Meet Shanyse Strickland

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shanyse Strickland.

Hi Shanyse, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started playing the flute when I was nine, then horn when I was 11. I explored different brass and woodwind instruments during high school, which foreshadowed a great sense of how each of these instruments worked in the grand scheme of composition. That combined its writing arrangements for the marching band I was in really paved a way for a life of composition I wasn’t even expecting.

I started undergrad at Youngstown State University as a flute major, then switched to horn. Life-impacting situations had happened to me, and I needed my focus to be other than what reminded me of that situation. So I switched to horn! I auditioned on flute, euphonium, and horn, so going into the horn studio was already familiar with me as I spoke to my late teacher, Bill Slocum previously about making the switch. I went through undergrad playing both flute, horn, and trombone in jazz and non-traditional contexts, only to find that that was what I actually wanted to do with my career. After solidifying this in grad school at Duquesne University, I began to have small gigs around the city with a local band called Level Up. In this group, I gained experience on how to lead in a small chamber setting and also improved my improvisation on both horn and flute. Just another set of scenarios foreshadowing my career in the future.

I eventually moved to New Jersey to pursue a postgraduate degree in Jazz Horn Performance. This transition happened during the pandemic, which led to me performing less and writing more music. I wrote my first commission for a brass trio, commissioned by the Lantana Brass Trio of the University of North Texas. Since then, I’ve been able to write for the Seattle Symphony horn section, horn and flute soloists, collegiate horn studio, and multiple independent projects from horn players and horn enthusiasts. My music has been recorded professionally and performed at the International Horn Symposium, featured in recitals, and highlighted in concerts across the country. I continue to freelance in New Jersey and New York, along with Pittsburgh and sometimes Ohio.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
For the most part, yes. Of course, life has its obstacles, but I can say that I am extremely grateful for the support system I have and the love I receive daily. A car accident involving my person getting hit in 2018 really put a lot of things into perspective for me: I am still living, and I was meant to be here to do something great. And I will. I already am.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Composer
Freelancer
Educator

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Playing the horn is a risk within itself lol I guess I like living on the wild side a bit.

Contact Info:

• Website: shanysestrickland.com