Gay Holmes Spears
Biography
Gay Holmes Spears (b. 2 October 1958, Blytheville, Ark.) is an American composer.
Dr. Spears studied at the University of Tennessee at Martin (Bachelor of Music degree in music education), Arkansas State University (Master of Music degree in piano), and the University of Memphis (Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition). Her composition teachers includes Jared Spears (to whom she was married), Don Freund, and Jim Richens.
Dr. Spears taught music theory, composition, and piano for several years at Williams Baptist College in Arkansas. She moved to the St. Louis area in 2000 and joined the music faculty at Webster University there, where she currently teaches in the music theory department.
As a composer she wrote works for orchestra, band, piano, chamber ensembles, choirs and vocals. Among the honors she has won for her music are consecutive ASCAP Awards, the Tennessee Music Teachers’ Association Composer of the Year Award, and a fellowship from the Arkansas Arts Council.
Works for Winds
- Into the Ages (2015)
- La Solana (1999)
- Silverwind (1995)
- Sourwood Suite
- Tudor Variations (2008)
- Vikings, The (1998)
- Wings of the Morning (1997)
Resources
- Gay Holmes Spears, Wikipedia Accessed 24 August 2016
- Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "Gay Holmes Spears." Accessed 24 August 2016