NC Composer & Performer To Teach Film Music Technique & Songwriting

CONCORD, N.C. – Musician Marc Hoffman, a Salisbury native, will offer music camps for the first time this summer at Camp Cannon in Concord. Hoffman is a composer who performs his own arrangements of jazz, ballads and pop standards at more than 75 appearances each year.

Hoffman’s two camps are geared toward children ages 12-15. “Introduction to Songwriting” will be offered July 16-20 from 1 to 4 p.m. Students will learn the basics of songwriting and create songs in the style of their choice. Parents will be invited for a performance at the end of the week.

In “Music for Film,” offered July 23-27, from 1 to 4 p.m., campers will learn the mechanics and art of writing, selecting and placing music in a video or film. Students will create new music or edit existing music and then place it into a short video that they will take home.

For more details and registration information, visit www.cannonschool.org/campcannon.

Hoffman studied composition at the North Carolina School of the Arts, and then went on to study film composition at the University of Southern California and the Dartington International Summer School of music in Devon, England.

Hoffman’s original instrumental recordings include “Long Way Home” and “Curioso,” and his vocal recordings include “Christmas Time,” “I Will” and “Dream of God.” His film credits include original scoring for “The Mill” and “40 Fears” and music historian for “Revolution.”

Camp Cannon offers children ages three to 17 opportunities to connect with their peers during a variety of enriching summer camp sessions focused on the arts, science, college prep and sports. Registration is now open for Camp Cannon, which runs for seven weeks beginning June 11 through Aug. 3, with the exception of the week of July 4.

Cannon School is an independent junior kindergarten through 12th grade college-preparatory institution. It is the Charlotte area’s fourth-largest private independent school and attracts approximately 880 students from Concord, Davidson, Cornelius, Huntersville, Mooresville, Charlotte, the University City area, Kannapolis and Salisbury. Cannon School seeks to prepare students for a world that promises to be unpredictable. In classroom learning, character building activities, and extra-curricular involvement, teachers, advisors, and coaches work to instill in students Habits of Mind that are reflective, meta-cognitive, self-governing, and strategic along with Habits of Spirit that encourage flexibility, curiosity, creativity and risk-taking.

Yesterday I was invited to join Renderyard, a great resource for film makers and composers. Here’s my first entry, the end credits from a fun indie project I scored last year, Day In the Park. ditp.end credits

Midwest Books’ Bookwatch calls the book and CD “entrancing.”

February 16, 2011 (CHARLOTTE, NC) – Sleep, Little Child, author/composer Marc Hoffman’s new children’s book with accompanying CD, has received a glowing review from Midwest Book Review’s senior reviewer Nancy Lorraine on “Bookwatch.”

Sleep, Little Child is based on an original lullaby Hoffman wrote years before he decided to turn it into a picture book. It answers a child’s question about who will watch over him through the night after his parents are asleep. The author performs the lullaby on the accompanying CD. Other tracks include spoken-word readings and an all-instrumental version.

Calling the book and CD “entrancing,” Lorraine writes: “The rhyming lullaby lyrics are gently reassuring to the young child that while he goes to sleep, he is watched and cared for by his heavenly Father, as well as by his earthly father.”

She calls the book’s original watercolor illustrations by artist Tony Waters of Charleston, SC, “both appealing and inviting to prepare to embark for Slumberland. Little comical details of the boy’s favorite stuffed monkey — whose eyes wake and sleep in sync with the boy’s — will be carefully noted and cherished by sleepy toddlers.”

She concludes: “Sleep, Little Child is an ideal bedtime experience to offer to sleepy, squirmy children ages two through seven, to help them settle into sound and healthful slumber.”

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Marc Hoffman’s label announces new recording of original songs by local songwriter Carol Greene.

February 9, 2011 (CHARLOTTE, NC) – Three years ago, songwriter Carol Greene asked Marc Hoffman of Virillion Music to help her with the arrangements on some her songs. On March 1, 2011, Virillion Music will release the CD that evolved from that collaboration, The Story To Be Told.

The Story To Be Told is “an honest look at Carol Greene’s spiritual journey through life thus far,” said Hoffman, who composes, records and publishes his work and the work of other artists through his label, Virillion Music. “She has a lot to say through her music and lyrics.“

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