HirschMusic story in a nutshell
HirschMusic Publications is a one-man, full-service sheet music operation run by me (Rick Hirsch) out of my basement office. I'm the composer, arranger, copyist, and office schlep. When you purchase music through this website, you're dealing directly with me. If you ever have any questions, you can ask them here. And I'll be the one who will answer them.
If you are unable to purchase music directly through me—or just don't want to—you can purchase all of these titles through your favorite distributor, like JWPepper, Marina Music, and Stanton's, to name a few.
I accept purchase orders for Print and PDF purchases.
When you purchase music through this website, I do my best to fulfull your order ASAP: PDF orders typically get sent within 24 hours; Print orders usually ship within a few days (occasionally a little longer).
Of course, if you want it now, most of my small-ensemble titles are available as instant downloads. Click, download, play!
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Here's a bit of my history as a composer: I was a student of Jeff Holmes and Yusef Lateef at UMass-Amherst in the late 80's / early 90's; I studied with Glenn Kostur at Northern Illinois Univ. (grad school). I went on to serve as personal music copyist for composers Bob Mintzer (2000-2005) and Toshiko Akiyoshi (2008-2009).
The musical works in my catalog have been performed by high school, collegiate, professional and community ensembles nationwide: numerous All-State jazz bands, at the MidWest Clinic, the former IAJE conference, major jazz festivals in the US and Europe, and so on. I've been commissioned by a host of high school, collegiate, and professional ensembles. There's a little bit more detail on my bio pages.
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Before launching Hirsch Music Publications in 2010, my works were published for 15 years by Walrus Music (1995-2010). UNC Jazz Press started publishing my works in 2008, and still publishes two of my arrangements.
Walrus has one of the most extensive jazz catalogs, and features works by the most well-known and well-respected jazz composers in the US (Bob Florence, David Baker, Frank Foster, Tim Hagans, John La Barbera, and so on). I was in good company, indeed!
But, I sensed that my titles were getting lost in the shuffle at Walrus, deep in the shadows of those established jazz giants mentioned above. In short, not enough people were stumbling across my tunes.
Also, it was becoming clear to me that digital distribution of sheet music is a viable delivery option. And though there is clearly a demand for it, few major publishers are entering that arena.
So, in 2010 I took the plunge: I removed all of my titles from Walrus' catalog and most from UNC, assembled a band and made some fantastic demo recordings, built a new website from scratch, and started HirschMusic Publications. All of my titles are available in traditional printed format and PDF delivery. And, the works for smaller ensembles are also available as instant downloads.
So far so good with the new publishing venture: in the first few months of 2011 alone, my compositions were performed by All State Jazz Bands in MO, AR, and OK; at the Elmhurst College Jazz Festival; Penn State University Jazz Festival; by Middle School, High School, Collegiate and Community ensembles in GA,TX, OR, PA, MD, IL, IA, OH, WI, MO, FL, KY, NE, London UK, and Croatia.
In short, the music is getting around.
As of this writing, I'm a one-man show. I continue to write new music and add titles to the catalog. As I get my footing in the publishing biz, there is a strong possibility that I will include the works of other like-minded composers.