In His Own Words

When did you start writing music?

When I was about 11 years old, I had an electric piano to fool around with, and that was when I started composing. Not knowing anything about theory, or even too much about how to play the instrument, I just started to mess around with it without really thinking too much about it at the time. Then I started taking piano lessons and my composing took off after that. If you want to compose, it’s pretty critical to be able to play an instrument. When I was about 13, I was lucky enough to get a MIDI sequencer, and I composed many pieces for it. I would write different pieces in different styles, while using a variety of different MIDI sounds. I wrote around 130 pieces for this sequencer.

How did you learn how to compose?

I think composers learn how to compose by trial and error at first. You have to try before you can succeed at anything. However, I think the most important source of knowledge for composers is existing music. I was mostly self-taught as I did not have any serious composition lessons until I was 20 years old. That was around the time I was in University completing my undergraduate degree in composition. I learned a lot about music by studying and reading countless scores, and listening incessantly to as much music I could get my hands on. I am a strong believer that you never stop learning, and I will always continue to try and learn new things. I’m naturally very curious about discovering music that I have never heard before, and one of the thrills of listening to music is to discover something that can really inspire you in ways that you never expected.

How do you write music?

I don’t really have a completely set method. I taught myself how to improvise at the piano, and I often invent ideas and material for pieces at the piano by improvisation. I can also compose away from the piano, with just pencil and paper. As well, I also use computer programs to notate scores. When I’m starting a new piece I will invent ideas and then I will consider how to develop them within a convincing musical form.

What is your biggest source of inspiration?

Other music, I’d have to say. For me personally, nothing else comes remotely close in terms of providing inspiration. I’d like to say there are other things, but I just wouldn’t be telling the truth! As well, writing music itself is its own source of inspiration. In other words, the satisfaction that comes from creating a work of art, and the process involved is the reason why I’m still doing it.

Do you write music in your head?

To a certain degree, I do. For example, when I am composing at the piano, I can often imagine the next harmony, or the next notes in a melody that I want to use. I don’t believe it’s a mysterious ability; anyone can develop this skill in my opinion, it just takes practice. I’ve never written an entire piece in my mind, although I’ve never tried to either. However, I’ve had dreams where I am listening to a piece of music that is seemingly writing itself and when this happens the music will continue in a kind of continuous variations where it never repeats exactly the same way.

Who are your favorite composers?

This is always a hard one to answer, because I simply have too many. I’m afraid the list would be too long to name them all. If I were to limit to my top five, I would have to say, J.S. Bach, Scriabin, Debussy, Chopin and Mozart. Of course there are many others but I don’t want to list them all here.

How long does it take you to write a piece of music?

It depends on several factors. It comes down to how many notes there are in the piece. This will usually increase based on the size of the ensemble, and the tempo of the composition. The faster the music, and the larger the ensemble, in general the longer it will take to write. I tend to write pretty quickly, and based on conversations I’ve had with many composers, I’m faster than average. I’ve written pieces in a couple of hours. I also tend to compose a lot, which leads to my next question—

How much music have you written?

It’s hard to answer, because I’ve written a fairly large amount of music. When I was younger I had a MIDI synthesizer, and I composed somewhere in the neighborhood of 130 or so pieces for it. I also composed by memory many pieces that I didn’t even write down for piano. The first piece I actually wrote down on music notation paper wasn’t until I was about 16 or so. These early pieces aren’t included in my list of works because I have pretty much dismissed them as juvenilia. I wasn’t really satisfied with the compositions I had written until I turned 19. Almost all of the work I’ve done since then you can find in the list of works.

What does your music sound like?

It’s probably one of my least favorite questions to answer because it is so difficult to respond to. But I think it is still vitally important to answer. I have quite a few influences, but it has often been pointed out to me that my music often strongly emphasizes harmony. The main elements of music are melody, form, rhythm, counterpoint and harmony. When I write music, I consider all of these elements, but I am always drawn to harmony the most. This can mean a single chord by itself, but also a series of chords to produce a progression. There are many different types of harmony, but I have always been interested in a kind of harmony that is fairly dense, and chromatic (or ‘colorful’). I will often write a series of chords and then extract some melodies from them, or create a texture based on them. I also try to create a sense of spontaneity in the way my harmonies unfold. Another device that I like to use is when harmony can function as a reference point in the music—in other words if there is a chord that I deem to be important, I will bring it back at important points in the music. There are lots of things that can be done. However, it should be said that my favorite response to this question is to tell the inquirer to just listen to my music, and let it speak for itself as all music should.