Musical Biography of James V. Signorile
Musical Biography of James V. Signorile
James V. Signorile (b. 1952) is a native of Chicago, IL. His spent his first
few years in Astoria, Queens, NY, and then was raised in Ridgewood, NJ. He
received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music in 1974 from Colby College,
Waterville, ME. He later attained his Master of Science degree in Computer
Science in 1992 from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, NJ, with a 4.0 GPA.
His Masters Thesis "Uniting the Science of Computers and the Art of Music: A
Synthesis made possible by MIDI in Computer Music Applications" further
broadened his musical education, and culminated in the development of a
fully functional MIDI sequencer.
Jim Signorile first began piano lessons in 1960 at the age of 8, clarinet lessons in 1964 at the age of 12
and began playing guitar and composing classical music in 1967 at the age of 15. He later studied
composition at Ridgewood High School with Murray B. Colosimo and John Lochner, and at
Colby College with Peter Rè (a student of Paul Hindemith), Ermanno F. Comparetti,
and Gordon W. Bowie. He was the student composer and conductor, vice-president and member of
both the Colby College Concert Band and Colby Community Symphony Orchestra, and the Concertmaster of
the Concert Band. He was awarded the Colby College Band Award in 1974. He was also the first
student composer in Colby history to have his compositions performed by the Colby Community Symphony
Orchestra and Concert Band, and he arranged the processional music for his college graduation ceremonies.
Jim Signorile was trained as a classical concert pianist by Gates Wray, a protégé of Vladimir Horowitz.
He also studied classical guitar with Elliot Fisk (a student of Andres Segovia) while at Colby College
in which he received honors, and after graduation taught guitar at Colby in 1975 and 1976.
He also plays blues and folk guitar, clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone and soprano and alto recorder.
However, his interests were mainly concentrated in the area of composition. He has also been principal bass clarinetist
of the Ramapo Wind Symphony of Mahwah, NJ in the last decades. He currently resides with his wife Mary in Teaneck, NJ,
and by day was a software engineer, until retiring and now he is once again concentrating in composing and performing music.
Jim has won the ASCAP Awards for composition every year he entered since 1999 and has been the recipient of commissions
for Piano Suites and solos, Organ Symphonies, Piano Concertos, and other works for varied instrumentations.
Lately he has again taken up playing Blues guitar with several bands, treating blues improvisation as another form of composition,
and was instrumental in the reforming of a Blues group that had previously performed during the mid 1960's.
He was the group's lead guitarist and lead vocalist.
Jim Signorile is a member of ASCAP, SCI, the American Music Center (AMC), and the Center for the Promotion of Contemporary Composers (CPCC).
His music is published by Zimbel Press (www.zimbel.com) and previously by Musica21 Publishing (which has since gone out of business).
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