Edward: How Did You Get Started Playing New Age
Piano?
Jim: I My mother was a piano teacher, so I just grew up
playing...had a job playing for a small church in the country near
my hometown (Columbus, GA) during high school, and just "fell into"
playing with a dance band while I was in college. I majored in
English, got an MA in English, but was playing jobs all the while,
and eventually left teaching just to be a full-time commercial
pianist (in Atlanta). I've been doing that since the early
'70s--playing all kinds of social and commercial piano jobs...some
with bands, some with small combos, many just piano.
I got
interested in New Age music when I first heard George Winston,
Michael Jones and others. I was intrigued because the style was so
different from the jazz-orientation that I have been part of for so
long. In jazz, the culture is often the "I'm hipper than you because
I can play more abstractly, more complexity, more 'outside'....and
the new-age approach seemed exactly the opposite. It stressed
calmness, quiet, peacefullness...and that has an appeal to
me.
I have evolved in playing jobs to now including a lot of
my own "instant improvisations" mixed in with the standards and
cover tunes that I play. For example, I played a wedding
announcement party in a huge home in Atlanta last night...and while
I mostly played songs these folks would know--mostly old standards
and love songs---I mixed in quite a bit of my own instant stuff,
which I'm sure would be classified as 'new age.' It's quiet,
flowing, and fits the mood....so while I"m not primarily a 'new age'
player, it's become more and more a part of my playing.
Also,
the older I get, the more I seeem to appreciate quiet and calm
music.
Edward: What Inspires You and Informs Your
Music?
Jim: As For my cover CDs, I'm inspired by the song I'm working on,
and am attempting to come up with a fresh approach that falls within
my established niche---which is quiet and melodic
renditions.
For original stuff, I like to try to draw
inspiration from nature, which sounds like a cliche but isn't. I'm
lucky enough to have a little cabin in the North Georgia hills, and
several times I've taken my keyboard (and computer) out onto the
porch and just sat there, watching the trees,
listening to the
wind...and tried to come up with some musical
representation.
My best instance was actually from looking at
photographs.....I was asked by Pearl Dexter, the publisher of "Tea:
A Magazine" to come up with music for a DVD she was producing that
featured her very nice photos of tea plantations in various
countries. So, I set the computer to show the pictures as a slide
show, watched them over and over, and then more or less played
along...making up melodies as the pictures appeared. I then
worked with the 4 or 5 themes to put together 2 long (ie 12 minutes
each) compositions that go with the photos very well. In fact, I'm
reworking those recordings....dividing them into shorter
segments...and will put them on a new CD later this year...possibly
it will be called "The Landscape of Tea" or maybe "The Serenity of
Tea." It's a work in progress, but it was definately inspired by
Pearl's photos, the idea of Asian music and the notion of tea as a
serene and calming drink.
Edward: What Is Your Method for Composing a
Piano Piece?
Jim: It's the same method that I've used with my 15 CDs of "cover"
songs....which is that I just sit down at the piano and start
playing. If I'm working on a unique arrangement of a recognized
song--say "I'm in the Mood for Love," then I'll fool with ideas, try
to listen to the song for melodic hints that I can expand upon for
an introduction....or I'll just noodle around with the song until
something interesting happens. (Of course, usually, nothing
interesting happens, but sometimes it does.)
For my latest
CD, "Tapestry" which IS decidedly New Age, and which is all my own
stuff, I developed the habit of coming into my home studio in the
evening, after supper (in fact, after the dishes are done!), turning
the lights down fairly low, and just playing....sometimes I actually
propped a photo of a certain scene--3 are on the 'Tapestry' page of
my website---and just looked "into" the picture and tried to play a
feeling from it. I've not done this too many times before, but it
seems to work....and as a melody, or rhythm begins to develop, I'll
just fool with it until I like it. If it's going somewhere, I'll
record it, come back a few days later and see whether
I still
like it....and if I do, I may work with it some more.
