associate principal in the Detroit Symphony. He is a great player and one of the nicest people I know.
Barry Crawford is a crackerjack freelancer in New York City who plays as well as anyone. He told me this was his favorite piece so I had to dedicate to him. He gets together with me to tape my new pieces for submission to publishers (I play the piano for these sessions). 
Stefan Hoskuldsson and Liza Koppelman are how the piece got started. Stefan owns an old Louis Lot flute with a serial # 4018. The commissioned movement was a gift to this Icelandic-Russian duo of fantastic musicians from a patron. The flute is vocal throughout, its long lyrical lines equally-partnered in the romantic sweep of the piano.
Each movement is progressively more syncopated, so that the last swings
almost entirely on the offbeats. My title alludes to the unusual endings of all 3 pieces; they leave the listener suspended in midair (I hope).

Xynoglyko for flute and piano
Composed 2001
Commissioned by and premiered by Sophia Anastasia, flute with Gary Schocker, piano at the National Flute Association Convention, Washington, D.C. August 2002
Dedicated to Sophia Anastasia
The title is pronounced "zee-nyo-glee-ko" and it means "sweet-sour" in Greek.