Linda Missad has a vision of music that inspires people to greatness. Never satisfied with "formula" music, Linda strives to continually break new ground with her compositions.
Soothing to the soul, yet intriguing to the mind, Linda's music has a unique blend of spirituality and intellectual complexity that defies description. Even her arrangements of traditional tunes result in a diverse multi-layering of concepts that add depth and meaning to an otherwise common piece.
Coming from a background of strict classical training on the piano, Linda finds fresh expression in today's modern computerized music synthesis. "I've always been fascinated with merging the classical style with modern pop-rock" she muses.
Years of experience in community theaters with limited orchestras helped Linda learn how to compose and arrange music for specific situations, quickly and professionally. Recently, she has turned her attention to other media, such as film, video, television, and radio
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My new CD "How Can I Inspire You?" is now released. I hope you enjoy it.
Romancing the Muse
Growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Linda?s main source of spiritual strength came from pursuing her musical interests. After years of strict classical training, Linda received her Bachelor of Music degree at Western Michigan University before embarking on a musical journey that would aspire to the divine.
She soon moved to Washington, DC and discovered a diverse cultural community, with musical styles and performing musicians that opened her mind to new realms of possibilities. Chided for ?thinking too much? about the music and encouraged to ?just play it?, Linda found herself understanding music on a deeper, more intimate level.
Profound spiritual experiences led to further musical insights that were too difficult to express with the limited tools available. Yet, these new melodious harmonies comforted Linda?s soul as she worked with various bands performing rock and roll, country rock, jazz, classical, and musical theater.
After moving back to Michigan and getting involved with community theater, Linda found herself composing and arranging music for many situations, often with impossible deadlines and significant alterations to the original scores. Luckily, her thorough understanding of music theory gave her the tools she needed to perform these task quickly and professionally. As more projects came up, Linda became the one everyone approached to do the job, since she possessed an uncanny ability to create just the right balance of sound for the limited instruments available.
By the mid-80?s, progress in the field of electronic music synthesis finally provided Linda a way to fully express the music that had been playing in her head for years. For the first time in her life, Linda could have as many instruments as she wanted to get the perfect sound. And use them she has ? to create rich, highly textured pieces that paint pictures, suggest stories, and communicate spiritual wonders that cannot be expressed any other way.
In recent years, Linda has been working with local producers, writing both the opening theme and background music for a patient education video produced for St. Mary?s Hospital, arranging children?s songs for the Christian Reformed Church, writing background music for a children?s play called ?The Ghost of the River House?, and writing and arranging choral music.
Linda?s musical compositions are derived from a diverse set of influences, ranging from Bach, Mozart, and Debussy, to the Beatles, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Queen, and Stephen Sondheim.
?I?ve always been fascinated with merging the classical style with modern pop-rock?, Linda reflects as she sits at her grand piano and contemplates her continued musical experimentation.