I
almost never write these melodies down at all. I've been playing a
long time, and can make up music by the yard...most of it (of
course) not very good....but I'm always looking for the needle in
the musical haystack, and if I play enough, I'll get some good
stuff. I think that it is impossible (for me, at least) to just sit
down at the keyboard and turn on the creative switch.
I also
notice, and this is an absolute constant with me, that after I've
been playing steadily for maybe an hour and a half or 2 hours, that
my creativity will kick itself into a better zone....I don't know if
the finger-brain connection needs to be awakened, or exercised, or
just what happens....but IF I can make myself play for at least an
hour before I get down to 'creating,' I usually find that the
creating goes easier....and I play better, too.
Edward: Do you Get Blocked Creatively and if so,
How do You Get Past It?
Jim: Sometimes I sit down to work on something...either a song of
my own, or an arrangement for one of the cover CDs....and nothing
will happen. I believe that there are ups and downs in one's
creative output, and there are days when I just can't seem to get
past cliches....so I just quit and come back another day. I've also
had many instances where I've planned to record a particular song,
and can never make anything 'creative' or 'good' happen with
it.....so in those cases, I'll just move on to another
song.
I think, actually, that you can't just give in to the
notion of being creatively blocked. You need to work at playing
music and getting through it to the creative zone that we all
crave....for me, it comes with playing/practicing. I don't know a
lot of Bach, but somehow playing several 2-part inventions over an
over seems to awaken my brain. I've heard choral composers (official
academic musicians) say the same thing about Bach.
Edward: What Advice Would You Give to Aspiring
New Age Pianists?
Jim: As I mentioned earlier, my mother was a piano
teacher, and when I 'outgrew' her in my high-school years, I moved
to another teacher. But, in highschool I didn't do much practice, so
my parents ended the lessons (which, as a parent now, I fully
understand!). I took a few quarters of piano in college, but mostly
veered off into self-taught jazz....and I've done pretty well with
that approach.
However, I really wish that I'd done more real
organized piano lessons from real, knowledgable teachers. I'm happy
that I went to college in something else...I like being broadly
educated, but I think there is no substitute for working at your
craft....the more you know, the more you can draw on.
I think
it's sort of like a writer and his vocabulary, or a painter, and her
palatte of colors...the more you have stored in your head, the more
you can use when you sit down to compose.....And, I think you do
pull from all your musical knowledge, backgraound, experience, and
technique.
I also think that it is VITAL to listen to a lot
of music...not just the genre that is your favorite, but many kinds.
And...to listen to the best people out there.....for my tastes,
Philip Aaberg is such a fine player that I listen to his CDs often.
George Winston, too. There are a lot of truly excellent newage
pianists...but I also listen to lots of jazz players...especially
when I find solo piano recordings.....Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea,
Herbie Hancock, and many many more have much to offer to us
all.
Finally, I think it's important to learn
songs...classical, or popular...or even classic old hymns. Take
'Amazing Grace' for instance---here's a simple melody that has been
around for about 160 years, I think...and is still touching people
and going strong. That melody (and the words, of course) have
substance....lasting substance....the kind of thing that is missing
in much contemporary praise music. Now, praise music has a function
and a place, but little of it, I think, will last for decades the
way "Amazing Grace" has lasted....and so it's useful to study,
learn, memorize, and try to understand these classics that have been
with us for decades or generations.....that's the kind of substance
that we should be aiming for, I think.
And....as a
professional musician for 40 years, I can tell you that many pros
have lost the love of music that drew us all into the
profession...too much struggle, too much compromise makes a lot of
people become jaded. I think that what we all MUST do is keep
the music fresh, to explore new areas, to put ourselves in new and
different musical situations....to remember to have fun, to enjoy
and to share. It's not a contest to see who can play (or write) the
most notes....that's for the jazzers.....but for the rest of us,
it's about making music, sharing music and getting better as we go
along!
